Poetry in the Conservatory Aquatic House
Enid A. Haupt Conservatory Aquatic House
Throughout May, spend some time in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory’s aquatic and hanging vines house, where you’ll discover a selection of poems paired with details from a hand scroll by Ming dynasty painter Qian Gu 錢穀 (1508–ca. 1578).
In the year 353 CE, the “Sage of Calligraphy,” Wang Xizhi 王羲之, and 41 of his friends gathered at the Orchid Pavilion, present day Zhejiang Province, to immerse themselves in nature and engage in a poetry competition. The event—and the poetry it produced—became one of the most famous moments in Chinese literary history.