A Chinese blue and white saucer dish with the poet Wang Xizhi, Yi You Ding Yu Ya Zhi 益友鼎玉雅製 mark, Kangxi

Dia.: 13,5 cm - H.: 4,5 cm

Wang Xizhi (王羲之, 303–361) is often said to be the greatest calligrapher in Chinese history. He has his biography in the official history of Jin 晋 dynasty (c. 265–420). One anecdote in it concerns his fame for his calligraphic skill and his love of geese. A Daoist priest in the neighbourhood raised a handsome flock of geese. Wang Xizhi paid a special visit to him in order to see the geese and found it hard to tear himself away from them. He pleaded with the priest to sell the flock to him. The geese raiser made him a counteroffer: ‘I will let you have the whole flock if you write a copy of Laozi’s Daodejing (道德经) text for me.’ Wang Xizhi willingly finished the job and went home happily with the geese.

Ever since the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), there are two basic types of composition depicting Wang’s love of geese. One type shows Wang watching geese in the river from the bank; the other features him being offered a goose by his servant or the priest. (source: tutuhaoyi.com)