Zhao Mengfu Writing the Heart (Hridaya) Sutra in Exchange for Tea
Qiu Ying (Chinese, 1494–1552)
1542–1543
- Medium
- handscroll, ink and light color on paper
- Dimensions
- Image: 20.6 x 78.3 cm (8 1/8 x 30 13/16 in.); Overall: 21.1 x 553.6 cm (8 5/16 x 217 15/16 in.)
- Genre
- painting
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art
Styles
Tags
China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
About
The Yuan dynasty calligrapher Zhao Mengfu (1254–1322) is said to have transcribed the Heart Sutra for a certain priest named Li in exchange for tea. Later, during the Ming dynasty, the professional painter Qiu Ying from Suzhou painted this scene for his patron. Here, Zhao Mengfu holds a brush and has a piece of paper laid out before him. On the table is an ink stone, an ink stick, and a small water dropper. Drops of water would dissolve the ink stick into liquid ink when it was ground on the flat square stone.
