id:			160891
accession number:	1999.174.5
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1999.174.5
updated:		2023-03-15 15:46:35.193000

On Happiness, Calligraphy in Seal Script Style (zhuanshu), 1871. Yang Yisun (Chinese, 1813–1881). Hanging scroll, ink on paper; overall: 132.7 x 32.3 cm (52 1/4 x 12 11/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1999.174.5

title:				On Happiness, Calligraphy in Seal Script Style (zhuanshu)
title in original language:	樂志論
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			1871
creation date earliest:		1871
creation date latest:		1871
current location:		
creditline:			John L. Severance Fund
copyright:			

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culture:	China, Changsu, Qing dynasty (1644-1911)
technique:	hanging scroll, ink on paper
department:	Chinese Art
collection:	ASIAN - Hanging scroll
type:		Painting
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

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CREATORS

* Yang Yisun (Chinese, 1813–1881)  - artist

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measurements: Overall: 132.7 x 32.3 cm (52 1/4 x 12 11/16 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		Power and Possession: Chinese Calligraphy and Inscribed Objects – Chinese Gallery Rotation 240a, 241c
	opening date:   2018-08-13T04:00:00
	<i>Power and Possession: Chinese Calligraphy and Inscribed Objects – Chinese Gallery Rotation 240a, 241c</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 13, 2018-February 3, 2019).

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

* <em>Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 119)</em>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 16-July 13, 2004).

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PROVENANCE

	(Han Mo Xuan Co., Ltd., Hong Kong, ?-1999, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
	date: ?-1999
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, 1999-present
	date: 1999-
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


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fun fact:


digital description:


wall description:
Yang Yisun transcribed this ancient text on six narrow scrolls, starting at the top right and ending at the bottom left. Yang emphasizes the text’s historic nature by using the seal script style found on stone steles and bronze vessels. <em>On Happiness </em>features reflections of a scholar on a leisurely life in the countryside, composed by Han dynasty official Zhongchang Tong, who died the year the Han dynasty collapsed (AD 220).<br> The idyllic life described in the text may bean evocation of the past in a time of national crisis. A decade before Yang wrote these scrolls, Anglo-French forces had looted and burned the Summer Palace in Beijing. At the same time, the domestic Taiping rebellion (1850–64), led by a religious fanatic to overthrow the Qing government, had devastated Yang’s homeland, the Jiangnan region, with an estimated 20 million lives lost.
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RELATED WORKS

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CITATIONS

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IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.174.5/1999.174.5_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.174.5/1999.174.5_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1999.174.5/1999.174.5_full.tif