Writers › Writer / Poet
Pan Ni
Western Jin writer, nephew of Pan Yue, who rose to Minister of Ceremonies as Duke of Anchang and died while fleeing Luoyang during the Yongjia disorder.
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 Zheng Shu · Pan, Minister of Ceremonies
Pan Ni, courtesy name Zhengshu, came from Zhongmu in Xingyang (today's Henan), nephew of the poet Pan Yue and grandson of Pan Xu. He served as Crown Prince's attendant, magistrate of Wan, Compiler of Records, Gentleman of the Yellow Gate, Director of the Imperial Library, Director of the Secretariat and Minister of Ceremonies, and was made Duke of Anchang. Three of his pieces are in the Wen Xuan. Fleeing Luoyang with his family, blocked by bandits, he died of illness in a fortified village at over sixty. Zhang Pu later edited his Pan Taichang Ji.
Life and times
Dates c. 250 CE – c. 311 CE