Couplet Composed from Jiang Kui's Verses
Yang Tianji Chinese
Not on view
This work is a collaboration of two friends. Yang Tianji, an accomplished calligrapher and seal-carver from Jiangsu province, transcribes a couplet that another versatile artist Chen Hengke (1876–1923) composed by assembling phrases from several ci poems of the Southern Song (1127–1279) poet Jiang Kui (1155?–?1221).
The couplet reads:
Banana leaves, window gauze,
It is true that a night's intimacy leads to
ten years of melancholy dreams.
Rainbow bridge, paths by water,
Don't forget the time when, in the misty rain on the lake,
the pair of oars rippled the duckweeds.
(trans. by Shi-yee Liu)
This practice of combining poetic phrases or lines from different sources into a new composition was popular among early-twentieth-century traditional poets and artists. Yang Tianji began studying calligraphy in childhood. By his prime he had familiarized himself with the styles of all the major masters and ancient script types. This piece exemplifies his standard script, for which he is best known. The angular corners and barely modulated lines of certain characters also reflect his command of clerical and seal scripts.
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