During the Tang Dynasty (China, 618-907), considered the golden age of Chinese poetry, over 50,000 poems were composed by thousands of artists, including renowned figures such as Du Fu, Li Bai, and Wang Wei. In the 18th century, an intellectual compiled a selection of 310 of the most popular poems. This foundational anthology was revised numerous times, sometimes containing 300, 308, 312, or 320 poems, resulting in a variety of publications. This multitude, hundreds of books, now constitutes a single artwork, named after the original: The Collection of 300 Poems of the Tang Era (in traditionnal Chinese 唐詩三百首, in simplified Chinese 唐诗三百首, in pinyin: Tángshī sānbái shǒu, Three hundred Tang poems).

This true pillar of Chinese culture has enabled billions of children to learn to read and write Chinese for centuries, and even today, every household owns a copy, everyone knows its major authors and often a few poems. I discovered it thanks to the book by French Nobel laureate Jean-Marie Le Clézio, Le flot de la poésie continuera de couler, and was struck by its history, which inspired my work 300 Tang Poems.

My approach consisted of materializing this "book" in the form of small engravings of the titles and authors of the 320 poems from one of these collections and presenting them as a numismatic collection. For this, I chose three elements relating to traditional Chinese culture:

• As a support: ivory, in the form of slices of tagua (Vegetable ivory)

• For the masterpiece, a wooden boxed set containing all the poems: traditional Chinese lacquer and a guillotine-style opening, like traditional Mahjong boxes. 

Each of its 320 poems will exist in only 8 copies, numbered from A to H:

• The first 4 (from A to D), presented in complete numbered collections from A to D, in prestige boxed sets made of solid oak with traditional Chinese lacquer

• For the following 4 (from E to H):

o 5 selections of 20 poems, themselves numbered from A to D, presented in high-end boxed sets

• • • 4 illustrating major themes from the collection of 300 poems from the Tang Era:

- The Seasons

- Love and Women

- Nature in Majesty

- Wine, Music, and Friendship   

• • • A selection of 4 poems from 5 of the most well-known authors Li Bai, Du Fu, Meng Haoran, Li Shangyin and Wang Wei

o   The remaining 220 presented in individual boxes

The prestige boxed set containing the complete collection is sold for €18,000 (excluding fees) and includes a custom-made flight case. Its dimensions when closed are approximately 16.7 x 12.4 x 9 inches, and it weighs 33 lb.

The high-end boxed sets of 20 poems are sold for €1,200 (excluding fees). Their dimensions when closed are approximately 12.2 x 10.2 x 1.6 inches.

Individual boxes are sold for €110 (excluding fees). Their dimensions when closed are approximately 3.1 x 3.1 x 1.2 inches.

To check availability or to place an order, please email me at 300t (@ galm.fr), specifying your request (format, poem number).