Chao Meng-fu: Ode to Hsien-chu

Yuan dynasty

Handscroll / ink on paper

Handscroll : 39.9 x 436.0cm (including postscript)

Chao Meng-fu (1254-1322), Tzu-ang by style name, was active in the Yuan dynasty when traditional culture was stagnant. He advocated the reactionism of rejecting Sung and returning to the legitimacy of the Chin and T'ang dynasties, and became the most prominent calligrapher of the Yuan dynasty. This work, executed by an elegant use of the brush and filled with graceful elegance in its coherence and faithfulness to the ancient style, is the preeminent masterpiece produced late in his life.