Xianyu Shu was a northerner who, at about the age of thirty, moved south, eventually settling in Hangzhou. There, he impressed his southern friends with his calligraphy, connoisseurship, and "heroic" northern spirit. Even Zhao Mengfu (1254–1322), a close friend, acknowledged Xianyu's superiority in cursive writing.
One of Xianyu's most famous works, this scroll is a transcription of a poem by Han Yu (768–824) beseeching the preservation of the ten ancient Stone Drums, monuments carved with poems in archaic seal script around the fifth century B.C. Its vigorous brushwork displays both the freedom and energy of Xianyu's northern heritage and the new sophistication acquired through his study of Jin- and Tang-dynasty masters.
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Artwork Details
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元 鮮于樞 草書石鼓歌 卷
Title:Song of the Stone Drums
Artist:Xianyu Shu (Chinese, 1246–1302)
Period:Yuan dynasty (1271–1368)
Date:dated 1301
Culture:China
Medium:Handscroll; ink on paper
Dimensions:Image: 17 11/16 in. x 15 ft. 1 1/16 in. (44.9 x 459.9 cm) Overall with mounting: 18 in. x 38 ft. 11 3/16 in. (45.7 x 1186.7 cm)
Classification:Calligraphy
Credit Line:Bequest of John M. Crawford Jr., 1988
Accession Number:1989.363.29
Inscription: Artist’s inscription and signature (68 columns in cursive script)
Zhang handed me this tracing, from the stone drums, Beseeching me to write a poem on the stone drums. Du Fu has gone. Li Bo is dead. What can my poor talent do for the stone drums? …When the Zhou power waned and China was bubbling, Emperor Xuan, up in wrath, waved his holy spear And opened his Great Audience, receiving all the tributes Of kings and lords who came to him with a tune of clanging weapons. They held a hunt in Qiyang and proved their marksmanship: Fallen birds and animals were strewn three thousand miles. And the exploit was recorded, to inform new generations… Cut out of jutting cliffs, these drums made of stone – On which poets and artisans, all of the first order, Had indited and chiseled – were set into the deep mountains To be washed by rain, baked by sun, burned by wildfire, Eyed by evil spirits, and protected by the gods. …Where can he have found the tracing on this paper? – True to the original, not altered by a hair, The meaning deep, the phrases cryptic, difficult to read, And the style of the characters neither square nor tadpole. Time has not yet vanquished the beauty of these letters – Looking like sharp daggers that pierce live crocodiles, Like phoenix–mates dancing, like angels hovering down, Like trees of jade and coral with interlocking branches, Like golden cord and iron chain tied together tight, Like incense-tripods flung in the sea, like dragons mounting heaven. Historians, gathering ancient poems, forgot to gather these, To make the two Books of Musical Song more colorful and striking; Confucius journeyed in the west, but not to the Qin Kingdom, He chose our planet and our stars but missed the sun and moon… I who am fond of antiquity, was born too late And, thinking of these wonderful things, cannot hold back my tears… I remember, when I was awarded my highest degree, During the first year of Yuanhe, How a friend of mine, then at the western camp, Offered to assist me in removing these old relics. I bathed and changed, then made my plea to the college president And urged on him the rareness of these most precious things. They could be wrapped in rugs, be packed and sent in boxes And carried on only a few camels: ten stone drums To grace the Imperial Temple like the Incense-Pot of Gao – Or their lustre and their value would increase a hundredfold, If the monarch would present them to the university, Where students could study them and doubtless decipher them, And multitudes, attracted to the capital of culture From all corners of the Empire, would be quick to gather. We could scour the moss, pick out the dirt, restore the original surface, And lodge them in a fitting and secure place for ever, Covered by a massive building with wide eaves Where nothing more might happen to them as it had before. …But government officials grow fixed in their ways And never will initiate beyond precedent; So herd-boys strike the drums for fire, cows polish horns on them, With no one to handle them reverentially. Still aging and decaying, soon they may be effaced. Six years I have sighed for them, chanting toward the west... The familiar script of Wang Xizhi, beautiful though it was, Could be had, several pages, for a few white geese! But not, eight dynasties after the Zhou, and all the wars over, Why should there be nobody caring for these drums? The empire is at peace, the government free. Poets again are honored and Confucians and Mencians… Oh, how may this petition be carried to the throne? It needs indeed an eloquent flow, like a cataract – But, alas, my voice has broken, in my song of the stone drums, To a sound of supplication choked with its own tears.[1]
To the right is “Song of the Stone Drums” composed by Changli [Han Yu, 768–824] of the Tang dynasty. Written by Kunxuemin, Xianyu Shu, Boji from Yuyang [present-day Jixian, Hebei] in the summer, the twentieth of the sixth lunar month, of the xinchou year in the Dade reign era [July 26, 1301].
Song of the Stone Drums written in cursive script by Xianyu Boji [Xianyu Shu] of the Yuan dynasty, inscribed at the request of my venerable friend Congyu [Zhang Heng, 1915–1963], Yinmo. [Seal]: Shen
元鮮于伯幾草書 《石鼓歌》，葱玉尊兄屬題，尹默。 [印]： 沈
Colophons[2]
1. Xiang Yuanbian 項元汴 (1525–1590), 1 column in standard script, undated (preceding the text):
“Song of the Stone Drums” composed by Han Changli [Han Yu, 768–824] of the Tang dynasty, transcribed by Xianyu Shu of the Yuan dynasty.
唐韓昌黎 《石鼓歌》，元鮮于樞書。
2. Xiang Yuanbian 項元汴 (1525–1590), inventory character, 1 column in standard script, undated (preceding the text):
Zuo zi hao
佐字號
3. Xiang Yuanbian 項元汴 (1525–1590), 1 column in standard script, undated:
Molin Shanren, Xiang Yuanbian, of the Ming dynasty viewed this in Chonggu Zhai [Revering Antiquity Studio].
Nie Danian (1402–1456) of Linchuan comments on the calligraphy of Kunxue Laoren [Xianyu Shu] stating: “Calligraphy flourished in the Jin period (317–419). In the Tang dynasty, with the rise of Yan [Zhenqing, 709–785] and Liu [Gongquan, 778–865], the methods and criteria of the old tradition gradually deteriorated. When the style of Su [Shi, 1037–1101] and Mi [Fu, 1052–1107] appeared in the Song dynasty, the tradition of the Wei and Jin periods was then completely discarded. Xianyu Boji [Xianyu Shu] studied calligraphy together with Zhao Wenmin [Zhao Mengfu, 1254–1322]. But there are qualities in his cursive script that surpass Zhao Mengfu.” Chen Jingzong (1377–1459), the academician, once remarked that [Xianyu Shu’s calligraphy] has definitely entered the gate of the Wang [Xizhi school]. So highly was he regarded by his contemporaries. In short, if one considers the masters Yan, Liu, Su, and Mi as missionaries of the [calligraphic] cult of Wei-Jin, then Zhao Songxue [Zhao Mengfu] and Xianyu Kunxue [Xianyu Shu] were the most outstanding artists of their times. One therefore should not be biased against one at the expense of the other. The cursive style of this scroll has an aged quality of maturity, in addition to the fact that it transcribes Han Yu’s “Song of the Stone Drums.” It is certainly not in the same order as the artist’s more ordinary works. I first saw the scroll in Jingkou, then again in Suzhou. For years I have tried to acquire it before it finally came into my possession. That was the time when we had a continuous cold rain, and I had to keep the stove fire burning every day so the scroll could be remounted by a famed restorer. This is indeed the kind of life that people call “the tasting out of the tasteless.”[3] On the fifteenth of jiaping [the twelfth lunar month] in the jimao year of the Kangxi reign era [February 3, 1700], at the beginning of spring, Gao Shiqi, Jiangcun, noted this by a rainy window in the Jianjing Zhai Studio at Zhehu. [Seals]: Hao zhuangxin qian yunian, Bu yi sangong yi ciri, Jiangcun Shiqi zhi zhang
Xianyu Kunxue [Xianyu Shu] died in the renyin year of the Dade reign era [1302]. This scroll was written in the xinchou year [1301] when the artist was forty-five years old. It is therefore a work of great deliberation done in his mature years. Among his works that I have seen, this probably ranks highest among [examples of] his cursive script. Wu Pao An [Wu Kuan, 1435–1504] used to say that “Xianyu Shu’s cursive script was derived from the methods of the standard and semi-cursive scripts. The brush was applied with great care. As a result there is always a particular logic and deportment in each of his dots and strokes which never make his audience feel bored or tired. People these days like to reach out for the attainment of Zhang Xu (ca. 675–ca. 750) and [Huai] Su [ca. 735–ca. 800] before they even know anything about the older masters, Ouyang Xun (557–641) and Yu Shinan (558–638). That is why the structure of their calligraphy is so loose, incoherent, and so torturously long-winded that they end up nothing much more than pieces of blown away thatch of creeping weeds.” This is indeed well said. Xianyu Kunxue studied the cursive script together with Zhao Songxue [Zhao Mengfu, 1254–1322]. Zhao could not praise him more highly, conceding that his art is unsurpassable. Judging from the present example, Zhao’s modesty was after all no mere lip service. Today, I am able to see this scroll side-by-side with the Liu Zhongshi tie, an authentic work written on a bluish paper by Yan Zhenqing from the collection of the Li family of Gaoyang. In addition, at the end of the scroll is Xianyu Shu’s own colophon written in semi-cursive/standard script which again is as fresh and lofty as in his best. It is surely one of the best fortunes of my life to be able to enjoy a day such as this amid all the turmoils boiling over everywhere. Recorded on request of my friend, Congyu [Zhang Heng, 1915–1963],[4] on May fifteenth in the twenty-seventh year [of the Republic] [1938], Yinmo. [Seal]: Zhuxi Shen shi
6. Xiang Yuan 項源 (active early 19th c.), 1 column in running/standard script, dated 1831; 2 seals:
Xiang Yuan from She [in Anhui Province] respectfully viewed this in the early summer of the xinmao year of the Daoguang reign era [1831]. [Seals]: Xiao Tianlai Ge, Xiang Yuan zi Hanquan yizi Zhifang
道光辛卯小暑歙項芝房敬觀。 [印]： 小天籟閣、項源字漢泉一字芝房
Collectors’ seals
Xiang Yuanbian 項元汴 (1525–1590) Pingsheng zhenshang 平生真賞 Zuili Xiang shi zhi jia baowan 檇李項氏之家寶玩 Zisun shichang 子孫世昌 Xiang Molin fu miji zhi yin 項墨林父秘笈之印 Tui mi 退密 Molin zi 墨林子 Ruoshui Xuan 若水軒 Jingyin An 淨因菴 Molin 墨林 Molin Zhuren 墨林主人 Xulang Zhai 虛朗齋 Molin miwan 墨林秘玩 Tao li 桃里 Xiang shuzi 項叔子 Xiang Molin jianshang zhang 項墨林鑑賞章 Xiang Yuanbian yin 項元汴印 Zijing fu yin 子京父印 Tianlai Ge 天籟閣 Xiang Zijing jia zhencang 項子京家珍藏 Ji ao 寄敖 Molin Shanren 墨林山人 Zisun yongbao 子孫永保
Wang Shimin 王時敏 (1592–1680) Wang Shimin yin 王時敏印 Yanke jiancang 煙客鑒藏 Wang Shimin yin 王時敏印 Taiyuan Wang Xunzhi shi shoucang tushu 太原王遜之氏收藏圖書
Tan Jing 譚敬 (1911–1991) He An fu 和菴父 Tan Jing siyin 譚敬私印 Tan Jing 譚敬 Tan shi Qu Zhai shuhua zhi zhang 譚氏區齋書畫之章 Yue ren Tan Jing yin 粵人譚敬印 He An jianding zhenji 龢菴鑒定真蹟 Qu Zhai fu yin 區齋父印
Zhang Heng 張珩 (1915–1963) Zhang Heng siyin 張珩私印 Zhang shi tushu 張氏圖書 Yunhui Zhai yin 韞輝齋印 Zan de yu ji kuairan zizu 蹔得於己快然自足 Xiyi 希逸 Jiayin ren 甲寅人
Liu Dingzhi 劉定之 (active mid-20th c.) Gouqu Liu Dingzhi Zhuang 句曲劉定之裝
[1] Translation from Witter Bynner and Kiang Kang-hu, The Jade Mountain: A Chinese Anthology. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1931, pp. 33-35. The Romanization has been changed from Wade-Giles to pingyin. [2] Translations from Department records. [3] Translation from Sherman E. Lee and Wai-kam ho, Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yuan Dynasty (1279–1368). Exh. cat. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1968, no. 274. Modified. [4] Ibid. Modified.
John M. Crawford Jr. American; John M. Crawford Jr. American, New York (until d. 1988; bequeathed to MMA)
London. Victoria and Albert Museum. "Chinese Painting and Calligraphy from the Collection of John M. Crawford, Jr.," June 17, 1965–August 1, 1965.
Cleveland Museum of Art. "Chinese Art Under the Mongols," October 1, 1968–November 4, 1968.
New York. Asia House Gallery. "Chinese Art Under the Mongols," January 9, 1969–February 2, 1969.
New Haven. Yale University Art Gallery. "Traces of the Brush: Studies in Chinese Calligraphy," April 6, 1977–June 27, 1977.
University Art Museum, University of California at Berkeley. "Traces of the Brush: Studies in Chinese Calligraphy," September 20, 1977–November 27, 1977.
New York. China House Gallery. "Masterpieces of Song and Yuan Dynasty Calligraphy from the John M. Crawford Jr. Collection," October 21, 1981–January 31, 1982.
Lawrence. Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas. "Masterpieces of Song and Yuan Dynasty Calligraphy from the John M. Crawford Jr. Collection," March 14, 1982–May 2, 1982.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Embodied Image: Chinese Calligraphy from the John B. Elliott Collection," September 15, 2000–January 7, 2001.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art of the Brush: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy," March 12–August 14, 2005.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Brush and Ink: The Chinese Art of Writing," September 2, 2006–January 21, 2007.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The World of Khubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty," September 28, 2010–January 2, 2011.
Shanghai Museum. "Masterpieces of Chinese Tang, Song and Yuan Paintings from America," November 3, 2012–January 3, 2013.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Chinese Painting from the Metropolitan Collection (Rotation Two)," May 7–October 11, 2016.
Lee, Sherman E. A History of Far Eastern Art. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, [1964], pp. 291, 402.
Weng, Wan-go, and Thomas Lawton. Chinese Painting and Calligraphy: A Pictorial Survey: 69 Fine Examples from the John Crawford, Jr. Collection. New York: Dover Publications, 1978, pp. 48–49, cat. no. 23.
Suzuki Kei 鈴木敬, ed. Chûgoku kaiga sogo zuroku: Daiikan, Amerika-Kanada Hen 中國繪畫總合圖錄: 第一卷 アメリカ - カナダ 編 (Comprehensive illustrated catalog of Chinese paintings: vol. 1 American and Canadian collections) Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1982, pp. 102–103, cat. no. A15-037.
Shih Shou-ch'ien, Maxwell K. Hearn, and Alfreda Murck. The John M. Crawford, Jr., Collection of Chinese Calligraphy and Painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Checklist. Exh. cat. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1984, p. 21, cat. no. 36.
Fong, Wen C. Beyond Representation: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, 8th–14th Century. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992, pp. 418–19, pl. 97.
Gao Shiqi 高士奇. Jiangcun shuhua mu 江村書畫目 (Jiangcun’s catalogue of calligraphies and paintings). Reprinted in Zhongguo shuhua quanshu 中國書畫全書 (Compendium of Classical Publications on Chinese Painting and Calligraphy),. Edited by Lu Fusheng 盧輔聖. Shanghai: Shanghai shuhua chubanshe, 1993–2000, vol. 7, p. 1072.
Yang Zhenguo 杨振国. Haiwai cang Zhongguo lidai ming hua: Liao, Jin, Xixia, Yuan 海外藏中国历代名画: 辽, 金, 西夏, 元 (Famous paintings of successive periods in overseas collections) Edited by Lin Shuzhong 林树中. vol. 4, Changsha: Hunan meishu chubanshe, 1998, p. 102.
Ling Lizhong 凌利中. Wang Yuanqi tihua shougao jianshi 王原祁題畫手稿箋釋 (Annotated research on Wang Yuanqi’s manuscript of painting inscriptions) Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2017, p. 241, cat. no. 27.
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