The Scholar Fu Sheng Transmitting the Book of Documents

Du Jin

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In his greatest act of infamy, the first emperor of Qin (Qin Shihuangdi) ruthlessly burned books and buried scholars alive to eliminate opposition. When the Han dynasty was established in 206 B.C., a program to reconstruct texts began. Fu Sheng retrieved a copy of the Book of Documents that he had hidden and spent the remainder of his days lecturing on it. Here Fu Sheng is shown discoursing on the text with the official Shao Zuo, who was sent by the emperor. Fu Sheng’s daughter, Fu Nu, seated beside him, was a scholar in her own right and aided by translating their local dialect into one familiar to the scribe. Du Jin was trained as a scholar but became a professional painter after failing the jinshi civil-service examination. He cultivated a circle of patrons and literati friends—including the artists Tang Yin and Shen Zhou—in Beijing, where he moved, as well as in Nanjing and Suzhou. Through these contacts Du Jin played a significant role in the development of a local professional painting style in Suzhou that was basically a refined version of the high academic style of the imperial court. Although this painting no longer bears a signature, it is a classic example of Du Jin’s polished academic manner.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art