Writers › Writer / Poet
Zhang Quan
Western Jin man from Wu, courtesy name Shiran, whose memorial asking for grave keepers for the forebears of Xie Xun, magistrate of Wu, is preserved in the Wen Xuan.
In a study at night, a desk holds a brush pot, a porcelain vase with a plum branch, a lit red lantern, a folded fan and an unrolled blank scroll, with no one seated there, while through a round window the moon rises over a lake with a sailboat.
Also known as Courtesy name Shiran
- Roles
- Writer / Poet
Zhang Quan, courtesy name Shiran, came from the territory of Wu in the Western Jin; his dates and career are unknown. The Wen Xuan preserves his Memorial on Behalf of Xie Xun, Magistrate of Wu, Requesting Grave Keepers for His Forebears. Recalling that after the conquest of Wu the court ordered the worthies of the old kingdom to be recorded and their tombs honoured, the memorial asks that five households be assigned as tomb keepers and exempted from labour service so the graves can be tended in every season.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; lived in the Western Jin (266-316 CE)