Couplet by Han Yu
Attributed to Emperor Guangzong Chinese
Song dynasty (960–1279)
Not on view
This writing is related to the regular script style of Emperor Gaozong (r. 1127–62) but is quite different from that of Emperor Lizong (r. 1224–64). The closest stylistic comparison is a transcription of the Diamond Sutra by the Song courtier Zhang Jizhi (1186–1266) written in the same large regular script and dated 1246. While no extant work by Guangzong is known, this writing may prove to be by his hand. The couplet is taken from the poem New Bamboo by the great Tang writer Han Yu (768–824):
[The bamboo's] lofty appearance defies the austerity of autumn,
Its chaste color surpasses the lush beauty of spring.
(Wen C. Fong, trans., in Beyond Representation: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, 8th-14th Century [New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992], p. 233)
DOCUMENTATION
Artist's inscription (2 columns in standard script, undated)
[The bamboo's] lofty appearance defies the austerity of autumn,
Its chaste color surpasses the lush beauty of spring.
[Trans. by Wen Fong]
高標凌秋嚴，貞色奪春媚。
Collectors' seals
Pan Zhengwei 潘正煒 (1971–1850)
Pan shi Tingfan Lou cang 潘氏聼颿樓藏
Jitong xin shang 季彤心賞
Pan Yanling 潘延齡 (19th c.)
Jian'an yanfu 健盦眼福
Xiang Family 香氏 (20th c.)
Ceng cang Xiang shi Mengshi Lu 曾藏香氏夢詩廬
Gu Luofu 顧洛阜 (John M. Crawford, Jr., 1913–1988)
Gu Luofu (twice) 顧洛阜
Hanguang Ge (twice) 漢光閣
Illegible, 1
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