Duration: July 28 to November 28, 2018

Venue: Mu Xin Art Museum, B1F, No.1 Temporary Gallery

Organizer: Mu Xin Art Museum

Exhibition Lender: Bodleian Libraries, Oxford University

Media Support: STDecaux

Over the last three years, the Mu Xin Art Museum has exhibited the manuscripts of several European thinkers and writers whom Mu Xin admired. This year, five Persian poem manuscripts complete with miniature paintings are coming to Wuzhen.

Mu Xin said that China and Persia were great nations for poetry, which flowered and matured too early. We can imagine, more than seventy years ago, the young Sun Pu reading a Republican-era translation of Persian poetry in Mao Dun’s studio in the East  District of Wuzhen. In his later years, he wrote enthusiastically about ancient Persian poets in his Literary Memoir.

ThePersian poetry manuscripts from the thirteenth century were painted entirely by hand and paired with exquisite miniature paintings. It is evident that there was some contact between Central Asian miniature paintings and Ming-dynasty colored prints. Subsequently, Renaissance Europeans painted Bible manuscripts with illustrations, which were also influenced by Central Asian miniatures.

Today, Chinese poets interested in ancient Persian poetry may be few and far between, and Persian miniature painting has never been exhibited in China. As Asian people, our interest in and understanding of Central Asian literature and art is limited. Now, we have the opportunity to see precious original Persian poetry manuscripts and miniature paintings in Mu Xin’s hometown.

Finally, we would like to thank the Bodleian Libraries at Oxford University for their enthusiastic assistance.