25160005

Chinese Calligraphy
Author(s): Stephen Little

Source: The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Vol. 74, No. 9 (Nov., 1987), pp. 372-403
Published by: Cleveland Museum of Art
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25160005 .
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372
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Chinese Calligraphy
373
Chinese calligraphy, considered for centuries one of the highest
' ' ' forms of art in the Far East, has only recently come to be widely
^ '^ i i C? ::i** .'l**
appreciated in theWest. The Cleveland Museum, with its com
~?N9
prehensive and internationally known collection of Chinese paint
ing, is fortunate to include in its holdings of Far Eastern art ex
cellent examples of Chinese calligraphy, ranging in date from the
twelfth to twentieth centuries
i AD .The majority of these works are
C% ;
appended to paintings as poetic and prose inscriptions or large
scale titles and frontispieces.
Although the full appreciation of Chinese calligraphy necessarily
requires an understanding of the meaning of the text, there is no
question that this brilliant art form can be appreciated and under
stood for its purely abstract values. Traditional Chinese writers on
the art of calligraphy focused their remarkson the composition of
the page, the formal structures of the characters, and the individual
brushstrokes as reflections of the degree of technical skill and the
inner psychological state of the artist.Calligraphy, besides convey
ing the meaning of words as expressed inChinese characters, was
seen as approaching in its purity the untrammeled forces of nature
itself.Thus, the Tang Dynasty writer Sun Guoting, in his famous
Fu ,..
_~ .' str~
- 3
Discussion of Calligraphy (Shupu) of AD687, described the calligra
,~:
phy of the great fourth-centurymasters Wang Xizhi and his son
Wang Xianzhi as follows:
It is like the forms of urgent thunder and falling rocks, the appear
ance of the Roc flying or terrifiedwild beasts, like the bearing of the
dancing Luan Bird or startled snakes, the power of a collapsed peak
on a deserted shore, the appearance of one on the brink of danger
grasping onto a rotten vine, heavy like furious clouds or light as a
cicada's wing, leading on like flowing water from a spring, still as a
peaceful mountain, delicate as themoon firstappearing on the
horizon, or scattered like themyriad starsarranged in theMilky Way.1
The art of calligraphy inChina can be traced to the beginning of
Figure la. Zun: R itualWine Vessel. the Bronze Age. The earliest forms of Chinese characters appear
Bronze, H. 25 cm. China, Western on the oracle bones-shoulder blades of cattle and turtle plastrons
Zhou Dynasty, ca. eleventh-tenth cen
tury BC.Purchase from the J.H. Wade used for divination and inscribedwith the questions asked of the
Fund. CMA38.13 deified ancestors of the kings of the late Shang Dynasty (16th-11th
Figure 1b. Ink rubbing of the inscription century BC).At the same time, inscriptionswere cast into the ritual
on the interiorof Zun (Figure 1a):Zuo bronze vessels of the aristocracy, and in the succeeding Zhou
FuWu bao zun yi (Precious ritualvessel
made for FatherWu). Dynasty (1 lth-3rd century BC) these inscriptions evolved into ex
pressions of religious and political legitimacy (Figures la, lb). The
script of the early Bronze Age came to be known as the large seal
script (dazhuanshu). This beautiful and highly architectonic script
is perhaps best represented by the early hunting poems carved
into the famous Stone Drums of the mid-eighth century BC, now

374
lI~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Figure 2. Ink rubbing of a detail of the preserved in the Palace Museum in the Forbidden City, Beijing
Stone Drums. Chinese, mid-eighth cen
tury BC,Zhou Dynasty. Palace Museum, (Figure2).2 Later ink rubbings of these inscriptionswere highly
Beijing. (AfterShoseki meihin sokan, prized by calligraphers and collectors as tangible traces of high an
vol. 4.)
tiquity (shang gu). The early ninth-century poet Han Yu, for exam
Figure 3. Ink rubbing of a detail of the ple, extolled the beauty of thiswriting in a poem presented to a
Langye tai stele. Late third century BC, friend:
Qin Dynasty. Shandong Provincial
Museum. (AfterShoseki meihin sokan, Whence, sir, did you get this copy on paper,
vol. 14.)
Complete to the smallest detail, without variant or error?
Figure 4. Detail of an inscribedwooden The diction, stern, themeaning, dense-hard it is to understand,
tablet from Juyan,Gansu. Han Dynasty,
206 BC-AD 220. Gansu Provincial The forms of the words are unlike ordinary script.
Museum. (AfterNakata Yujirb, Chinese It isdeep in years-how could it avoid having missing strokes?
Calligraphy.) But a keen blade chopped them, making dragons and crocodiles,
Rocs soar, phoenixes mount, while a band of immortals
descends.... 3
With the dissolution of the Zhou Dynasty into the warring states
of the late Bronze Age, different forms of writing appeared that
were unified into the small seal script (xiaozhuanshu) of the short
livedQin Dynasty, which reunified China into one empire in the
third century BC. This elegant script is still seen today in the stone
carved official proclamations of the brutal tyrantQin Shihuang, the
FirstEmperor of Qin (Figure 3).4
During the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) a new and less cumber
some script form appeared, known as clerical script (lishu).As its
name implies, this formwas devised by clerks who needed a script

375
thatwas simpler and more fluid in its forms than the archaic seal
script, one that could be easily written with a brush for documents
on wood, silk, and paper. Some of the most beautiful surviving ex
amples of clerical script are Han recordswritten in fluidlymodulat
ed brushstrokes in rich, dark ink (Figure4).5 In this script form the
actual physical movements of the writer's hand become immedi
ately manifest as the shifting speed and direction of the brush are
evident in the strokes of ink.As Lothar Ledderose has demonstrat
ed, itwas in this period that calligraphy was elevated to a noble
art and increasingly played a specific role in propagating a
cohesive social structure among the literati.6
Toward the end of the Han Dynasty the last three important
forms of Chinese calligraphy appeared. These were the standard
script (kaishu; see Figure 5) and two more abbreviated forms: the
running, or semi-cursive, script (xingshu; see Figure 6) and the
grass, or cursive, script (caoshu; see Figure 7).7 Stillwidely used to
day, these formswere brought to the apex of classical perfection
by the early Six Dynasties Period Sage of Calligraphy,Wang Xizhi
(307-365) and his sonWang Xianzhi (344-388).8
Figure 5. Ink rubbing of a detail of the

Huangting Jing (Classic of the Yellow
Court).Wang Xizhi, 307-365, Eastern Jin
Dynasty. (AfterShodo zenshu, vol. 4.)
Figure 6. Detail of Lanting xu (Orchid
Pavilion preface, Bazhu diyi version).
Wang Xizhi (307-365), Eastern Jin
Dynasty. Palace Museum, Beijing. (After
Shoseki meihin skan, vol. 22.)
Figure 7. Ink rubbing of a detail of the
Shiqi tie.Wang Xizhi, 307-365, Eastern
JinDynasty. (AfterShoseki meihin sbkan,
vol. 21.)

376
At the end of the Han Dynasty excessive attachment to the art of
calligraphywas also attacked, particularlywhen the relatively new
cursive formswere in the ascendant. The lateHan critic Zhao Yi's
"A Pox on the Draft Script" (Feicaoshu) of ca. AD200 is ironically
the earliest known text to discuss calligraphy. Zhao believed that
writers should concentrate their energies on studying the classics
and the ancient seal script, and criticized the cursive forms as
mere abbreviations devised by clerks and scribes-not something
to be elevated to a high art. Thus he mocked his contemporaries
who burned the midnight oil perfecting cursive script:
At night they are diligent without resting; by day they do not stop
to eat. They will wear out a brush in ten days, and in one month
use several cakes of ink. Their collars and sleeves are as though
dyed dark; their lips and teeth are perpetually black [from sucking
the ink-laden brush tip to a fine point].9
Zhao ends his treatise categorically: "He who looks down and
hunts for fleas has no time to look at Heaven." It is fortunate that
few paid heed to his warning. By the fourth century AD cursive
scriptwas widely practiced and universally considered an art form
in itsown right. By at least the Tang Dynasty (618-906), mastery of
the five principal forms of Chinese calligraphy (seal, clerical, stan
dard, running, and cursive) became the mark of a highly cultivated
individual.
The greatest masters of calligraphy during the Tang often turned
it into a performance art. Thus, a calligraphy performance of wild
cursive script (kuang caoshu) by the eccentric Buddhist monk
Huaisu in the eighth century led the poet LiBo towrite his "Ballad
of the Cursive Script," full of magnificent aural and visual imagery:
This youthful monk named Huaisu,
His cursive script the world praises as being unique.
From his inkstone hollow fly forth fish of the North Sea,
For his brush tips they had to exterminate the hares of Mount
Zhong.
At the height of Autumn when the air's breath turns crisp,
Wine lovers and poets fill the hall.
Paper and silk are arranged in several boxes,
The Xuanzhou inkstone's ink luster isbright.
Our master [Huaisu], after becoming drunk, sits in a rope chair,
In no time he has swept through several thousand sheets.

377
Like a whirlwind and driving rain, it amazes us with its sighing
sounds,
Like falling flowers and flying snow-how vast and boundless!
When he gets up and faces a wall, he doesn't stop his hand,
There's one line of characters big as dippers.
In total amazement-like hearing spirits and ghosts alarmed,
From time to time all we see isdragons and snakes running.
On the left coiled up, on the right converging, like frightening
lightning,
Its forms are like the armies of Chu and Han attacking each other. 10
Since calligraphy can best be appreciated with some understand
ing of the context inwhich itwas created, Ihave chosen six ex
amples from theMuseum collection for discussion here. These
works illustrate to great advantage the wide variety in script form,
historical style, format, function, patronage, and individual genius
in the laterdevelopment of classical calligraphy inChina.
By far the most famous work of Chinese calligraphy in the
Cleveland collection is a fan-shaped album leaf by the thirteenth
century Emperor Zhao Yun, better known by his temple name,
Lizong (Figure8a).11 Lizongwas the fifth emperor of the Southern
Song Dynasty and reigned for the forty years between 1225 and
1264 (Figure9).12He was the nephew and adopted son of
Ningzong (r. 1195-1224), though he was not Ningzong's choice as
heir-apparent. Lizong's accession to the throne was engineered
after his father's death by his stepmother, the Empress Yang, a
beautiful and murderous woman who had become Ningzong's
ranking concubine in 1200 and empress several years later.13
Despite his relative longevity, Lizongwas an ineffectual ruler
whose tenure witnessed the initialdecline of the Southern Song
Dynasty. During his reign, a treatywas reached with Genghis Khan
agreeing that both China and theMongols would fight the JinTar
tars,who had occupied northern China in 1127. This policy
backfired, however, as the defeat of the Jin in 1234 removed the
last remaining buffer state between the Southern Song empire and
theMongols. In 1279 theMongols rode into the Song capital of
Lin'an (Hangzhou), and the Yuan Dynasty under Khubilai Khan
was firmly established. It is ironic that during Lizong's reign in the
thirteenth century, China witnessed an astonishing period of eco
nomic growth and artistic brilliance.

378
Figure 8a. Couplet by Wang Wei Lizong's calligraphic fan illustrates the close relationship between
(701-761). Fan-shaped album leaf, ink
on silk, 25 x 24.9 cm., dated 1256. emperor and court painter in traditionalChina. On this leaf of
Emperor Lizong, r. 1225-1264. Southern finely-woven silk the emperor inscribed a couplet from a famous
Song Dynasty. John L. Severance Fund, poem by the Tang Dynasty poet-painter Wang Wei (701-761):
CMA61.422
Walking to where the water ends,
I sit and watch when clouds arise. 14
Reading down in the traditionalChinese manner beginning at the
upper right, each line consists of five characters written in running,
or semi-cursive, script. The characters are carefully placed and in
scribed in a polished, elegant hand. Each character is surrounded
by equal amounts of silk. Lizong's calligraphy is characterized by

379
Figure 8b. Scholar Reclining and Watch free brush movements, open and angular character structures, a
ing Rising Clouds. Fan-shaped album balance between thin and thick strokes, very fine ligatures be
leaf, ink and light color on silk, 25 x
25.2 cm. Ma Lin, active mid-thirteenth tween strokes, and sharp hooks at the bottom ends of the thick
century, Southern Song Dynasty. John L. vertical strokes.
Severance Fund, CMA61.421
Following the couplet is a smaller three-character inscription
"Presented to Zhonggui"-and two seals.15The first seal, in the
shape of a double-gourd, has two seal-script characters reading:
bingchen (a cyclical date corresponding to AD 1256). The second
seal is square with four seal-script characters, reading: Yushu zhi
bao (Treasureof imperialwriting). Similar seals are found on numer
ous other examples of Lizong's calligraphy.16

380 Figure 9. Portrait of Emperor Lizong (r. \
1225-1264). (After Sancai tuhui. )
Although Lizong's calligraphy iswidely seen as the most in

dividual of all the Southern Song emperors, three discrete sources
for his style are apparent. The first and probably major influence
was his stepmother, Empress Yang, also known as Yang Meizi. She
was a remarkably gifted calligrapher, and like Lizong, the majority
of her surviving inscriptions accompany paintings by Southern
Song court artists.17 A good example is the album of Water Studies
by Ma Yuan in the Beijing Palace Museum, inwhich each leaf
bears a title inscribed by Empress Yang (Figure 10).18 In the leaf il
lustrated here, the title reads:Huang He niliu (Crosscurrents in the
Yellow River). Even though written in standard script, the inscrip
tion shares with Lizong'swriting a clear formal structure, polished
elegance, and the pronounced emphasis on the flared stroke
descending diagonally to the right.
A second important influence on Lizong's calligraphy was the
work of the Tang Dynasty master Yan Zhenqing (Figure 11), whose
powerful style was very likely transmitted to Lizong by his step
mother. Lizong's angular turns and hooks, which stand out as the
most individual features of his writing, can be directly traced to the
style of Yan Zhenqing. At the same time, the influence of Lizong's
ancestor Gaozong, the firstSouthern Song emperor (r. 1127-1162),
should not be overlooked. Gaozong is considered the finest callig
rapher of all the Southern Song emperors. He began by following
the Northern Song master Huang Tingjian (1045-1105), but eventual
ly based his style on the classical works ofWang Xizhi (307-365),
the preeminent Sage of Calligraphy. Gaozong's Thousand Character
Classic (Qian zi wen; see Figure 12) reveals the strong influence of
Wang Xizhi, and a comparison of the running script characters in
this textwith Lizong's characters shows a shared interest in clarity
of overall composition, clear and well-balanced character struc
tures, and strong, elegant movements of the brush.19

Figure 10. Crosscurrents in the Yellow L 381
River, from Water Studies. Album leaf, ;.i:!:
ink on silk. Ma Yuan, active early thir- i
teenth century, Southern Song Dynasty.

Palace Museum, Beijing. (After Song Ma
Yuan shui tu. )
S n
Figure 11. Detail of Official Proclama

tion. Yan Zhenqing (709-785), Tang
Dynasty. Shodo hakubutsukan, Tokyo.
(After Shodo zenshu, vol. 10.)
Figure 12. Detail of Qianzi wen

(Thousand character classic). Emperor
Gaozong (r. 1127-1162), Southern Song
Dynasty. Shanghai Museum. (After
ChDgoku shoseki taikan, vol. 6.)

382 Figure 13. Landscape with Setting Sun.
The couplet inscribed by Lizong inspired a painting by the court

artist Ma Lin, illustrating Wang Wei's poem (Figure 8b). The paint
ing and the emperor's calligraphy were then mounted onto the
frame of a fan, creating a single work of art. Ma Lin, with a one
corner composition, depicts a scholar reclining next to an expanse
of water which disappears into a void broken by clouds and a
peak in the distance. This mysterious scene provides a visual
counterpart to the emperor's elegant calligraphy. Lizong is known
to have often inscribed paintings by Ma Lin, and both the
calligraphy and painting compare closely toMa's Landscapewith
Setting Sun in the Nezu Museum, Tokyo, with its couplet inscribed
by Lizong in 1254 (Figure 13).20

4 I 383
. t.
Figure 14. FragrantSpring, Clearing after Ma Lin's FragrantSpring, Clearing after Rain in the National
Rain. Album leaf, ink and light color on
silk, 27.5 x 41.6 cm. Ma Lin. National
Palace Museum, Taipei, with its title inscribed by Empress Yang,
Palace Museum, Taipei. further illustrates the proximity of Ma Lin to the Southern Song im
perial family (Figure 14).21This degree of intimacy does much to
explain the successful aesthetic resonance between the Cleveland
calligraphy by Lizong and its visual interpretation by Ma Lin.
The fan by Lizong illustrates the close relationship inChina
among calligraphy, poetry, and painting, and particularly the crea
tion of a painting inspired by a work of calligraphy. The following
two inscriptions by Chan Buddhist priests of the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries represent the other, and in later timesmore
common, side of the coin-the inspiration of calligraphy by painting.
Chijue Daochong (1170-1250) was a slightly older contemporary
of Emperor Lizong.22 Like his fellow priestsWujun Shifan and
Muqi, Daochong was born in Sichuan Province. After failing the
high-level civil service jinshi examination as a young man, he
traveled to the Jiangnan area (south of the [Yangzi] River) in
southeast China and studied Chan at a temple in Raozhou, Jiangxi
Province. He then moved to the Song capital at Lin'an and suc
cessively served as abbot of several of the five leading Chinese
Chan monasteries (theWu Shan or FiveMountains). He died in
1250 at theWanshou Temple on JingShan near Lin'an.

384
:l *In1244, while serving as abbot of the JingdeTemple on Tian
. ,, ',,...^- ..',. tong Shan near Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, Chijue Daochong
wrote a short eulogy (zan) at the top of an anonymous painting
o ^ depicting the historical Buddha Sakyamuni descending from the
This event occurred following the
?: mountains (Figures 15a, 15b).23
Buddha's six-year period of asceticism. After his descent,
Sakyamuni found enlightenment at Bodhgaya, and paintings of the
descent functioned in a Chan context as a visual metaphor for the
Chan adept's own struggle for enlightenment. Paintings of this
theme were also displayed as icons during the celebration of the
Buddha's Enlightenment on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar
month.24
Chijue Daochong's eulogy reads as follows:
Entering themountains, he became completely emaciated,
Over the snow he was wrapped in the frosty cold.
With cool eyes he saw a star
Why did he emerge again among men?25
Figure 15a. ?dkyamuni Descending from

theMountains. Hanging scroll, ink on
paper, 74.6 x 32.5 cm.; inscription by
Chijue Daochong, 1170-1250, dated
1244. Anonymous, thirteenth century,
Southern Song Dynasty. John L.
Figure 15b. Inscription by Chijue
Daochong, dated 1244 (detail of Figure
15a).

385
LtI 1-4i'& v
~~~~
,::~~~~~~~~~~~~:~~~~~iFj
mi
f4~m
Figure 16. Detail of Samyuktagama The poem is followed by the short note: "Eulogized by Daochong
S-utra.Handscroll, ink on paper.
of RearMount Taibo." By his use of the character zan (to eulogize),
Anonymous, eleventh century, Northern
Song Dynasty. Promised gift of JohnM. Daochong clearly indicates that the poem was inspired directly by
Crawford, Jr.,Metropolitan Museum of the painting.
Art, New York.
The text iswritten in elegant standard script (Figure 15b). The
characters are evenly spaced, with every stroke clearly written. It is
evident from comparison with contemporary documents that
Daochong's writing derived from the form known as s-tra script.
This was a highly legible form of standard script used forwriting
sacred Buddhist texts.26 Itevolved inChina in the fourth and fifth
centuries AD, during the Six Dynasties Period. A Northern Song
Dynasty (eleventh century) copy of the Samyuktagama S-utrain the
Metropolitan Museum of Art reveals the stylistic source of
Daochong's calligraphy (Figure 16).27 It is likely that he learned
this orthodox script for the transcription of Buddhist texts as a
young monk. Daochong added, however, to its clear structure and
steady rhythm certain features of brushwork thatwere his alone.
These appear most clearly in the long, sharp hooks at the end of
the vertical strokes. Inaddition, Daochong added a sharp hook at
the top of the curving strokes that descend diagonally to the left.28
These are not characteristic of s-tra script, and the variations give
Daochong's calligraphy a distinctly individual flavor. Such variation
is a key feature of Chinese calligraphy.

386
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?:;?i--?,,,,,;-
???;V-ii?P?- e
s--e-
.?
?p? -
-?,,,L
jgU ?";Bi
I ?.?
D
i
?"'" bC? ;"
--_?-w ;-r
?;?? D?
??""? ??
,,
?1 ?i?i
-
B
a
?? 9'
Figure 19. Portrait of Zhongfeng Figure 17. Letter to Rufu Jindao. Inkon Figure 18. Inscriptionon an anonymous
Mingben (1263-1323). Hanging scroll, paper, dated 1244. Chijue Daochong. painting, Sakyamuni Descending from
ink on paper, 122.1 x 54.5 cm. Yi'an, Private collection, Japan. (AfterBrinker, theMountains. Hanging scroll, ink on
fourteenth century, Yuan Dynasty. Shussan Shaka.) paper, dated 1246. Chijue Daochong.
Kogenji, Hyogo. Private collection, Japan. (AfterBrinker,
Shussan Shaka.)
Other surviving inscriptions by Daochong reveal a range of styles

from the same polished standard script towritings that exhibit less
formal structure and are more spontaneous and relaxed. The
closest comparable examples of Daochong's calligraphy are in
private Japanese collections: a letterwritten less than a month
earlier in 1244 to the priest Rufu Jindao (Figure 17) and the inscrip
tion of 1246 on another anonymous painting of Sakyamuni's de
scent from the mountains (Figure 18).29
In contrast to the ordered legibility of Chijue Daochong's
calligraphy is an inscription by Zhongfeng Mingben (1263-1323),
the most famous Chan priest of the Yuan Dynasty (Figure 19).30
Mingben was a precocious child and astonishingly well-read as an
adult.31He studied Chan on Tianmu Shan inZhejiang Province
with the notorious priest Gaofeng Yuanmiao, known for his strict
discipline and cold and unapproachable manner.32 Attaining
spiritual awakening in 1298, Mingben later founded the first of
several Buddhist retreats near Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. Despite
being famous as an enlightened teacher and administrator, he had
always wanted to live in retirement.Mingben counted among his
best friends the literatiZhao Mengfu (1254-1322) and Feng Zizhen
(1257-after 1327), both of whom were well-known calligraphers
with a serious interest inChan Buddhism. So highly was Mingben
regarded as a calligrapher that his writings were forged-a signifi
cant ifdubious honor inChina.33

11 l! X |!!i||i07
KS || | |
387
X
EE1
m| ! | | | I E~~~~~~~
| |! |
E8 l i| Ei
Ming
En s tex iswrte at th to ofahnigsrleitn
the~ roe Bohstv
wht
~~~~~1 ofCopsso (Gayn or
Avalokitesvara) Inmeiato (Fgr 20a In this caEthpane
is known for~~~he sine hi naein sea scit aln thoerlf
bode Yoghn of Hunh Thi sintr ca be idnife as
of|2 Juj Yoghnamn
that~~~~ ihwo ige salse
Figure 20a. White-Robed Guanyin. Mingben's text is written at the top of a hanging scroll depicting
Hanging scroll, ink on paper, 78.7 x
the white-robed Bodhisattva of or
31.7 cm. Jueji Yongzhong, active early Compassion (Guanyin,
in meditation 20a). In this case the
thirteenth century., Yuan Dynasty. Avalokitesvara) (Figure painter
Purchase from the J. H. Wade of Fund,
1263-1323 is known, for he his name in seal the lower left
Mingben, (detail Figure signed script along
CMA 78.47
border: of Huanzhu. This can be identified as
Yongzhong signature
Figure 20b. Inscription by Zhongfeng that of Jueji Yongzhong, a monk with whom established
Mingben
the Huanzhu'an (Retreat of Existence) near Suzhou in
18a). Illusory
1300.34 sinuous, minimal brushwork creates a
Yongzhong's sharp
line that has been to the appearance of a wood
aptly compared
block print. The inscription by Mingben (Figure 20b) iswritten in
script with a soft brush and pale ink:
running
Residing in right thought,

In the Dragon Samadhi [the Buddha],
Not a single dharma exists.
Wondrously matched in perfect penetration,

Through the innumerable realms, the innumerable realms,
Does he scatter the wind of compassion.
Respectfully presented by Mingben of Huanzhu.35
The style of Zhongfeng Mingben's running script calligraphy is as

bizarre and unorthodox as the style of Chijue Daochong's eulogy
is clear and orthodox. Mingben consciously distorts each charac
ter, the normal bounds of composition to the limit of har

pushing
monious He often a character direct
asymmetry. begins by writing
one con
ly over the previous and completely disregards classical

,
388 Figure 21a. Lady of the Xiang River, 'l' :e - : .-':.:.. : I' ::\ 'is'' *
I:^
detail from the Nine Songs. Handscroll,
inkon paper, dated 1361. ZhangWu,
active mid-fourteenth century, Yuan
Dynasty. Purchase from the J.H. Wade
Fund, CMA59.138
Ay,
+ *W -..
,f
Figure 21b. Inscription by Chu Huan,

active mid-fourteenth century, dated
1361 (detail of Figure 21a).
ventions of structure and brushwork. As a result his characters have

a highly unstable appearance. His brushwork is bold yet extraordi
narily relaxed, and the inscription is carefully balanced with the
{MM painting-Mingben's broad, pale strokes providing a foil for the
elastic lines of Yongzhong's Bodhisattva. Contemporary Chinese
critics compared Mingben's calligraphy to willow leaves.
The contrast between the inscriptions by Daochong and Ming
ben illustrates the enormous stylistic range possible in Song and
Yuan Chan calligraphy, which, as Nakata Yujiro has shown, can be
highly idiosyncratic and which often departs from orthodox struc
tural rules.Although the Chan Buddhists attempted to convey the
essence of a realm beyond the bounds of words, they clearly viewed
certain texts and the calligraphy inwhich theywere inscribed as
useful vehicles of expression. The works of Chijue Daochong and
Zhongfeng Mingben are virtually unknown inChina today. Fortu
nately, however, both men taughtmany of the Japanese monks
who traveled to China to study Chan Buddhism, and as a result
most of their known inscriptions are preserved in Japanese Zen
temples.
A handscroll jointly created by two mid-fourteenth century artists
to illustratea series of hymns sung by shamans in the state of Chu
during the late Bronze Age has a more archaic and unequivocally
Chinese theme (Figure21a).36 Itdepicts the deities of the classical
texts known as the "Nine Songs." These sacred hymns sung by
Shamans form part of the Songs of Chu, one of the oldest an
thologies of Chinese poetry.37 The songs follow a pattern inwhich
a human medium tries to draw a deity down to earth. Usually the
deity descends but refuses to come closer and meet with the
shaman.

The paintings in this scroll are by ZhangWu, one of the most
celebrated Yuan Dynasty masters of the spare baimiao (plain
outline, or uncolored line drawing) technique, while the accompa
nying poems are transcribed by his contemporary Chu Huan, a
gifted but obscure calligrapher. According to a note by Chu Huan
at the end of the scroll dated 1361, ZhangWu copied a painting
389
by the Northern Song Dynasty master LiGonglin (ca. 1049
1106).38
It is fitting thatChu Huan's transcriptions of the "Nine Songs"
are written in the clerical script (lishu) of the Han Dynasty (206 BC
AD 220), for this adds enormously to the archaic feeling of the
handscroll. Indeed, the Songs of Chu were firstannotated during
the Han Dynasty. In this detail (Figure21a) we see the Lady of the
Xiang River, one of two goddesses of the waterway inHunan Pro
vince. The male shaman begins by singing:
God's child has come down to the northern shore,
But her eyes gaze faraway; itmakes me sad.
Nao, nao blows the autumn wind,
Makes waves on [Lake]Dongting, brings down the leaves from the
trees.
Over thewhite nut-grassmy eyes roam
Imade a trystwith this fairone at curtain-time.39
The shaman rides to the far bank of the riverand builds a palace
of fragrantplants in the water, and then waits for the deity's ar
rival.The song continues:
But from the Nine Doubts [Mountain] in a troupe to fetch her
Spirits are coming, many as the clouds.
Idrop my sleeve into the River,
I cast down my thin robe on the shores of the Li.
On a flat island Ipluck the galingale
Meaning to send it to her that is far away.
Though Iknow that the time will not so quickly come again
For a while I stay, pacing to and fro.
It is clear from the last two lines that the Lady of the Xiang River
has met with the shaman. ZhangWu's painting, with its swirling
outlines and minimal ink shading, depicts the Lady floating across
the waves with a female attendant holding a feather fan. The style
isvery close to that of LiGonglin, as demonstrated by surviving
works by the Northern Song artist.40
Of the calligrapher Chu Huan very little is known. He was a
native of the old Southern Song capital of Hangzhou and served in
the official bureaucracy under theMongols as assistant magistrate
of Haining in northern Zhejiang Province; he was also awarded the
honorary title of "CourtGentleman forCeremonial Service."41 It is
known that one way inwhich Chu Huan made a livingwas as a
calligrapher of texts to be carved on stone stelae.42 Two records of
such commissions survive, both dated 1361, the same year as the
Cleveland handscroll.

390
Figure 22. Lisao.Detail of handscroll,

ink on paper, dated 1334. Wu Rui,
1298-1355, Yuan Dynasty. Shanghai
Museum. (AfterShanghai bowuguan
cang lidai fashu xuanji, vol. 14.)
The contemporary critic Tao Zongyi, in his Shushi huiyao of

1376, wrote that Chu Huan studied the seal and clerical script of
Wu Rui (1298-1355), another native of Hangzhou and a well
known scholar who excelled inwriting archaic scripts.43A com
parison between the clerical script of Chu Huan andWu Rui
demonstrates an astonishing stylistic fidelity between the younger
and older masters. Wu Rui's handscroll of 1334 in the Shanghai
Museum is inscribedwith the text of the "Lisao," the principal
poem in the Songs of Chu (Figure 22).44 The texts of the two scrolls
are thus closely related in theme. The composition of Chu Huan's
characters in the Lady of the Xiang River in a faintly traced grid and
their formal structure are very similar features of the two scrolls. In
particular, Chu Huan has completely mastered the sharp elegance
ofWu Rui's clerical script. There are, however, differences. Chu
Huan's horizontal strokes have less curvature, and his endings are
not so sharply flared. The rhythms ofWu Rui's writing are more
languid, but every stroke inChu Huan's inscription is filledwith a
dynamic inner tension. Each character fits perfectly into a square
and floatswith remarkable lightnesswhile appearing to have been
engraved in stone.
The final two works of calligraphy to be considered are titles
written for painted handscrolls. The Yuan painter Yao Tingmei's

Leisure Enough to Spare is a work created in 1360 for a hermit
friend named Du (Figure23b).45 In the following year a bold title
for the painting was written on the silk frontispiece (yinshou) by
the calligrapher Zhang Bi (Figure23a).46 Even less is known about
Zhang than his contemporary Chu Huan. A native of Songjiang in
Jiangsu Province, Zhang was a proficient calligrapher by the age of
391
nine. He mastered the seal, standard, running, and cursive forms,
and in each took as his master Zhao Mengfu (1254-1322), the
finest calligrapher of the Yuan Dynasty.47
Zhang Bi's inscription thus provides the painting's title: You yu
xian (Leisureenough to spare, or literally:Having a surplus of
leisure). The enormous seal script characters are written with bold,
wide strokes. Their style is derived from the xiao zhuanshu, or
small seal script, of the lateBronze Age. The leftmost character,
xian, thus conveys the ancient ideogram meaning leisure,
etymologically comprising the two sides of a gate with a moon
shining between them. It is indicative of the continuity of the
Chinese language over more than two thousand years that the
modern standard script character iswritten with almost the same
form.With each stroke Zhang dipped his brush in the ink, and in
each stroke the ink streaked toward the end in the flyingwhite
Figure 23a. You yu xian (Leisureenough
to spare). Title frontispiece to a painting (feibai)manner often seen inChinese painting. In this technique,
by Yao Tingmei (Figure23b). Hand executed here with a worn-out brush, the hairs of the brush split
scroll, ink on silk. Zhang Bi, active mid to show the silk or paper ground beneath the ink.The flyingwhite
fourteenth century, Yuan Dynasty. John
L.Severance Fund, CMA54.791 technique evolved very early in the history of Chinese calligraphy
Figure 23b. Leisure Enough to Spare.

Handscroll, ink on paper, 23 x 84 cm.,
dated 1360. Yao Tingmei, active four
teenth century, Yuan Dynasty. John L.

392 Figure 24. Record of theMiaoyan Tem
ple inHuzhou. Title frontispiece to a
handscroll, ink on paper. Zhao Mengfu,
Collection, The ArtMuseum, Princeton

University, Princeton, New Jersey.
tispiece to a handscroll, ink on paper. a ( 4)

Zhao Yong, 1289-ca.1363, Yuan s
Dynasty. Liaoning ProvincialMuseum,
Shenyang. (After Liaoning sheng
bowuguan canghua ji.)
and was associated in literarysources with the Han Dynasty

calligrapher Cai Yong (AD 133-192).48 To the left of the title is
Zhanw Bi's zi, or courtesy name, Gongchen, in smaller thin, taper
ing seal script characters. This is followed by two seals: Zhang Bi
zhi yin (Seal of Zhang Bi) and Gongchen.
The close connection between Zhang Bi's calligraphy and the
work of Zhao Mengfu is corroborated by comparing Zhang's fron
tispiece with a seal script frontispiece by Zhao (Figure 24).49 This is
Zhao's own title to his transcription of the Record of the Miaoyan
Temple in Huzhou, written ca. 1309-1310, now in the Art Museum
at Princeton University.50 Zhao Mengfu's bold, architectonic struc
tures are very similar to those of Zhang Bi. Even though Zhang Bi's
strokes are considerably wider than Zhao Mengfu's, they are writ
ten with equal force and concentration on the centered tip of the
brush.
Other technical aspects of Zhang's calligraphy are closer to the
seal script of Zhao Mengfu's son Zhao Yong (1289-ca. 1363). The
characters of Zhao Yong's frontispiece to his painting of bamboo
in the Liaoning ProvincialMuseum--while even more attenuated

393
Figure 26a. Qiaolin baique (A hundred

sparrows in a lofty grove). Title fron
tispiece to a painting attributed to Lin r
Liang (Figure26b). Handscroll, ink on
paper. Jiang Ligang, d. 1491, Ming
Dynasty. John L. Severance Fund, CMA
81.4
Figure 26b. Detail of A Hundred Spar
rows in a LoftyGrove. Handscroll, ink
on silk.Attributed to Lin Liang, active
late fifteenth century, Ming Dynasty.
John L. Severance Fund, CMA81.4
than his father's style-demonstrate a clear interest in the dry

brush flyingwhite technique and the broad, sweeping gestures
seen inZhang Bi's work (Figure 25).51 The accentuated verticality
of Zhang Bi's writing is completely classical in derivation, but the
technique with which his characters are inscribed introduces varia
tions more closely associated with the brush techniques and varied
ink tonalities of cursive script.
A second example of a large-size title is a previously unpublished
handscroll frontispiece written in the large standard script (da
kaishu) often used for formal titles, architectural plaques, and
memorial inscriptions (Figure 26a). Here the title on paper is at
tached to a handscroll painting of sparrows attributed to the early
Ming court painter Lin Liang (Figure26b).52 The calligraphy iswrit
ten by Jiang Ligang (d. 1491), an official of the earlyMing Dynasty
court in Beijing in the late fifteenth century. The large characters
boldly written with broad, sweeping movements of the brush
read: "A Hundred Sparrows in a LoftyGrove" (Qiaolin baique).
The calligrapher used a very large,worn-out brush, and the ink
ranges in tone from pale gray to deep black.

Each stroke iswritten with great confidence, and most begin
with the brush stationary and pressed down to form a large round
dot before being pulled across the paper. Many of Jiang's strokes
end in the same way, with the brush coming to rest and then pulled
back into the just-completed stroke to form another rounded end.
Diagonal strokes descending to the left end in sharp tipswith the
394
brush pulled to expose the hairs. The long diagonal strokes
descending to the right open in a dramatic flare before being
pulled to a sharp tip. The vertical strokes are either rounded at the
ends or pulled back in a jagged hook.
As a unified composition the frontispiece presents a stately,
dignified appearance, with the sweeping diagonal strokes balanced
by the stable horizontal and columnar vertical strokes. At the end
of the title Jiang's signature appears in smaller running script
characters, with the name of the palace hall inwhich he served
and the name of his home town: "On duty in theWenyuan Ge
[Hall of Cultured Profundity]; inscribed by Jiang Ligang of Yong
jia." The character xuan (on duty) iswritten by itself and well
below the name Wenyuan Ge to the upper left, indicating the high
status of the hall inwhich the inscriptionwas written. Situated in
the Forbidden City, itwas the building inwhich the Bureau of
Calligraphy was located and was also one of the halls the
emperors occasionally frequented. A seal follows the signature and
reads:Yutang zhongren (Denizen of the Jade Hall [the imperial
Hanlin Academy]).
JiangLigangwas born inYongjia (Rui'an),Zhejiang Province, in
the mid-fifteenth century.53 He was skilled in calligraphy as a child
and excelled in the standard script (kaishu).At a young age he was
summoned to be a xiucai (a government-subsidized student, or
literally:cultured talent) in the Hanlin Academy in the capital. In
1463, during the reign of the Tianshun emperor, he was appointed
an apprentice drafter in the Proclamations Office of the Grand
Secretariat, the official body that promulgated imperial decrees.
This was undoubtedly due to his extraordinary skill in calligraphy.
By 1485 he had risen to the position of a director in theMinistry of
Personnel. Six years later he received his highest rank, that of vice
minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.54These titlesmay well
have been honorary, since it is clear that Jiangwas valued primari
ly for his skill at writing. According toMing literarysources,
whenever he approached the emperor, he was asked towrite out
imperial proclamations.55When he died, the Hongzhi emperor (r.
1488-1505) granted him high honor with a special funeral.
One account, which may be apocryphal, states that Jiang
Ligang's reputationwas so great that an envoy was sent from Japan
to obtain a tablet inscribedwith his calligraphy for an enormous
gateway.56 After obtaining the inscription, the Japanese boasted
about it for years. Another anecdote claims that such was the
divine power of his calligraphy that once, when he wrote the
characters "Everywhere there is spring"while facing a lake, a pass

395
Figure 27. Scenic Spots along the River ing boat tossed by the waves was suddenly freed and propelled
in Shu. Title frontispiece to an anony
mous thirteenth-century painting. Hand along by a great wind. Such accounts reflect the ancient Chinese
scroll, inkon paper. Ren Daoxun, 1422 belief that calligraphy was close to a divine art.57
1503,Ming Dynasty. FreerGallery of Regardless of the authenticity of these tales, Jiang Ligang's fame
Art, Smithsonian Institution,Washington. was such that his works, likeZhongfeng Mingben's, were forged.58
Nevertheless, not all critics found his highly ordered calligraphy to
their liking. In the late sixteenth century the influential collector
and connoisseur Wang Shizhen stated in his Yiyuan zhiyan that
Jiang'swriting "occasionally did not escape the bounds of
vulgarity."59This opinion undoubtedly reflects the adverse light
intowhich the conservative, official styles of calligraphy practiced
at theMing court in the mid-fifteenth century were thrown in the
laterMing. This in turn can be directly tied to the widespread
criticism in the late sixteenth century of the vapid Chancery style
(taige ti) of earlyMing poetry.60
It is very likely that as a calligrapher Jiang Ligangwas directly
inspired by the calligraphy of his contemporary and fellow
townsman Ren Daoxun (1422-1503), who in 1434 at the age of
twelve was recommended to serve at the imperial court.61 The
great Suzhou literatusWu Kuan, who wrote Ren's epitaph, clearly
stated that this honor was due to his skill in calligraphy.62 Like
Jiang Ligang, Ren Daoxun eventually became aMinister of the
Court of Imperial Sacrifices. His title,written on the frontispiece of
a famous Southern Song topographical landscape depicting the
Yangzi River in Sichuan Province, is inscribed on embossed mica
coated paper in large standard script reading: "Scenic Spots along
the River in Shu" (Figure27).63 Ren Daoxun's characters are struc
turally very similar to Jiang Ligang's, and their stylistic proximity as
calligraphers may stem at least partly from their being contem
poraries from the same town inZhejiang who served in the same
office in the palace in the late fifteenth century.

396 It is also likely that Jiang Ligang's bold and monumental charac
terswere inspired by a major theoretical text on large-scale stan
dard scriptwritten and presented to the JingtaiEmperor in 1451 by
LiChun.64 One of the laws in this treatise, entitled Eighty-Four
Laws in the Construction of LargeCharacters, dictates the standard:
that in characters composed of two equal parts (for example, the
second character from the right in Jiang's title, fin [grove]), the
right side should be larger than the left.Another states that in
characters beginning with a long and dominant horizontal stroke
(as in bai [hundred], the third character from the right), "it is
essential to make the upper part [of the character] completely
cover the lower part."65This type of character is designated tian fu
(heaven-covering). Writing large-scale standard script titles enjoyed
a great vogue during the fifteenth century, and it is not surprising
that among its finest practitioners were court officials such as Jiang
Ligang and Ren Daoxun, individualswho were called on daily to
create inscriptions for use by the imperial household.
These works in theMuseum collection, ranging over three cen
turies in time, only suggest the rich variety of the Chinese calligra
phic tradition. Emperor Lizong's fan underscores the importance of
calligraphy as a mode of artistic expression at the highest levels of
society. Matched with Ma Lin's painting, it illustrates the deep
aesthetic bond between calligraphy, poetry, and painting inChina.
The two inscriptions by the priests Chijue Daochong and
Zhongfeng Mingben illustrate the astonishing stylistic variety possi
ble within a specific genre of calligraphy, that of Chan Buddhist in
scriptions. Finally, the frontispieces of Zhang Bi and JiangLigang il
lustrate the striking combination of elegance and monumentality in
large-scale seal and standard scripts.
Each of these works was created in a different context, and an
understanding of those contexts-the historical traditions inwhich
each writer worked, the meaning of the texts they inscribed, and
the varying functions of their inscriptions-helps us to appreciate
more deeply the significance and beauty of their calligraphy. In dif
ferentways these sixworks illustrate the elevation and function of
calligraphy as an art form of the highest order inChina. This tradi
tion continues today in the People's Republic of China, Taiwan,
and Hong Kong, and because of its continuing social significance
and aesthetic vitality, there is no question of its ending in the
modern age.
Stephen Little
Associate Curator of Chinese Art

Glossary
Note to the reader: This issue of the bail Hongzhi 31,;# 397
Bulletin marks theMuseum's firstpublic
use of the pinyin system for romanizing
Chinese words inplace of theWade-Giles baimiao A Huaisu t.,
system.With the establishment of diplo
matic relations between the United States
and the People's Republic of China on bingchen *A Huang He niliu , t
January 1, 1979, theAmerican govern
ment adopted the pinyin system, and Cai Yong , -
American newspapers and television net
Huang Tingjian
works immediately followed suit. It is -
also being used throughout Europe, caoshu Huanzhu'an T1'.
Canada, and Hong Kong. Pinyin is a
more logical system than theWade-Giles
because itmore accurately approximates
Chan Hunan Ait
the sounds of spoken Mandarin Chinese.
The capital of China, for example, ispro A Huzhou l
nounced Beijing, not Peking.
Chijue Daochong ,
The transition fromWade-Giles to
pinyin has been gradual in theAmerican Chu Jiangnan it
academic and museum world. Since the
1970s, however, Chinese language in Chu Huan
struction in the United States has been Jiangsu
largelyconducted using this system.
Academic journals are now making the da kaishu .-.t Jiangxi jiz
change and an increasing number of
American museums with collections of
FarEastern art currently use the pinyin da zhuanshu n
Jin
system in their labels, publications, and
correspondence. The Cleveland Museum 4 _
of Art will be installing new labels in its Dongting Hu PI
kq Jing Shan
Asian galleries following this system. The
forthcoming loan exhibition from the Fei caoshu A-$ Jingde si f,% .
People's Republic of China, Tomb
Sculpture from Ancient China: The
Quest for Eternity,will also have pinyin feibai tX Jingtai
labels.
Feng Zizhen , t$. jinshi i -
Gaofeng Yuanmiao JuejiYongzhong .&i. C
Gaozong a, kaishu
-
Gongchen A kuang caoshu
Guanyin Li Bo +
Han LiChun 4
Han Yu t LiGonglin
Hangzhou t lin
Hanlin Lin Liang

398 Lin'an Shupu tu
Shushi huiyao -t -1
Lizong
Lisao Af Sichuan al)I
lishu t Song
Ma Lin ,d Songjiang
Ma YuanA sui
'- -,
Miaoyan si f Sun Guoting
Muqi X, Suzhou .i-1
Nao taige ti -st
Ningbo Tang
Ningzong tian fu
pie Tianmu Shan AL-4J
'
Qianzi wen Tianshun Ai
Qiaolin baique ~g* Tiantong Shan -ikJ
Qin Tao Zongyi 1-I,
Qin Shihuang At Wang Shizhen A
Raozhou Wang Xianzhi _
Ren Daoxun 4 4i Wang Xizhi _ .
Rufu Jindao -a4XAt Wang Wei t
Rui'an , Wanli
Shang Wanshou si r
shang gu -A Wenyuan ge -l
Shu Wu Kuan-,

Wu Rui Zhao Mengfu 41iG 399
Wu Shan J Zhao Yi 4
Wujun Shifan Zhao Yong i
xian Zhao Yun p-t
Xiang Zhejiang pr
xiao zhuanshu Zhonggui It4
xingshu Zhongfeng Mingben t+ A *
xiucai Zhou
xuan zhuanshu t
Xuanzhou
Yan Zhenqing
Yang Meizi
Yao Tingmei
yinshou
Yiyuan zhiyan
Yongjia
You yu xian
Yuan
Yushu zhi bao
Yutang zhongren
zan
Zhang Bi
Zhang Wu

400 Translations are by the author unless 11. This work and the painting by Ma
otherwise noted. Lin towhich it ismatched have been
1. Published inGugong fashu, 21 vols. published in Sherman E. Lee, "Scattered
Pearls Beyond theOcean," CMA
(Taipei:National Palace Museum, 1962), Bulletin, 51 (February1964), figs. 5, 6.
vol. 2.
Lizong's calligraphy alone is published
2. Published in Shoseki meihin sokan, inTseng Yu-ho Ecke, Chinese
125 vols. (Tokyo:Nigensha, 1958), vol. Calligraphy (Philadelphia: Philadelphia
4. On the Stone Drums and their date, Museum of Art, 1971), no. 29, while Ma
see Zhang Guangyuan, "The Stone Lin's fan appears in Eight Dynasties of
Drums and the Glory of Ch'in Culture," Chinese Painting: The Collections of the
National Palace Museum Bulletin, 13, Nelson Gallery-AtkinsMuseum, Kansas
nos. 3-4 (1978). City, and The Cleveland Museum of Art
(Cleveland, 1980), no. 57 (hereafter
3. Translated in Stephen Owen, The cited as EightDynasties).
Poetry of Meng Chiao and Han Yu (New
Haven: Yale University Press, 1975), p. 12. Biographical informationon Lizong
249. is contained inTuotuo et al., eds., Song
shu (1346; reprintBeijing: Zhonghua
4. On the Qin xiao zhuanshu, see Fu
shuju, 1977), chap. 243:8658-8660.
Shen, et al., Traces of the Brush: Studies
inChinese Calligraphy (New Haven: 13. See the biography of EmpressYang
Yale University Press, 1977), p. 43, and inHerbert Franke, ed., Sung Biogra
Nakata Y-jiro, Chinese Calligraphy phies, 4 vols. (Wiesbaden, 1976), 3:
(Tokyo:Weatherhill, 1983), no. 7, pp. 1222-1226; see also Chiang Chao-shen,
164-166. "The Identityof Yang Mei-tzu and the
5. Nakata, Chinese Calligraphy, pp. Paintings of Ma Yian," National Palace
Museum Bulletin, 2, no. 2 (May 1967),
111-112.
1-15, and no. 3 (July1967), 9-14.
6. Lothar Ledderose, "Chinese 14. The entire poem of eight lines, en
Calligraphy: ItsAesthetic Dimension and titled "My Estate on Mount Zhongnan,"
Social Function," Orientations, October reads as follows:
1986, pp. 35-50. See also hisMi Fu and
the Classical Tradition of Chinese Inmiddle age Igrew fond of the Dao,
Calligraphy (Princeton: Princeton Late in life I've made my home at the
University Press, 1979), pp. 28-33. foot of Mount Zhongnan.
Each timemy inspiration rises, I alone
7. These works byWang Xizhi are
wander,
published respectively inShodo zenshu, Among superb scenes Ialone know.
25 vols. (Tokyo:Heibonsha, 1960), 4:
Walking towhere thewater ends,
pls. 8-9, 18-19, and 66-67. I sit and watch when clouds arise.
8. Ledderose,Mi Fu, pp. 12-28. By chance Imeet an old neighbor,
We talk and laugh, with no set time to
9. Translated inWilliam Acker, Some return.
T'ang and Pre-T'angTexts on Chinese
Painting, 2 vols. (Leiden: P. Brill, 1954), (Tangshisanbai shou [Hong Kong:
1: Ivi-lvii. Chenxiangji shuju, n.d.], p. 154.)
10. For a slightly different translation 15. This individual remains unidentified.
and a discussion of this poem and its
16. For a listof Lizong's surviving
imagery, see JonathanChaves, "The calligraphic works and their documenta
Legacy of Ts'ang Chieh: TheWritten tion, see Xu Bangda, "Nan Song dihou
Word asMagic," Oriental Art, 23, no. 2 tihua shu kaobian," Wen Wu, 1981, no.
(Summer 1977), 212.
6, pp. 57-59.
17. The influence of Empress Yang on
Lizong's calligraphy is discussed by Xu
Bangda (ibid., p. 57).

18. The entire album is reproduced in 25. Iwould like to acknowledge the 401
Song Ma Yuan shui tu (Beijing:Wenwu assistance of John R.McRae, Harvard

chubanshe, 1958). University, in the translation and inter
19. Published inChugoku shoseki pretation of Daochong's inscription.
According to Dr. McRae, the final line
taikan, vol. 6: Shanhai hakubutsukan refers to "Sakyamuni's initial reluctance
(Tokyo:Kodansha, 1986), pis. 18-19. to tell the world about his newfound
Compare also Gaozong's Proclamations
Granted to Liang Rujia, published in enlightenment-he had to be formally
invited to teach by [the Hindu gods] In
Nakata, Chinese Calligraphy, pi. 58. The dra and Brahma so as to avoid retiring
influence of Yan Zhenqing and from theworld forever right then and
Gaozong on Lizong's calligraphy is there" (letterof September 15, 1987).
discussed by Xu Bangda ("Nan Song
dihou tihua shu kaobian," p. 57). See 26. On the sDtra script, see Hirao Ken
also Chu Hui-liang, "ImperialCalligra sho, "BuddhistManuscripts," inNakata,
phy of the Southern Sung" (paper Chinese Calligraphy, pp. 123-125.
presented at the symposiumWords and 27. Published in Ecke, Chinese Calligra
Images:Chinese Poetry, Calligraphy,
and Painting,Metropolitan Museum of phy, no. 20.
Art, New York, May 20-22, 1985), 28. Known technically as the pie stroke;
pp. 31-35. see, for example, the fourth character
down in the fourth column from the
20. Published inOsvald Siren, Chinese
right, ren (man).
Painting: LeadingMasters and Principles,
7 vols. (London: LundHumphries, 1955 29. Helmut Brinker, Shussan Shaka
58), 3: pi. 294. Another fan-shaped Darstellungen in der Malerei Ostasiens
album leaf decorated with an example (Bern:Peter Lang, 1983), pp. 84-87, pls.
of Lizong's calligraphy (Quatrainon a 93, 94.
Winter Lake) that compares closely with
30. Published in Sherman E. Lee and
the Cleveland leaf is in the JohnM.
Wai-kam Ho, Chinese Art under the
Crawford, Jr.,Collection at theMetro
politanMuseum of Art, New York; Mongols: The Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368)
(Cleveland, 1968), no. 197.
published inKwan S.Wong, Master
pieces of Sung and Yuan Dynasty Calli 31. On Zhongfeng Mingben, see Chun
graphy from the JohnM. Crawford Jr. fang Yu, "Chung-fengMing-pen and
Collection (New York: China Institute, Ch'an Buddhism in the Yuan," inHok
1982), no. 7, pp. 47-49, and Fu Shen lamChan andWm. Theodore de Bary,
and Nakata Yujiro,Obei sh-uz Chugoku eds., Yuan Thought (New York: Colum
hosho meisekishD, 4 vols. (Tokyo, 1984), bia University Press, 1982), pp. 419-477.
2: pi. 26. This painting is published in Eight
21. Gugong minghua, 10 vols. (Taipei: Dynasties, no. 97.
National Palace Museum, 1966-68), 4: 32. Yu, "Chung-fengMing-pen and
pi. 20. Ch'an Buddhism," p. 424.
22. Biographical informationon Chijue 33. Ibid.,pp. 433-434. See also Jan Fon
Daochong is taken from Toyo bijutsu, 2 tein andMoney L.Hickman, Zen Paint
vols. (Tokyo:Asahi shimbunsha, 1967), ing and Calligraphy (Boston:Museum of
1: 93-94. Fine Arts, 1970), p. 40. For examples of
23. Published inHelmut Brinker, surviving letters by Zhao Mengfu sent to
"Shussan Shaka in Sung and Yuan Paint Mingben, see Shodo geijutsu, 24 vols.
(Tokyo, 1970-73), 7: nos. 132-135. For
ing,"Ars Orientalis, 9 (1973), fig. 10, an example of a forgedMingben inscrip
and Eight Dynasties, no. 65.
tion (spuriouslydated twenty-one years
24. Brinker, "Shussan Shaka in Sung afterMingben's death), see Gugong
and Yuan Painting," p. 27 (quoting shuhua ji, 47 vols. (Beijing:Gugong
Nakamura Hajime, Shin Bukkyo jiten bowuyuan, 1930-36), 32: pi. 635; also
[Tokyo, 1962], p. 547a). recorded inHu Jing,et al., Shiqu baoji
sanbian (1816; reprint,Taipei: National
Palace Museum, 1969), p. 2561).

402 34. For a discussion of thiswork and 45. Published in EightDynasties, no.
JuejiYongzhong, see Ebine Toshiro, 112; see also Richard Barnhart, "Yao
"TheWhite-Robed Guanyin by Yong Yen-ch'ing, T'ing-mei, ofWu-hsing," Ar
zhong of Huanzhu" (in Japanese), Kobi tibusAsiae, 39, no. 2 (1977), fig. 2.
jutsu, 34 (August 1971), 86-96. See also 46. This frontispiece has been published
EightDynasties, no. 97. in Suzuki, ChDgoku kaiga sogo zuroku, 5
35. As in the case of the inscription by vols. (Tokyo, 1982), 1: no. A22-078.
Daochong, Iwould like to acknowledge 47. Zhang Bi is not to be confused with
the generous assistance of Dr. McRae in
the translation. the better-known Zhang Bi (writtenwith
a different surname) of the earlyMing
36. Published in Eight Dynasties, no. 96. Dynasty who specialized in cursive
37. David Hawkes, Ch'u Tz'u: The script. Biographical information on the
Yuan calligrapher Zhang Bi is found in
Songs of the South (Oxford, 1959). Tao Zongyi, Shushi huiyao, chap. 7:15a.
38. LiGonglin is credited with having On Zhao Mengfu's seal script, see Tao
firstgiven visual form to the "Nine Zongyi, Shushi huiyao, chap. 7:2a-b.
Songs" in the late eleventh century AD. 48. See Ma Zonghuo, Shulin zaofian
See Deborah Gais Muller, "LiKung-lin's
'Chiu-ko t'u:' A Study of the Nine Songs (1934; reprint,Beijing:Wenwu chuban
Handscrolls in the Sung and Yuan she, 1984), chap. 4:27-29.
Dynasties" (Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 49. Published inWen Fong, et al., Im
1981), pp. 7-10. ages of theMind (Princeton: Princeton
39.With minor changes, the translation University Press, 1984), no. 7, pp. 284
287.
is that of ArthurWaley; see his The
Nine Songs: A Study of Shamanism in 50. For a discussion of thiswork, see
Ancient China (London:George Allen Chiang I-han,"Chao Meng-fu Huzhou
and Unwin, 1935), pp. 33-34. Miaoyansi juan," National Palace Muse
um Quarterly, 10, no. 3 (Spring 1976),
40. Cf. LiGonglin's Five Horses and 59-81.
Grooms, published inChu-tsing Li, "The
Freer Sheep and Goat and Chao Meng 51. Published in Liaoning sheng
fu's Horse Paintings," Artibus Asiae, 30, bowuguan canghua ji, 2 vols. (Beijing:
no. 4 (1968), fig. 10. Wenwu chubanshe, 1962), 1: 85.
41. Yu Jianhua,Zhongguo meishujia ren 52. CMA81.4 A Hundred Sparrows in a
ming cidian (Shanghai:Renmin meishu LoftyGrove, handscroll, inkon silk,
chubanshe, 1980), p. 1375. 28.6 x 498.2 cm. Attributed to Lin
42. EightDynasties, p. 121. Liang, active late fifteenth century, Ming
Dynasty. John L. Severance Fund. Ex
43. Tao Zongyi, Shushi huiyao (1376), hibition: The Cleveland Museum of Art,
chap. 7:14a. On Wu Rui, see idem, 1982: The Year inReview for 1981 (cat.,
chap. 7:11a, and Yu Jianjua,Zhongguo CMA Bulletin, 68 [February 1982]), no.
meishujia renming cidian, p. 312. 127, repr. p. 73.
44. Shanghai bowuguan cang lidai fashu 53. The most extensive information on
xuanji, 20 vols. (Beijing:Wenwu Jiang Ligang is found in JiaoHong,
chubanshe, 1964), vol. 14: YuanWu Rui comp., Guochao xianzheng lu (1616),
lishu Lisao zhuanshu Qianziwen. It is chap. 22:93a. Jiang Ligangwas also a
also significant thatWu Rui inscribed painter; see Jiang Shaoshu, Wushengshi
the texts of the "Nine Songs" on two shi (1720; Huashi congshu ed.), chap.
other painted handscrolls of this subject 2:18. One of his surviving paintings is il
by ZhangWu, dated 1346 (now in the lustrated in To0s genmin meiga taikan
ShanghaiMuseum and the JilinProvin (Tokyo, 1929), pl. 393.
cial Museum; the latterpublished inXie
Yongmian, "Tan ZhangWu di Jiuge tu,"
Wen Wu, 1977, no. 11, pp. 64-68, pls.
6-9).

54. Yu Jianhua (Zhongguomeishujia ren 403
ming cidian, p. 579) states that Jiang
became vice-minister of the Court of Im
perial Sacrifices, while JiaoHong's com
pilation states that he served in the
Court of the ImperialStables. The
names of the two offices are often inter
changed inMing and Qing sources
(Taichang xiaoqing and Taipu xiaoqing).
55. JiaoHong, comp., Guochao xian
zheng lu, chap. 22:93a.
56. Quoted in Yu Jianhua,Zhongguo

meishujia renming cidian, p. 579.
57. On this subject, see Chaves,

"Legacy of Ts'ang Chieh: The Written
Word asMagic."
58. For an example, see his transcription
of the Heart SDtra (dated to theWanli
reign in the late sixteenth century),
recorded inZhang Zhao, et al., Shiqu
baoji (1745; reprint,Taipei: National
Palace Museum, 1971), p. 64.
59. Quoted inYu Jianhua,Zhongguo
meishujia renming cidian, p. 579.
60. On the Chancery style (taige ti) and
the reaction against it in the sixteenth
century, see Yoshikawa Kojiro,Genmin
shi gaisetsu (Tokyo: Iwanami, 1963), pp.
162 ff. See also Daniel Bryant, "Three
Varied Centuries of Ming Verse-A Brief
Note on Ming Poetry," Renditions, no.
8 (August 1977), 83.
61. Wu Kuan, Paoweng jiacang ji
(1509), chap. 64:15a-16a; see also Jiao
Hong, comp., Guochao xianzheng lu,
chap. 212:79a-80a.
62. Wu Kuan, Paoweng jiacang ji, chap.
64:15a
63. FreerGallery of Art, acc. no. 16.539
published in Suzuki, Ch-goku kaiga
sogo zuroku, 1: no. A21-088.
64. Recorded inWang Yuanqi, et al.,
Peiwenzhai shuhua pu (1708), chap.
4:44b-50a.
65. Translated in Lucy Driscoll and Ken
jiToda, Chinese Calligraphy (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1935), p.
54.


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Chinese Calligraphy

Author(s): Stephen Little

This content downloaded from 92.14.59.50 on Mon, 24 Feb 2014 17:45:57 PM

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Figure 5. Ink rubbing of a detail of the

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This content downloaded from 92.14.59.50 on Mon, 24 Feb 2014 17:45:57 PM

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Although Lizong's calligraphy iswidely seen as the most in

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teenth century, Southern Song Dynasty.

Figure 11. Detail of Official Proclama

Figure 12. Detail of Qianzi wen

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The couplet inscribed by Lizong inspired a painting by the court

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Figure 15a. ?dkyamuni Descending from

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Other surviving inscriptions by Daochong reveal a range of styles

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Residing in right thought,

Wondrously matched in perfect penetration,

Respectfully presented by Mingben of Huanzhu.35

The style of Zhongfeng Mingben's running script calligraphy is as

ter, the normal bounds of composition to the limit of har

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Figure 21b. Inscription by Chu Huan,

ventions of structure and brushwork. As a result his characters have

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Figure 22. Lisao.Detail of handscroll,

The contemporary critic Tao Zongyi, in his Shushi huiyao of

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Figure 23b. Leisure Enough to Spare.

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Collection, The ArtMuseum, Princeton

tispiece to a handscroll, ink on paper. a ( 4)

and was associated in literarysources with the Han Dynasty

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Figure 26a. Qiaolin baique (A hundred

than his father's style-demonstrate a clear interest in the dry

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This content downloaded from 92.14.59.50 on Mon, 24 Feb 2014 17:45:57 PM

Gaofeng Yuanmiao JuejiYongzhong .&i. C

Hanlin Lin Liang

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Lisao Af Sichuan al)I

Muqi X, Suzhou .i-1

Nao taige ti -st

pie Tianmu Shan AL-4J

Qiaolin baique ~g* Tiantong Shan -ikJ

Qin Tao Zongyi 1-I,

Qin Shihuang At Wang Shizhen A

Raozhou Wang Xianzhi _

Ren Daoxun 4 4i Wang Xizhi _ .

Rufu Jindao -a4XAt Wang Wei t