Inscription on Stone Sails
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.清 趙之謙 楷書 石颿銘 四條屏 紙本
In a sense, the Epigraphic School culminated with Zhao Zhiqian. His standard script, which you see here, was inspired by stone inscriptions of the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534), but he wrote with a quivering brush that gives his calligraphy a quality of pulsating power. The transcribed text is part of Bao Zhao’s (ca. 412–466) poem “Inscription on Stone Sails.” “Stone Sails” refers to a mountain in Hunan Province, named for its many steep, pointed peaks that resemble the sails of a fleet of ships. The text reads:
Filling the sky to its limits is a shadowy expanse
[of clouds].
Cloud banners have not risen; no wind rustles through
the branches.
Breakers splash like collapsing hills, as dark waves
thunder along.
—Trans. by Shi-yee Liu
In a sense, the Epigraphic School culminated with Zhao Zhiqian. His standard script, which you see here, was inspired by stone inscriptions of the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534), but he wrote with a quivering brush that gives his calligraphy a quality of pulsating power. The transcribed text is part of Bao Zhao’s (ca. 412–466) poem “Inscription on Stone Sails.” “Stone Sails” refers to a mountain in Hunan Province, named for its many steep, pointed peaks that resemble the sails of a fleet of ships. The text reads:
Filling the sky to its limits is a shadowy expanse
[of clouds].
Cloud banners have not risen; no wind rustles through
the branches.
Breakers splash like collapsing hills, as dark waves
thunder along.
—Trans. by Shi-yee Liu
Artwork Details
- 清 趙之謙 楷書 石颿銘 四條屏 紙本
- Title: Inscription on Stone Sails
- Calligrapher: Zhao Zhiqian (Chinese, 1829–1884)
- Period: Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
- Date: 1869
- Culture: China
- Medium: Set of four hanging scrolls; ink on paper
- Dimensions: Image (each scroll): 38 1/4 × 20 3/8 in. (97.2 × 51.8 cm)
Overall with mounting (each scroll): 61 × 21 1/2 in. (154.9 × 54.6 cm) - Classification: Calligraphy
- Credit Line: Promised Gift of Guanyuan Shanzhuang Collection
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art