Accession Number
1980/2.205

Title
Calligraphy (couplet)

Artist(s)
Mo Youzhi

Object Creation Date
1811-1871

Medium & Support
ink on paper

Dimensions
52 ⅛ in x 10 ¾ in (132.4 cm x 27.31 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Sarah and Otto Graf, supplemented by the Margaret Watson Parker Art Collection Fund

Label copy
Gallery Rotation Winter 2014
Mo Youzhi
China, circa 1811–1871
Calligraphy (couplet)
Qing dynasty (1644–1912)
19th century
Hanging scroll, ink on paper
Gift of Sarah and Otto Graf, supplemented by the Margaret Watson Parker Art Collection Fund, 1980/2.205–6
Born into a literary family, Mo Youzhi was an important scholar of epigraphy (inscriptions) in addition to being a famous calligrapher celebrated for his seal script—a stylized and blocky type of writing based on symbols cast into bronze ritual vessels from the Shang (1600–1046 BCE) and Zhou (1045–246 BCE) dynasties. This couplet is written in clerical script, an archaic style of Chinese calligraphy originating in the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE) that became the dominant style of writing in the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE). Like seal script, clerical script is highly legible, but it is more calligraphic, with a pronounced, wavelike flaring of isolated major strokes, especially in rightward or downward diagonal strokes. The first half of the couplet (on the right hand side) describes the lush plants in a spring garden, while the second half is a citation from a line in a poem by the great master Su Shi (1037–1101).

Subject matter
The first half of the couplet (on the right hand side) describes the lush plants in a spring garden, while the second half is a citation from a line in a poem by the great master Su Shi (1037–1101).

Physical Description
This couplet is written in clerical script, an archaic style of Chinese calligraphy originating in the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE) that became the dominant style of writing in the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE). Like seal script, clerical script is highly legible, but it is more calligraphic, with a pronounced, wavelike flaring of isolated major strokes, especially in rightward or downward diagonal strokes.

Primary Object Classification
Painting

Primary Object Type
hanging scroll

Additional Object Classification(s)
Painting

Collection Area
Asian

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
calligraphy