(b Shanghai, 10 Feb 1555; d Dec 1636). Chinese painter, calligrapher, connoisseur, theoretician, collector and high official.

At the age of 12 Dong Qichang, the son of a local school-teacher, passed the prefectural civil-service examination to qualify as a Government Student (shengyuan) and was awarded a coveted place in the prefectural school. Mortified, however, at being ranked below his younger kinsman Dong Chuanxu because of his clumsy calligraphy, from 1571 Dong resolved to study calligraphy in earnest. His initial models were rubbings of works by the Tang-period (AD 618–907) calligraphers Yan Zhenqing and Yu Shinan (558–638), but soon realizing the superior merits of the Six Dynasties (AD 222–589) calligraphers, he turned to the works of Zhong You (AD 151–230) and the great Wang Xizhi (see WANG (i), (1)). After three years he was confident of having grasped their style, and no longer admired works by the Ming-period (1368–1644) masters Wen Zhengming and Zhu Yunming.

• Dong Qichang
  • China, §IV, 2(vi)(c): Calligraphy: Late Ming
  • China, §IV, 2(vi)(c): Calligraphy: Late Ming
  • China, §IV, 2(vii)(a): Calligraphy: Early Qing
  • China, §V, 1(ii): Painting: Song to Qing
  • China, §V, 3(iii)(b): The pictorial canon of modern Daoism
  • China, §V, 3(iv)(a): Landscape painting: Historical development
  • China, §V, 4(ii): Literati painters and institutions
  • China, §XV, 1: Art training: Traditional
  • China, §XVI, 2: Private patronage
  • China, §XIX: Exhibitions
  • Confucianism, §2(iii): Schematic stage
  • Forgery, §II, 1: Authentication techniques: Connoisseurship
  • Li (i)
  • Ma: (1) Ma Yuan
  • Shen Shichong
  • Xiang: (2) Xiang Shengmo
  • commentaries
    • Kuwayama Gyokushu
  • groups and movements
    • Northern school
    • Orthodox school, §2: History
    • Southern school
    • Zhao Zuo
  • personal collection
    • Lan Ying
  • pupils
    • Cheng Zhengkui
    • Wang (ii): (1) Wang Shimin
  • studio
    • Chen Jiru
  • works
    • Album, §1: East Asia
    • China, §V, 5(ii): Painting theory and criticism: Literati concepts and writings
    • Huang Gongwang
  • writings
    • China, §V, 3(iv)(b): Landscape painting: Theoretical writings
    • Competition, §III, 1: Painting: Personal rivalry
    • Japan, §VI, 4(vi)(d): Late foreign-influenced painting: Nanga
    • Li (i): (1) Li Sixun
    • Orthodoxy