Painting and Calligraphy                                                      
The painting and calligraphy section of  the Museum includes works by the great masters
of the  Ming and  Qing  dynasties and  the recent  past.  Chinese  paintings  take  various
forms : as hanging scrolls,  handscrolls,  fan paintings  or  album  leaves.  They are either
painted  in the gongbi,  or  yibi  (xieyi)  style.  The  technique  of  the  former  is elaborate
brushwork  copying  nature in a realistic  manner.  This  technique  was  employed  in  the
earliest paintings. The yibi style, however, was introduced by Tang painters who were the
scholar-literati.  Using the same medium and  brushwork  technique  for calligraphy,  they
initiated a style which  was  further developed  in the Yuan dynasty.  Thereafter,  Chinese
paintings of any consequence is in the yibi style. This could be said to roughly correspond
with the  Impressionist school/style of western art.  The Museum's  collection of  Chinese
calligraphy  includes   works  by  famous  Ming   calligraphers  like  Dong  Qichang,   Zhu
Zhishan, Zhang Ruitu, Chen Xianzhang and Wang Duo as well as works by Ming masters
like Lin Zexu,  Zuo Zongtang,  Wang Wenzhi and Wu Changsuo.