The Wangchuan Villa

Wangchuan Villa was the famous garden estate of the poet-painter Wang Wei (ca. 699-ca.761), who acquired the property around 740. Wang wrote twenty quatrains describing points of interest in the garden, and he illustrated the poetic mood of each site in a painting that ultimately became one of the most revered landscape scrolls in Chinese history. The composition provides a journey through a spectacular garden filled with sites designed to encourage quiet contemplation and at the same time suitable for entertaining visitors.