Weighing Books 1500 - 1532

Curator: Well, look at this scene. "Weighing Books," an ink drawing attributed to Guo Xu, likely dating between 1500 and 1532. It's currently housed here at the Met. What do you think? Editor: It has the delicate quality of faded memory, all those brown hues blurring softly together. The men look as if they're caught in a daydream. Curator: Indeed. Guo Xu masterfully uses varying ink washes to create depth. Observe how the density of the ink defines the foreground figures against the hazy background landscape. Notice also that suspended scale, almost comically laden with what must be an immense weight of wisdom, but also quite literally, of course, books. Editor: I wonder what exactly it signifies. Is it a judgment of intellectual pursuits versus perhaps more earthly matters? Or simply a reflection on the gravity – if you'll forgive the pun – of knowledge? Curator: Precisely the kind of layered meaning often embedded in Ming dynasty art. The scholars, positioned carefully beneath the sheltering pine tree, suggest a deliberate placement within a symbolic landscape. That pine speaks to endurance and virtue. The scholar there holding scales brings intellectual analysis together with nature and philosophy. Editor: So you think it leans towards advocating intellectual pursuits, maybe even commenting on a perceived burden inherent to scholarly life? Curator: It presents more of a duality than a distinct preference. The act of weighing itself— the consideration and balance – carries the central significance. It seems to me to ask what should be weighed, not necessarily to decide on an answer. The narrative it seems to tell doesn’t tell you everything. Editor: Ah, leaving us to do the work! Its ambiguity makes you think—I hadn't even noticed the landscape until you pointed it out. Now it gives a profound and philosophical weight to that otherwise domestic looking moment of men measuring out the literal weight of books. Curator: And with such subtle execution! Guo Xu's attention to tonal variation creates a mesmerizingly soft and meditative scene. It's a piece that slowly unveils itself, wouldn't you agree? Editor: Absolutely. It makes you want to linger and consider. A good argument in favor of pausing longer in our galleries!