Sun Guoting's Manual on Calligraphy (687) states that calligraphy reveals the character and emotions of the writer. Few works demonstrate this principle as clearly as this handscroll by Mi Fu, the leading calligrapher of late Northern Song. Mi wrote Sailing on the Wu River with a suspended arm, working from the elbow rather than the wrist. It was not his aim to form perfect characters; instead, he entrusted his writing to the force of the brush, giving free reign to idiosyncratic movements, collapsing and distorting the characters for the sake of expressiveness. Su Shi (1036–1101) likened Mi's writing to "a sailboat in a gust of wind, or a warhorse charging into battle." Traditionally, calligraphy has been more highly esteemed in China than painting. In the 1950s when John Crawford began collecting it, most American scholars were unaware of its importance and the authenticity of many Crawford pieces was questioned. Today, these works are regarded as national treasures and the Metropolitan is the only leading museum in the West able to present major examples of this quintessential Chinese art form.
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北宋 米芾 草書吳江舟中詩 卷
Title:Poem Written in a Boat on the Wu River
Calligrapher:Mi Fu (Chinese, 1051–1107)
Period:Northern Song dynasty (960–1127)
Date:ca. 1095
Culture:China
Medium:Handscroll; ink on paper
Dimensions:12 1/4 in. × 18 ft. 3 1/4 in. (31.1 × 556.9 cm)
Classification:Calligraphy
Credit Line:Gift of John M. Crawford Jr., in honor of Professor Wen Fong, 1984
Object Number:1984.174
Inscription: Artist's inscription and signature (44 columns in semi-cursive and cursive scripts)
Yesterday’s wind arose from the west-north, And innumerable boats all took advantage of its favor. Today’s wind has shifted [and comes from] the east, And my boat [needs] fifteen men to tow. Their strength spent, I've hired more; [But even] one hundred in gold they consider too little. The boat crew, angered, begins to argue, So the trackers, sitting down, stare and complain. They've tried poles and again pulleys; They have had to swallow the yellow gorge rising in their throats. But the river mud seems to side with the trackers; Stuck on the bottom, [the boat] won’t budge. Paid more money, the men are no longer angry. Expectations satisfied, all resentment disappears. With a single pull, [the boat advances] like a wind-born chariot. The men shout out, as if rushing into battle! To the side I look toward the Yingdou Lake; So vast, [seemingly] without bounds are its shores. If even one drop cannot be drawn, What use is the distant West River? All things must find their proper time, So why is it that you have come so late?[1] Zhu Bangyan sent this paper from Xiuzhou [present-day Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province]. I wrote it in a boat on the Wu River. Mi Yuanzhang [Mi Fu]
Ming imperial palace 明洪武内府 (1373–1384) ? ? ? ? Si yin (half-seal) 囗囗囗囗司印 (半印)
Zhu Gang 朱棡 (Prince of Jin, 1358–1398) Jin Fu shuhua zhi yin 晉府書畫之印 Jin Fu shuhua zhi yin 晉府書畫之印 Jin Guo kuizhang 晉國奎章 Qiankun qingwan 乾坤清玩 Jingde Tang zhang 敬德堂章
Qing emperor Qianlong 清帝乾隆 (r. 1736–1795) Shiqu baoji 石渠寳笈 Sanxi Tang jingjian xi 三希堂精鋻璽 Yi zisun 宜子孫 Qinghe 清和
Qing emperor Xuantong 清帝宣统 (r. 1909–1911) Xuantong yulan zhi bao 宣統御覽之寳 Xuantong jianshang 宣統鋻賞 Wuyi Zhai jingjian xi 無逸齋精鋻璽
Zhang Wenkui 張文魁 (20th c.) Zhang shi Han Lu zhencang 張氏涵廬珍藏 Zhang Wenkui 張文魁 Han Lu Jiancang 涵廬鋻藏
Gu Luofu 顧洛阜 (John M. Crawford, Jr., 1913–1988) Gu Luofu 顧洛阜 Hanguang Ge 漢光閣 Hanguang Ge Zhu Gu Luofu jiancang Zhongguo gudai shuhua zhi zhang 漢光閣主顧洛阜鋻藏中國古代書畫之章
[1] Translation after Peter C. Sturman, Mi Fu: Style and the Art of Calligraphy in Northern Song China, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1997, pp. 115–116, and Kwan S. Wong, Masterpieces of Sung and Yüan dynasty calligraphy from the John M. Crawford, Jr. Collection. New York: China House Gallery, China Institute in America, 1981, p. 29.
John M. Crawford Jr. American, New York (by 1971–1984; donated 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.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Chinese Calligraphy," September 25–November 7, 1971.
Kansas City. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. "Chinese Calligraphy," January 6–February 6, 1972.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Chinese Calligraphy," March 14–May 7, 1972.
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.
Princeton University Art Museum. "Images of the Mind: Selections from the Edward L. Elliot Family and John B. Elliott Collections of Chinese Calligraphy and Painting at the Art Museum, Princeton University," April 15–June 17, 1984.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Images of the Mind: Selections from the Edward L. Elliot Family and John B. Elliott Collections of Chinese Calligraphy and Painting at the Art Museum, Princeton University," September 18, 1987–January 10, 1988.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The New Chinese Galleries: An Inaugural Installation," 1997.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Embodied Image: Chinese Calligraphy from the John B. Elliott Collection," September 15, 2000–January 7, 2001.
Osaka Municipal Museum of Art. "The Embodied Image: Chinese Calligraphy from the John B. Elliott Collection," April 8, 2003–June 1, 2005.
Taipei. National Palace Museum. "Grand View: Painting and Calligraphy of the Northern Sung," December 25, 2006–March 25, 2007.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Philippe de Montebello Years: Curators Celebrate Three Decades of Acquisitions," October 24, 2008–February 1, 2009.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Chinese Painting from the Metropolitan Collection (Rotation Two)," May 7–October 11, 2016.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Making The Met, 1870–2020," August 29, 2020–January 3, 2021.
Midian zhulin shiqu baoji sanbian 秘殿珠林石渠寶笈三編 (Catalogue of painting and calligraphy in the Qianlong imperial collection, third series). Preface dated 1816. Facsimile reprinted of an original manuscript copy. 10 vols. vol. 3, Taipei: National Palace Museum, 1969, p. 1448.
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. 18–19, cat. no. 6.
Nakata Yūjirō 中田勇次郎, and Fu C. Y. Shen 傅申. Ō-Bei shūzō Chūgoku hōsho meiseki shū 歐米收藏中國法書名蹟集 (Masterpieces of Chinese calligraphy in American and European collections) vol. 1, Tokyo: Chūōkōron-sha, 1981–82, pp. 66–73, pl. 4.
Nakata Yūjirō 中田勇次郎. Bei Futsu (Mi Fu) 米芾. Tokyo: Nigensha, 1982, pp. 126–33.
Fong, Wen C. et al. Images of the Mind: Selections from the Edward L. Elliott Family and John B. Elliott Collections of Chinese Calligraphy and Painting at the Art Museum, Princeton University. Exh. cat. Princeton, N.J.: Art Museum, Princeton University in association with Princeton University Press, 1984, p. 173, fig. 144b.
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. 12, cat. no. 6.
Shen Peng 沈鹏, ed. Zhongguo meishu quanji: Shufa zhuanke bian 4: Song Jin Yuan shufa 中國美術全集：書法篆刻編4: 宋金元書法 (Compendium of the arts of China, calligraphy and seal carving section 4: calligraphy of the Song, Jin, and Yuan dynasties). 7 vols. Beijing: Renmin meishu chubanshe, 1986, vol. 4. pp. 44–45, pl. 36.
Barnhart, Richard M. (Introduction). The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Asia. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987, pp. 66–67, pl. 37.
Fong, Wen C. Beyond Representation: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, 8th–14th Century. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992, pp. 156–59, pls. 19a, 19b.
Sturman, Peter Charles. Mi Fu: Style and the Art of Calligraphy in Northern Song China. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997, pp. 110–19, figs. 46a–e.
Barrass, Gordon S. The Art of Calligraphy in Modern China. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002, p. 21, fig. 9.
Cao Baolin 曹宝麟. Mi Fu juan 米芾卷 (Works of Mi Fu). In Zhongguo shufa quanji: Song Liao Jin Bian 中國書法全集: 宋遼金編 (Compendium of Chinese Calligraphy: Song, Liao, Jin Dynasties), edited by Liu Zhengcheng 劉正成. Beijing: Rongbao zhai, 2004, pp. 53–59, 473–74, pl. 8.
Ouyang Zhongshi et al. Chinese Calligraphy. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008, pp. 23, 441, figs. 30, 10.2.
Hearn, Maxwell K. "Asian Art at the Metropolitan Museum." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. Vol. 73, no.1 (summer 2015), p. 33, fig. 46.
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