Mencius

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Mencius
Mencius
Artist/Maker (American, born 1977)
Date1999
MediumEtching on paper
DimensionsComposition/Sheet: 75.6 x 56.2 cm (29 3/4 x 22 1/8 in.)
Credit LineGift of Michael Hew Wing in honor of the Steven Daniel Smallen Memorial Fund
Object number1999.3.2
Not on view
DescriptionEtching in three irregular panels set in to the embossed shape of the head and shoulders of a human figure. The top most panel shows human eye, the middle panel shows two seated figures and the bottom most panel shows a standing and two seated figures. Mencius (孟子 or Mengzi) was a Confucian philosopher alive during the fourth century BCE. The traditional Chinese characters in this work are partially obscured in some places, but they seem to reference Mencius’s own beliefs and Confucian philosophy. Characters in the work by panel: Top: 人之處家，情騰於禮 one’s place, home, feeling, emotion, and affection exceeds rules and ritual Middle: 身守之本 the foundation of being a human Bottom: (惟)剛立之人， 則能不以私愛失其正理 only the upright or just person will not lose to selfish personal favor Emma Berry, Class of 2022
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Additional Details

Provenance 1999: Hamilton College (Fred L. Emerson Gallery), by gift of the artist.
Signature S&D: LR "Hew Wing '99"
Inscribed 2/10 at LL
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