Poem in seven characters on old home
Wan-go H. C. Weng
(Chinese-American, 1918–2020)
2004
Medium/Techniqueink on paper
DimensionsImage: 134.7 × 66.2 cm (53 1/16 × 26 1/16 in.)
Overall: 237.9 × 95 cm (93 11/16 × 37 3/8 in.)
Overall: 237.9 × 95 cm (93 11/16 × 37 3/8 in.)
Credit LineGift of the Wan-go H. C. Weng Collection and the Weng family, in honor of Weng Tonghe
Accession number2021.506
On View
Not on viewClassificationsCalligraphy
InscriptionsArtist’s inscription and signature (3 columns in standard script, dated Dec 23, 2003)
二零零三年聖誕前二日，驅車入城。杜工部詠武侯祠縈懷不去，深有所感，途中占此，貌為戲作，而其史、其地、其情、其境則不泯也，何戲之有？
萬戈翁 興慶書於萊溪居，時先高祖松禪老人逝世白年紀念之 後二日，蓋二零零四年七月六日也
Two days before Christmas of 2003, I was driving to town, when Du Gongbu’s [Du Fu’s] poem about the minister’s Zhuge’s temple lingered with me and deeply affected me. I had considered these verses I made up during my drive a playful imitation [of Du’s poem]. Yet [Zhuge Liang and Weng Tonghe] did share very similar histories, situations, sentiments, predicaments that cannot be forgotten. Should this not be taken more seriously? Weng Wan-go Hsing-ching wrote this at Laixi Residence on the second day after the centennial of the death of great-great-grandfather Songchan laoren [Weng Tonghe], of July 6, 2004.
Provenance2004, transferred by the artist to the Hsing Ching Weng Trust, New Hampshire; 2021, given by the Hsing Ching Weng Trust to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 16, 2021)
Wan-go H. C. Weng
Weng Tonghe
Weng Tonghe