Calligraphy

Compilercompiled and edited by Hu Zhengyan 胡正言 (Chinese, ca. 1584 - 1674)

Calligrapher Qian Tingxuan 錢廷選 (Chinese, active late Ming dynasty)

Additional Title(s)

Ten Bamboo Studio Manual of Calligraphy and Painting (Shizhuzhai shuhua pu) 十竹齋書畫譜; volume 3 (Man)

ClassificationsPRINTS

Date1633

DynastyMing dynasty

Mediumink and color on paper

Dimensionsbook: 9 3/4 x 11 1/4 in. (24.8 x 28.6 cm.)

DescriptionOne page from a woodblock printed book mounted as an album leaf

InscribedCalligraphy in cursive script: 靈空奇幻隠蒙茸，急扣無音似吼鐘。我欲呼君尋故址，幾回錯認兩三峰。錢廷選. Hand-written inscription, lower left: Rock 6 (shi liu) 石六

MarkingsSeal (朱文)

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Purchased with funds from June and Simon K.C Li, Fong Liu, Mei-Lee Ney, and Anne and Jim Rothenberg, in honor of Steven S. Koblik

Label TextTranslation of calligraphy:
Ethereal and illusory, it hides itself within its raggedness.
I knocked it quickly; it uttered not the sound of a clanging bell.
I’d like to call on you, my man, to look for where you came from;
But, for a couple of times, I located the wrong mountain peaks.
Qian Tingxuan

The Ten Bamboo Studio Manual presents appealing compositions and calligraphy that guide the reader in aesthetic appreciation. The contents all relate to the garden, depicting and celebrating flora, birds, and garden rocks. The pages shown here are from the rock section of the manual. They highlight certain desirable rocks, in image and verse, that would have been collected by the educated elite of the time.

Status

Not on view

Object number2014.7.3.13