Prose Poem on Fishing
Poet, calligrapher, and bon vivant, Zhu Yunming was one of the most prominent and colorful literary figures of the Ming period. Except for a brief official career as a magistrate in Guangdong Province from 1515 to about 1520, Zhu passed most of his life in the Suzhou area enjoying scholarly pastimes in the company of such friends as Wen Zhengming (1470–1559) and Tang Yin (1470–1523).
An uninhibited, highly creative calligrapher, Zhu is best known for his "wild" cursive script inspired by the Tang dynasty masters Zhang Xu (ca. 700–750) and Huaisu (ca. 735–800?) and by the Song scholar-poet Huang Tingjian (1045–1105). Prose Poem on Fishing, nearly twenty-seven feet long, is a tour de force of sustained creative energy. Written on coarse paper "by lamplight" with a "worn brush," the rounded and thick brushstrokes have a blunt strength that distinguishes this writing from Zhu's usually more carefully executed and gracefully modulated characters.
An uninhibited, highly creative calligrapher, Zhu is best known for his "wild" cursive script inspired by the Tang dynasty masters Zhang Xu (ca. 700–750) and Huaisu (ca. 735–800?) and by the Song scholar-poet Huang Tingjian (1045–1105). Prose Poem on Fishing, nearly twenty-seven feet long, is a tour de force of sustained creative energy. Written on coarse paper "by lamplight" with a "worn brush," the rounded and thick brushstrokes have a blunt strength that distinguishes this writing from Zhu's usually more carefully executed and gracefully modulated characters.
Artwork Details
- 明 祝允明 草書宋玉釣賦 卷
- Title: Prose Poem on Fishing
- Artist: Zhu Yunming (Chinese, 1461–1527) , or a close follower
- Period: Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
- Date: dated 1507
- Culture: China
- Medium: Handscroll; ink on gold-flecked paper
- Dimensions: Image: 12 7/8 x 371 1/2 in. (32.7 x 943.6 cm)
Overall with mounting: 14 5/8 x 463 1/8 in. (37.1 x 1176.3 cm) - Classification: Calligraphy
- Credit Line: Bequest of John M. Crawford Jr., 1988
- Object Number: 1989.363.51
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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Zhu Yunming
Tibet
late 15th century
China
16th century
China
China
early 15th century
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