Seven-character couplet
Weng Xincun
(Chinese, 1791 – 1862)
Medium/Techniqueink on paper
DimensionsLength x width (overall): 186.4 × 44.5 cm (73 3/8 × 17 1/2 in.)
Length x width (image): 132.4 × 33.3 cm (52 1/8 × 13 1/8 in.)
Credit LineGift of the Wan-go H. C. Weng Collection and the Weng family, in honor of Weng Tonghe
Accession number2019.1793
ClassificationsCalligraphy
InscriptionsArtist’s inscription and signature (3 columns in standard script, undated)
煙開鼇背千尋碧，山束龍門萬仞青。
遂盦翁心存
Mists part to reveal a sea turtle’s back and the green ocean a thousand xun deep.
Mountains bind up Dragon Gate, their verdure myriad ren high.
Sui’an, Weng Xincun
Provenance19th century, Weng Tonghe (b. 1830 – d. 1904), Changshu, China; 1904, by inheritance from Weng Tonghe to his great-grandson, Weng Zhilian (d. 1919), Changshu and Tianjin; 1919, by inheritance from Weng Zhilian to his son, Wan-go H.C. Weng, Tianjin, New York, and New Hampshire; 2002, transferred to the Hsing Ching Weng Trust, New Hampshire; 2019, gift of the Hsing Ching Weng Trust to the MFA. (Accession Date: September 25, 2019)
