Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Michael Sullivan: A Life of Art and Friendship

(from 11th Mar until 14th Sep 2014)

A commemorative exhibition in memory of Michael Sullivan, leading scholar of Chinese art.

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Calligraphy couplet featuring dragon and tigerfront

© The artist's estate

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Calligraphy couplet featuring dragon and tiger

  • loan

  • Description

    Sun Xingge (1897-1996) was born in Chaozhou, Guangdong province. He was a poet, painter, and calligrapher. At the age of 23 he moved to Shanghai where he taught painting and was active in literati circles. Sun settled in Hong Kong after 1949. This calligraphic couplet was probably written and inscribed to Michael in 1968 when Michael was visiting Hong Kong. The inscription reads ‘Put down your thoughts at the river bank when the dragon sings and the tiger roars. For Master Sullivan and his wife to correct and keep as a memento.’ Sun’s calligraphy in his later years was characterised by a bitter-sharpness as seen here, which has been compared to ‘mature ginger’.

  • Details

    show all
    Associated place
    Asia › China › Hong Kong (place of creation)
    Date
    1968
    Artist/maker
    Shiwan shanren (1897 - 1996) (calligrapher)
    Associated people
    Michael Sullivan (1916 - 2013) (recipient)
    Khoan Sullivan (1919 - 2003) (recipient)
    Material and technique
    ink on paper
    Dimensions
    mount 212 x 34.4 cm (height x width)
    painting 138 x 33.3 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    processed material › paper
    Technique index
    drawn (image) › line drawing › brush drawing
    Object type index
    communications equipment › art/writing equipment › scroll › hanging scroll,
    visual representation › calligraphy,
    visual representation › scroll › hanging scroll
    No. of items
    2
    Credit line
    On loan from the Khoan and Michael Sullivan Collection.
    Accession no.
    LI2022.366

  • Further reading

    Sullivan, Michael, Modern Chinese Art: The Khoan and Michael Sullivan Collection, revised edn (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2009), no. 1 on p. 196, illus. p.196 fig. IV.A.I

Past Exhibition

see (1)

Location

    • currently in research collection

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

Notice

Objects from past exhibitions may have now returned to our stores or a lender. Click into an individual object record to confirm whether or not an object is currently on display. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis, so please contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular Eastern Art object.

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