Selections

Ode on Bitter Bamboo Shoots

Huang T'ing-chien (1045-1105), Sung Dynasty
Album leaf, ink on paper, 31.7 x 51.2 cm

Huang T'ing-chien, a native of Kiangsi province, excelled at running and cursive script. His horizontally elongated characters and slightly wavering strokes have a centered and powerful quality to them. His direct and handsome style has an overall harmony and expressive quality that reveals the beauty of brushwork done at an angle for a distinctive manner. Although his style appears somewhat awkward, it actually reflects his mature and individual manner, which is quite different from traditional formulae and in line with Sung standards of calligraphy. This is even revealed in the unusual choice of subject matter for poetry--bitter bamboo shoots.

Emperor Hui-tsung had the highest praise for Huang, whose calligraphy had a major influence on the style of the period. He was one of the "Four Masters of the Northern Sung." In this piece, the brushwork is strong and elongated in an expressive manner. These features reflect the elegant harmony of his untrammeled and heroic manner.

This leaf is from the album "Calligraphic Treasures of the Four Sung Masters."

Ode on the White Feather Fan

Tung Ch'i-ch'ang (1555-1636), Ming Dynasty
Hanging scroll, ink on satin, 136.5 x 60.2 cm

Though Tung Ch'i-ch'ang was a "chin-shih" civil service candidate and went on to serve in office, he led a rather low-key career as an official. Instead, he spent much of his time in the dedicated pursuit of the connoisseurship and practice of painting and calligraphy. Thus, he became one of the most influential artists and theorists of the late Ming.

Chang Chiu-ling, a famous poet and prime minister of the T'ang dynasty (618-907), was promoted by the powerful officials at court, so Emperor Hsüan-tsung awarded him a white feather fan. Chang thereupon composed a commemorative ode in which he implied the importance of wisdom in terms of self-preservation, especially at court. This work was transcribed by Tung Ch'i-ch'ang in 1632 at the advanced age of 77 but still retains his consistently free and elegantly harmonious brushwork for an almost unbounded style.

Semi-Cursive Calligraphy

Cheng Hsieh (1693-1765), Ch’ing Dynasty
Hanging scroll, ink on paper, 105 x 50 cm

Cheng Hsieh was skilled in poetry, calligraphy, and painting; in the latter, he worked primarily in the genre of flowers, trees, and rocks-achieving excellence in orchids and bamboo. He was also accomplished in calligraphy, combining the clerical and standard scripts. He was known as one of the Eight Eccentrics of Yangchow.

In this scroll, Cheng Hsieh uses a lively brush. Each column has a free and flowing quality that is the result of the inter-relationship he achieves between the characters in each column. The total work possesses a spirit of vitality and is considered one of his finest works.

This work has been entrusted to the Museum by Mr. Lin Po-shou.