Valediction for Peng Ershu Bound for Chu in Running Script

Wang Duo, a native of Mengjin, Henan, was qualified as jinshi in 1622 during the Ming dynasty. Although being deprecated for accepting office as high-ranking as Minister of Rites and Grand Secretary at the conqueror’s court of the Qing, he managed to salvage his name as an accomplished calligrapher. Probably influenced by the current boom of Du Fu’s sombre poetry, he had a predilection for composing pentasyllabic octaves in the Tang poet’s style. One such poem entitled Valediction for Peng Ershu Bound for Chu is seen in this scroll, which was a gift to his friend Zhang Duan (courtesy name Tianzhu).

Sharing the same place of origin and surviving the same life-threatening dynastic transition, Peng Ershu and Wang became bosom friends. The poem in question, unpublished in the calligrapher’s literary collection, was composed as a parting gift to Peng, who was to assume a new office in Hunan, or Chu, and offers additional clues on the friendship of the pair and Wang’s social life.

Written at the age of 55, the calligraphy attests to Wang’s mature style. The unpretentious and jagged structuring is derived from a lifelong arduous study and copying of the Chunhuage Tie (Model-calligraphies from the Chunhua Archive) for mastering the quintessence of the Two Wangs’ tradition and also Mi Fu. Calligraphic works of a size as immense as this scroll grew in popularity with mansions in the Ming and Qing becoming grander and more imposing. To cope with the extraordinary length, Wang dispensed with desks altogether and preferred to write sideways on a piece of silk that was stretched and pulled by servants on either end. This explains why his columns tend to tilt as seen in this piece. Yet, this has given the calligraphy a unique dynamic rhythm.