
Collection Online as of March 28, 2023
(Chinese, b. 1954)
Ink and color on paper
164.3 x 163.8 cm (64 11/16 x 64 1/2 in.)
Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Collection Gift 2020.146
© Zeng Xiaojun
not on view
Contemporary artist Zeng Xiaojun is known for depicting tree trunks and rocks in draftsman-like fashion in the traditional Chinese medium of ink and paper. Inspired by a small, 11th-century Song dynasty dish in the artist’s own collection, Poetic Pattern of Song Ware is unusual in subject matter. Fascinated by the dish’s contrasting black and beige clay marbling, Zeng made an ink drawing of a graphic, abstract design on a monumental scale. The rendering of the marbling in lobed sections creates a unique three-dimensional effect and rhythm, not seen in the small dish CMA 2020.187.