Tripitaka in Tibetan
It’s a collection of the Qing Dynasty. The tripitaka in Tibetan written in gold ink, known as the Kanjur Tripitaka, has leaves written on both sides in standard script. Each set contains 300 to 500 leaves. The sutra leaves, arranged in order, are decorated with the Eight Auspicious Symbols painted in gold ink.
Illustrated Sayings on the Mirror of Ruling
Qing Dynasty
During the reign of Emperor Wanli of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming scholar and Prime Minister Zhang Juzheng (1525-1582) edited the text book “Illustrated Sayings on the Mirror of Ruling” for the ten-year-old emperor. The book comprised of two chapters with 117 stories, 81 tell of imperial good deeds and 36 tell of wicked emperors. The illustrations were printed using the wood-block printing technique. With bright color and fine craftsmanship, the collection in Taipei Palace Museum is an illustrated version of the following Qing Dynasty, probably finished after 1861.
Timely Clearing After Snowfall
By Wang Xizhi (303-361)
Album leaf
ink on paper
23 x 14.8 cm
Wang Xizhi was gifted in the study of script forms. He took different brush styles, such as Qin dynasty (221-206 BC) seal script and Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) clerical script, and fused them into standard, running, and cursive scripts to create ideal calligraphy forms. Therefore, later generations in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) praised him as "taking the best of all styles and compiling them into one to become the master of all time." For this reason, he became known as the "Sage Calligrapher".
In this short letter written in running script, Wang Xizhi sends greetings to a friend after a snowfall. Much of the brushwork appears round and blunt, the dots and hooked strokes not revealing the tip of the brush. The characters are even and balanced, revealing a straightforward elegance and introverted harmony. The Emperor Qianlong (reigned 1736-1795) in the Qing Dynasty especially prized this work, praising it as "The one and only; a masterpiece for all time." In 1747, he had it and "Mid-Autumn" by Wang Xizhi's son (Wang Xian-zhi) and "Po-yuan" by Wang Xun mounted together to form what he called "The Three Treasures" and housed in a special building--"The Three Treasures Hall".
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