Odes of the State of Bin
Composed more than 2,500 years ago, Odes of the State of Bin is part of The Book of Odes, one of the Confucian classics. The poem chronicles the annual cycle of activites in the countryside: the unfolding stages of the agricultural and sericultural year; preparation for seasonal changes; domestic activities; sources of nourishment; and requisite ritual acts. This scroll, a work in the baimiao ("plain drawing") style executed in the thirteenth century, uses a continuous narrative format; no text is included. Lacking illustrations to the first two stanzas of the poem, it opens with a scene of picking mulberry leaves for silkworms.
Artwork Details
- 南宋 佚名 傳李公麟 豳風七月圖 卷
- Title: Odes of the State of Bin
- Artist: Unidentified artist
- Period: Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279)
- Date: 13th century
- Culture: China
- Medium: Handscroll; ink on paper
- Dimensions: Image: 11 1/2 in. × 45 ft. 10 3/4 in. (29.2 × 1398.9 cm)
Overall with mounting: 11 11/16 in. × 53 ft. 4 in. (29.7 × 1625.6 cm) - Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: John M. Crawford Jr. Collection, Gift of The Dillon Fund, 1982
- Object Number: 1982.459
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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