Chinese Painting and Calligraphy: Selections from the Collection

The Met acquired its first Chinese painting in 1902. Since then, the Museum has added more than two thousand works of painting and calligraphy, building one of the most comprehensive collections in the world. Spanning fifteen hundred years of cultural production and featuring a variety of genres, techniques, and styles, The Met's collection has become a key resource for the study of Chinese painting and calligraphy. This exhibition presents a rich selection of works from the collection arranged in a largely chronological display. The final gallery tells the story of Wen C. Fong (1930–2018), chairman of the Museum's Department of Asian Art from 1971 to 2000, and his teacher Li Jian (1881–1956). As a young calligraphy prodigy in Shanghai in the 1940s, Fong studied brush arts with Li. The display centers on a group of fans, painted and written by Li, that were intended to transmit the canonical models of the classical tradition from teacher to student. Brought to the United States in 1949 and treasured by the Fong family since then, these fans are presented publicly for the first time.