Du Fu’s Poems in Running Script

Dong Qichang, a native of Huating (present-day Songjiang, Shanghai), was qualified as jinshi through civil examinations in 1589, and was recognized with promotions for three consecutive reigns to become Minister of Rites. Having an enviable collection of and exposure to painting and calligraphic masterpieces, he kindled a revivalist fervor with his painting theory of the Northern and Southern Schools and left behind a legacy as the founder of the Huating school of calligraphy.

Once in the Qing imperial collection, this copy of three poems by the Tang poet Du Fu is professed to be written in the style of Shengjiao Xu (Preface to Sacred Teachings), the legendary masterpiece produced by Monk Huairen with characters purportedly gleaned from Wang Xizhi’s calligraphies. Throughout his life, Dong took a special interest in the classic. So profound were his insights and understanding that he went on to authenticate its various Song rubbings and concluded that the piece was actually Huairen’s reinterpretation of Wang Xizhi’s style. Seemingly paradoxical, his advice for emulating the Jin icon through copying the reinterpretation is not to encumber oneself with formal likeness but rather to concentrate on capturing its spiritual essence. This perhaps explains why resemblance to the Preface is nonexistent in the present scroll as perceptively observed by Zhang Zhao in his colophon.

Another calligraphic doyen whom Dong admired a lot was Mi Fu, whom he believed to be an inspiring portal leading to the Jin masters and no less than 12 of Mi’s works he had viewed between the ages of 25 and 45. It is said that his modelling efforts in the respect are most revelatory in the works that he produced after turning 70. In this specimen, done at the age of 72, Mi’s vestiges are elusive at best. Yet the leisurely ease that radiates from the calligraphy manifests the enchanting aura of Eastern Jin interpretation.

The favour bestowed by emperors especially Kangxi placed Dong on a pedestal, to the exclusion of almost all other calligraphic models in the Qing dynasty. Unfortunately, the overly dogmatic pursuit of abstract likeness has led to abuse, degeneration and eventually decline of the Huating school of calligraphy.