Art Reboot

84 as a preface to a series of poems written at an elegant, if rather drunken, gathering. Not only was its philosophical content and poetic expression masterly, the writing itself was utterly charis- matic; even the artist failed to recreate it in later attempts. The original was copied many times over the centuries until it disap- peared, buried with a Tang emperor by some accounts. Over the centuries it was also engraved in stone so that rubbings could be taken. All are valued to some extent for carrying the original message and calligraphic qualities. Among my many handscrolls is a Ming-dynasty (1368–1643) prince’s rubbing of three Song-dynasty (960–1280) engraved stones, the engravings made from three different calligraphy copies that at the time were considered to be closest to the lost original Lanting Preface . The handscroll bears a collector’s seal of Robert van Gulik (1910–1967), the famous Dutch orientalist who once owned it, and I suspect that it was to him, as to me, a relatively authentic connection to the original Lanting Preface .