Poems and Essays in Running Script

The three pieces of calligraphy that are mounted as one in this scroll were once collected by the Qing collector Pan Shicheng and their respective rubbings are all included in the collector’s compendia of calligraphic collections. But it was after they had been dispersed that the three works became mounted together.

Zhang Yu, a native of Qiantang (present-day Hangzhou, Zhejiang), was a renowned Daoist adept who was much revered by contemporary literati. His literary, painting and calligraphic genius was regarded by Ni Zan as matchless among Daoist priests of the Yuan dynasty. The poem featured in the present scroll was composed after Zhang’s viewing of the portraits of five gentlemen and two clergymen, namely Su Shi, Zhao Bian, Hu Ze, Su Che, Qin Guan, Monk Daoqian and Monk Yuanjing, at the Fangyuan Abbey in Hangzhou through the courtesy of Monk Zhao. A month later, he revisited the abbey with Monk Chun and Monk Yuanjing and wrote the poem for presentation to the former. The occurrence of the names of these two Buddhist friends in this and other calligraphic works by Zhang is a testimony to the calligrapher’s friendship with Buddhist clerics.

In his early years, Zhang learned calligraphy from Zhao Mengfu and is said to undergo transformation after exposure to the Li Xuanjing Bei (Stele for Li Xuanjing). The tilted and squarish-round characters seen in the piece are apparently borrowed from Zhang Congshen’s version of the stele.

Yang Weizhen, a native of Zhuji (present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang), qualified as jinshi in 1327. His career, however, failed to flourish despite his high caliber, which was very much a price he paid for his vocal criticism. Dejected and frustrated, he sought fulfillment from writing poetry among other genres. This he did so brilliantly that he has come to be known as the founder of an eponymous school.

Yang’s poem written in cursive script, although being undated, is believed to be executed no earlier than 1366, or the year that the poem is known to be composed when he had relocated to Songjiang for seven years. Yang indulged himself in all the worldly pleasures that any retired literati could hope for and was socially quite active. Many of his poems, including the present one, were in fact created on such occasions. If the calligraphy is indeed dated the same year the poem was composed, Yang would have been 71. The running-cursive script, for one, is typical of the calligrapher’s late-year style with its affinities with the draft-cursive script and relative compact spacing between columns. The overall jaggedness was considered to be below par by orthodox standards. It is therefore not surprising that Yang has been noted more for his literature.

Wen Xin, a native of Yongjia (present-day Wenzhou, Zhejiang), was noted for his refreshing poetry. Believed to be born around 1306, Wen was already in his 60s when he wrote the poem. As a talented young man, Wen belonged with Zhang Yu and Yang Weizhen in a trio that comprised a Buddhist, a Daoist and a literatus. As time went by, he receded into relative anonymity and his works seldom interested collectors. Among his five extant works, this particular poem is the most placid probably because it was meant to be a preface written by request.