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Dong Qichang

Type Figure Region China Time 1555–1636 Also known as courtesy name Xuanzai、style name Sibai、Xiangguang Jushi

Dong Qichang (1555–1636), courtesy name Xuanzai, style name Sibai, of Huating in Songjiang, was a late Ming official, painter-calligrapher, and art t…

Timeline

  1. 1601–1603Huating · SongjiangAfter 1599 Dong Qichang was granted leave to return home to recover from illness as a Hanlin compiler, residing in Huating. During this period his painting and calligraphy flourished; he socialized with Chen Jiru, took part in local cultural activities, and wrote a stele inscription for the reconstruction of the Shanghai City God Temple in 1601, using seals reading 'Presented Jinshi, Wenlin Lang, Compiler of the Hanlin Academy.'
  2. 1604–1605Huguang · HuguangIn 1604 Dong Qichang was appointed Deputy Education Commissioner of Huguang, in charge of the province's schools and literary examinations. Records state he acted casually and supervised examinations laxly, angering local gentry; students gathered in a mob and destroyed his official residence, and he was soon dismissed. He then returned to Huating, where he lived at home for over twenty years, devoting himself to painting and calligraphy theory and creation.
  3. 1606–1610Huating · SongjiangAfter being dismissed from his Huguang post, Dong Qichang built a residence in Huating for collecting, socializing, and exchanging verses, systematically expounding his 'Northern and Southern Schools' theory of painting, advocating the Southern School as the orthodox tradition of literati painting, which influenced the art world from the late Ming onward. His calligraphy followed Su Shi and Mi Fu, which he said he attained through spontaneity; the Dong school style swept the Jiangnan region, and he and Chen Jiru were known together as the 'Two Wonders of Yunjian.'

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