A later rubbing of Wang Xizhi’s calligraphy is evidence of transmission, not an original fourth-century manuscript.
A documented object#
The Met dates its On the Seventeenth Day album to a thirteenth-century rubbing of fourth-century texts. Its catalogue explains the use of tracings, carved reproductions and rubbings in preserving writing models.
Study exercise#
Record the date of the physical object separately from the date of the text or calligrapher. Distinguish ink manuscript, tracing, carved model and rubbing before comparing images. A reproduction can document reception without being an autograph.
Scope#
The questions above are editorial suggestions for evaluating evidence. No reproduction of the source’s image or literary text is included here.