#12 - WeiQi (Go)

Reference number - 1986.267.26
1862 - Wang Su - Chinese

“The surrounding game (圍棋) and its origin in China, it’s a hymn to abstraction and complexity: one kind of piece (called a stone), two colors, a board with simple lines, infinite variations!A pastime that was able to have Generals forget about battles and wars, pervasive in all the East up to the present day.”

From the Metropolitan website
”This painting depicts Xie An, the celebrated official and military strategist of the Eastern Jin dynasty. A famous story tells how Xie An was informed of a major military victory while playing chess with a friend; he was so absorbed in the game that he offered no perceptible reaction to this important news. ”