Museum Exhibition
City of Memory: Nanjing in the Seventeenth Century
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
June 27, 2026 – January 3, 2027
City of Memory: Nanjing in the Seventeenth Century explores how artists lived and worked in this charged environment in the decades before and after the fall of the Ming dynasty.
Exhibition artworks
Representative work
China
Views of Nanjing for Zhou Lianggong
1660
Album of twelve paintings; ink and color on paper
10 x 7 1/4 in. (25.4 x 18.4 cm)
View artwork at the museumFeatured works
Gong Xian
Wintry mountains
ca. 1679–89
Hanging scroll; ink on paper
Image: 65 1/4 × 19 1/4 in. (165.7 × 48.9 cm) Overall with mounting: 9 ft. 6 1/4 in. × 26 1/2 in. (290.2 × 67.3 cm) Overall with knobs: 9 ft. 6 1/4 in. × 30 1/4 in. (290.2 × 76.8 cm)
View at museumChina
Eight Poems on Autumn Moods
1632
Handscroll; ink on paper
Image: 10 5/8 in. × 10 ft. 6 1/2 in. (27 × 321.3 cm)
View at museumChina
Censer decorated with the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove
ca. 1640
Porcelain painted with cobalt blue under transparent glaze (Jingdezhen ware)
H. 5 3/4 in. (14.6 cm); Diam. 8 1/2 in. (21.6 cm)
View at museum
China
Vase with equestrian figure in landscape
mid-17th century
Porcelain painted in underglaze cobalt blue (Jingdezhen ware)
H. 8 in. (20.3 cm); Diam. 3 3/8 (8.6 cm)
View at museumYu Ming
Dong Xiaowan in her sickbed
early 20th century
Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
31 3/4 x 17 1/8 in. (80.6 x 43.5 cm)
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Zhang Feng
Landscapes
dated 1644
Album of twelve leaves; ink and color on paper
Each leaf: 6 1/16 x 9 in. (15.4 x 22.9 cm)
View at museum30 documented works in this exhibition
View all 30 documented works