10.Scroll: The Explanations for Studies (by Xian Yushu of the Yuan dynasty)

Calligraphy and Painting

Yuan dynasty

Ink and Color on Paper

Width×Length: 49.1cm×795.5cm

Xian Yushu (1257-1302), who styled himself as “Hulin Yinli”, was a calligrapher born in Jixian County, Tianjin in the Yuan dynasty. The original text of the Explanations of Studies is a famous piece of article written by Han Yu, a Chinese historian, poet, and politician of the Tang dynasty. Xian reproduced the article in his late years in both cursive and semi-cursive script, and occasionally regular script. With 108 rows, each 2-10 characters, the script was written at one stretch, demonstrating Xian’s aspiration to artistic conception, rule and the harmony of the two. Considered a masterpiece of Xian’s, the scroll bears an intaglio seal and two embossed seals. The scroll was postscripted by Liu Zhi and Ban Weizhi. Liu Zhi (1280-1334), who styled himself as “Shizhong” and “Buzhai”, originated in Shanxi. His postscript bears the influence of Zhao Mengfu, a Chinese scholar, painter and calligrapher during the Yuan Dynasty, yet lacks sophistication. Ban Weizhi (the dates of his birth and death unknown), who styled himself as “Yangong” and “Shuzhai”, was born in Kaifeng, Henan. Unlike Liu, Ban showcased a pleasant and elegant style of postscript. 

11.Scroll: Transcript of the Classic of Filial Piety (by Zhang Jun of the Jin dynasty)

Calligraphy and Painting

Jin dynasty: 265-420 A.D.

Ink and Color on Paper

Width×Length: 27cm×89.4cm

Written approximately in the 3rd century B.C., the Classic of Filial Piety has 18 chapters in total. The transcript, a fragment and the second half of the Classic of Filial Piety, was written in the Western Jin dynasty. It is the earliest of all ancient transcripts of the Classic of Filial Piety known to man. Containing only a few interchangeable and variant characters, its text is largely consistent with the Commentaries and Explanations to the Thirteen Classics. Although the transcript has been slightly damaged, the ink on the paper still glows. The end of the transcript bears an inscription that indicates the name of the calligrapher and the date of completion. The style of its script is a mix of clerical script and regular script, with the technique of the strokes, such as heng (rightward horizontal stroke) and pie (a throw falling leftwards with slight curve), leaning towards that of clerical script. With sophistication, Zhang Jun successfully delivered the quality of rigorousness and quaintness in the art of calligraphy.

12.Scroll: Calligraphy Works (by Dong Qichang of the Ming dynasty)

Calligraphy and Painting

Ming dynasty

Ink and Color on Paper

Width×Length: 23.5cm×310cm

Dong Qichang (1555-1636), who styled himself as “Xuanzai” and “Sibai”, was a celebrated calligrapher and painter born in Songjiang, Shanghai during the Ming dynasty. Dong was known for establishing his own style of calligraphy by incorporating the essence of all schools. His strokes, robust and graceful, brim with clarity and simplicity. Inspired by the calligraphers before him, Dong was especially adept in semi-cursive and regular script and has left an indelible mark on the history of Chinese calligraphy. In these scrolls, he reproduced several paragraphs of the works of Wang Xizhi, Wang Xianzhi and Mi Fu, all renowned calligraphers in ancient China. The scrolls also included the poems of famous Chinese poets, such as Li Bai and Fan Zhongyan, Dong’s comments on books and his own poems. His flexibility in the use of regular, cursive and semi-cursive script, embodying his extraordinary grasp of ancient calligraphic techniques and remarkable ability of striking out a new path. In the postscript, Gao Shiqi, a Chinese politician and collector of calligraphy works in the Qing dynasty, claimed that he had bound two scrolls of Dong’s works together and named them Jinsha Tie. 

13.Scroll: Poems in Cursive Script (by Wang Duo of the Qing dynasty)

Calligraphy and Painting

Ink on Satin

Width × Length: 34.5cm×654cm

Wang Duo (1592-1652) was born in Mengjin, now Mengjin County, Henan. He became a jinshi (imperial scholar) in 1622 and ranked up to the Minister of Rites and the Great Secretariat of the Eastern Hall when the Ming was the ruling regime of China. In the Qing dynasty, Wang was the Minister of Rites, academician of the Institute for the Advancement of Literature and the Crown Prince's Tutor. Active at the shift of regimens as a renowned calligrapher, Wang passed away in 1652 and was honored with the posthumous title of “Wenan”. W ang was adept in cursive and semi-cursive script, and profoundly inspired by Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi, two celebrated calligraphers in ancient China, especially the latter. He also extensively drew on the strengths of famous calligraphers in the Northern and Southern dynasties, the Tang and Song dynasties. Having meticulously studied the Chun Hua Ge Tie, the oldest imperial anthology of calligraphy rubbings made in 992, W ang established his own style of calligraphy and was honored the “Magic Calligrapher”. While strictly following the rules of calligraphy and achieving a balance between tension and relaxation, Wang’s script seems to have life of its own with overwhelming vitality. Back when the style of Dong Qichang, a celebrated calligrapher in the Ming dynasty, swept over the circle of calligraphy, Wang and several calligraphers advocated following the example of accomplished calligraphers, and set their own banner. Their ambition helped pave a new way for the development of calligraphy. Well-balanced between tension and relaxation of strokes, the scroll embodies a rare and unrestrained style of brushwork.

14.Scroll: O des to Plum Blossom (by Huang Tingjian of the Song dynasty)

Calligraphy and Painting

Ink and Color on Silk

Width×Length:27.5cm×210cm

Huang Tingjian (1045-1105) originated in Xiushui, Jiangxi. Adept in cursive and semi-cursive, Huang established a calligraphic style of his own. The scroll included three poems on plum blossom he wrote in cursive script in his middle age. Although thin and bony in shape of the script, Huang showcased a changeful style of brushwork, with resolute vigor of strokes and rhythmic handwriting, which varies from the works of his late years. The preface and postscript were written in minuscule semi-cursive script with an unusually adventurous arrangement of components.

15.Hollow-handled Spade Money

The Warring States Period

Issued by the State of Zhou

Width of Shoulder: 5cm

Length: 9.9cm

Weight: 29.8g

Made of bronze, the spade was manufactured by being cast in molds. It retains the hollow socket by which a genuine tool could be attached to its handle. The characteristics of this type of spade include square shoulders and a slightly curving foot. The socket has a triangular hole and a star above it, and still retains the clay from the casting process. The spade bears an inscription of the name of its issuing city on the obverse, which is Bo, a place in Yanshi, Henan today, and three parallel lines on the reverse. Neatly made of fine bronze during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods (the 8th-5th century B.C.), the spades were issued in the Royal Domain of Zhou.

Considered one of the earliest metallic coins in the history of China, the hollow-handled spade money derives from hoe and spade, both agricultural implements in ancient China. By shape, the hollow-handled spade money can be categorized into three types: pointed shoulder and foot spade, square shoulder spade with an arched foot, and sloping shoulder spade with an arched foot. The hollow-handled spade with the inscription of Bo falls into the second category.

The hollow-handled spade is one of the earliest money manufactured by being cast in piece molds in ancient China. There are three types of piece mold by material: clay mold, stone mold and bronze mold. The coinage with piece mold entails the following three steps: 

1. Mold fabrication: engraving of the style of money into a bivalve mold (two-piece mold), and fabrication of the spruce and the pouring gate

2. Mold fitting: aligning half of the mold with the other half and fitting them together

3. Mold cooling and pouring of molten bronze 

After cooling down, the mold is cracked open to obtain the formed spade, which will be cleaned for final finishing.

During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the hollow-handled spade money circulated in the main agrarian states such as Zhou, Jin, Zheng and Wei, which corresponded to the central and southern Shanxin, and Henan today. Therefore, the origin of spade money was inextricably linked to the production activity and life of people back then.