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Poems on painting plum blossoms and bamboo

dated 1260
Not on view
An accomplished poet, collector, painter, and calligrapher and a member of the Song royal family, Zhao Mengjian was compared by his contemporaries to the famous scholar-connoisseur Mi Fu (1052–1107). Like Mi's, Zhao's writing does not derive from a single source but combines the best of many earlier models: the natural charm of the fourth-century Jin writers, the brush method and character structure of the seventh-century Tang masters, and the free expression of the eleventh-century Northern Song calligraphers.

This scroll, which transcribes Zhao's poems on plum and bamboo painting, is his best-known extant calligraphic work. Written for a young relative who was studying painting, the poems stress acute observation of nature and mastery of brush methods and conventions, as well as the importance of personal expression.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 南宋 趙孟堅 行書梅竹詩譜 卷
  • Title: Poems on painting plum blossoms and bamboo
  • Artist: Zhao Mengjian (Chinese, 1199–before 1267)
  • Period: Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279)
  • Date: dated 1260
  • Culture: China
  • Medium: Handscroll; ink on paper
  • Dimensions: Image: 13 3/8 in. × 11 ft. 7 in. (34 × 353.1 cm)
    Overall with mounting: 13 5/8 in. × 40 ft. 5 11/16 in. (34.6 × 1233.6 cm)
  • Classification: Calligraphy
  • Credit Line: Bequest of John M. Crawford Jr., 1988
  • Object Number: 1989.363.28
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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