Yuan An Lying Down in the Snow

Calligraphies comprise the majority of the works in the Yeh collection as it currently exists. While the main section of this handscroll is a painting, it fits into the existing collection in three ways:
• Scholars and artists of several generations have taken advantage of the handscroll format to add their comments after the painting was made. These comments provide fascinating insights into appreciation of the artist, the work, and the theme by members of the educated elite of various times.
• The theme of the painting has moral overtones, something found in many works in the collection.
• The artist, Wen Jia, was a member of the educated elite of his time, so his works were appropriate for twentieth-century collectors of similar status.
CONTENT
This painting features the historical figure Yuan An, who lived during the late Han dynasty (206 BCE– 220 CE), around the first century of the Common Era. In the episode shown in this painting, Yuan An is trapped in a remote inn during a terrible snowstorm. When found by the regional governor and asked why he did not seek help, he replies it is because he did not want to burden anyone else, since all must have been starving during such a natural disaster. The painting begins from the right, with the governor in a red robe on a donkey and followed by a servant progressing toward mountains on the left. The middle of the painting shows Yuan An lying on a bed in a mountain house.