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Permanent Exhibition

Friends and Friendships in Ancient Calligraphy and Painting

Confucius said there are three advantageous friendships: Friendship with the upright, friendship with the sincere, and friendship with the learned.
This installment of “A Space for Brush and Ink: Appreciating Painting and Calligraphy in the National Palace Museum Collection” takes “Friends and Friendships in Ancient Calligraphy and Painting” as its point of inspiration. With 27 items chosen from the National Palace Museum’s collections of calligraphy, painting, and vessels, the exhibition spans three categories: “Friendships among Seekers of the Way,” “Scholarly Friendships,” and “Friends of Fur, Feather, Fish, and Flower.” Each of the items on show tells the stories of the calligraphers and painters of old, while also revealing their artistic styles and the intrinsic meanings of their works. We hope that this exhibition’s selections will “borrow from the past to comment on the present,” and thereby coax museum visitors to recall beautiful memories and experiences from their own lives; sharpen their ability to perceive the world and the myriad things it comprises; and become capable of achieving greater intimacy with the ways of thinking, wisdom, and cultural output of the ancients.

Exhibition Information

Event Date Permanent Exhibition
Location 2F S203

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Su Shi, Song dynasty

Letter to Daoyuan

Su Shi (1037-1101), of Meishan in Sichuan province, had the style name Zizhan and the sobriquet Dongpo Jushi, or “Recluse of the Eastern Slope.” The important literatus Huang Tingjian (1045-1105) once extolled that Su’s calligraphy was the Song dynasty’s very best.
The families of Su Shi and Du Yi (style name Daoyuan) shared very close bonds. When Su was banished to Huangzhou, it just so happened that Du Yi’s son Du Chuan (style name Mengjian) was serving in a government post there. This letter informs Du Yi that Su had entrusted his son Mengjian to bring a gift of “Jing wine” with him on a journey to the north. In just a few words, this letter captures the friendly sentiments linking the two families. Its natural, fluid calligraphy is a mix of regular, running, and cursive scripts, written with unaffected brushwork that reveals the brush’s tip.

Anonymous, Yuan dynasty

Portraits of Cold Mountain and Shide

Hanshan (known in English as “Cold Mountain,” dates unknown) was a Zen master who lived in the Tang dynasty during the Zhenguan reign (627-649). He resided in Hanyan, a cave in the Tiantai Mountains, was fond of singing lyric poetry, and became friends with the Buddhist poet-monk Shide (dates unknown). The two were known as the “immortals of harmony and union”—they each went about their business peacefully and joyfully, enabling them to maintain an undying friendship. This painting depicts Hanshan holding prayer beads and Shide holding a palm fiber broom. Their facial expressions suggest a happiness derived from meditation practice. The folds in their clothing were painted with tapering brushstrokes that have “the head of a nail and the tail of a mouse.” The brushwork features strong, angular turns and heavy, concentrated ink. The whites of their eyes, fingernails, and beads were colored with white pigment, much in the style of the Yuan dynasty painter Yan Hui. Alas, this work is unsigned.

Zhang Ling, Ming dynasty

The Red Cliffs

This painted fan depicts scenery described in Su Shi’s “Ode to the Red Cliffs.” Sunlight gleams atop the ripples in the water, the forested mountains are subtly embellished with speckles of orange pigment, and the cliffs were painted using angular brushstrokes. These features align with the ode’s description of the changing seasons and local scenery. The boat carries eight people, including the host, his guests, and servant boys, reflecting the painter’s unique imaginative interpretation of a line in the poem that reads, “With visitors, swaying along in my boat.”
Zhang Ling (1470?-before 1511), who had the style name Mengjin, was a native of Wu prefecture (modern-day Suzhou). He attended the prefectural academy along with the renowned painter Tang Yin (1470-1524), and was Tang’s equal in antiquarianism. Zhang poured his passion into poetry and wine.

Wang E, Ming dynasty

A Visiting Friend on a Bridge over a River

Wang E (dates unknown), who had the style name Yanzhi, hailed from Fenghua in Zhejiang province. Wang was a talented painter served as an official at the Hall of Benevolence and Wisdom. Emperor Hongzhi (also known as Xiaozong) of the Ming dynasty extolled him as “the Ma Yuan of his day.”
This painting depicts the mist-filled scenery of a river in the mountains, where verdant pines and other trees sway in the wind and rain, their branches and leaves seeming to sough with each gust. The visitor atop the bridge faces toward the riverside building, trailed by a servant boy who carries a zither, as though the two of them were on their way to attend a musical gathering. The mountains and boulders were painted primarily using large “axe cut” texturing strokes, while the washes were created using high-speed, vigorous brushwork. Both of these techniques are archetypical of the Zhe school of painting.

Cui Zizhong, Ming dynasty

Chickens and Dogs Among the Clouds

Xu Xun was a Jin dynasty personage who hailed from Ruyang. He once served as the magistrate of Jingyang, but civil unrest led him to return to his rural hometown, where he lived in obscurity. According to legend, when he was 135 years old and residing on the West Mountain in Hongzhou, he ascended to the heavens, bringing 42 of his family members and all of their chickens and dogs with him. This painting illustrates the story of Xu Xun riding on an ox as he brings his family members along on his move to the realm of Taoist immortals. Classically refined elegance can be seen in the painting’s brushwork and choice of color.
Cui Zizhong (?-1644), of Laiyang in Shandong province, was born Cui Dan and had the style name Kaiyu. He was such a talented painter of human figures that people would say of him and his contemporary Chen Hongshou (1598-1652) that “Chen rules the south and Cui rules the north.”

Chen Li, Qing dynasty

Antithetical Couplet with Six Characters per Line in Seal Script

Chen Li (1810-1882) had the style name Lanfu, but he was known to the world by the respectful moniker Dongshu Xiansheng (“the Erudite of Dongshu”). He was a native of Fanyu county in Guangdong province.
Written in seal script, this couplet’s first line reads “The master discoursed on the Book of Odes, the Book of History, arts, and propriety,” while the second reads “True friends are direct, sincere, and learned.” Both lines originate from the Analects of Confucius (551-479 BCE), in the chapters “The Ji Family” and “Transmitter,” respectively. Chen Li subtly rewrote the original passages, but preserved their meaning in order to convey the ancients’ way of thinking as well as their wisdom. His calligraphic characters are structured such that they expand along their vertical axes, with a balanced, proportionate and softly sumptuous use of brush and ink that shows the influence of the “Stone Drum Script.” This piece was donated to the NPM by Mr. Chen Chih-Mai.