Jar with the Four Accomplishments: Painting, Calligraphy, Music, Strategy
Ming dynasty (1368–1644), 15th century
- Medium
- Porcelain painted in underglaze blue
- Classification
- Vessel
- Dimensions
- 35.6 × 40 cm (14 × 15 3/4 in.)
- Culture
- China
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of Asia
- Credit line
- Bequest of Russell Tyson
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
This porcelain jar is decorated with images of The Four Accomplishments – qin (music), qi (the game of Go), shu (calligraphy), and hua (painting). In ancient China, mastery of these elegant skills was deemed essential for the ideal scholarly gentleman to signify sophistication and education. Consequently, motifs of The Four Accomplishments frequently appear in paintings and on decorative objects. Notably, this jar showcases women partaking in these scholarly pursuits that were traditionally associated with men, likely reflecting the rise of learned women during the Ming Dynasty.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
