Boston Museum of Fine Arts Special Exhibit: Through Six Generations: The Weng Collection of Chinese Painting and Calligraphy from Saturday, March 10 to Wednesday, August 1, 2007
The history of the Weng Collection reads like an epic novel. Assembled primarily during the
nineteenth century, the collection has survived the tumult of the last one hundred years of
dynastic changes and warfare; remarkably, it remains unscathed and in the care of the original
family. Weng Tonghe (1830-1904), the family patriarch who formed the collection, was a
preeminent figure in nineteenth-century China. Weng held some of the highest positions at the
imperial court, including tutor to two of the last emperors of the Qing dynasty. The Weng
collection was passed down through the generations, finally coming to his great-great-grandson
Wan-go Weng--the current owner--who brought the collection to the United States for safe
keeping in 1948, months before the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Wang Yuanqi's Western Mountains after Spring Rain is a highlight of "Through Six Generations:
The Weng Collection of Chinese Painting and Calligraphy" on view in the Carpenter Gallery and
Japanese Paintings Galleries.