Calligraphy

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

Calligrapher He Guangxiu 何光休 (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. After the seal script inscription, a transcription in standard script follows.

InscribedCalligraphy in seal script: 錦石稱奇巘，依稀衆岳連。漱來山骨峭，蟠帶墨痕鮮。聃老曾穿木，風媧舊補天。六丁開鑿處，何自得森然。題錦山石何光休書. Hand-written inscription, lower left: Rock 7 (shi qi) 石七

MarkingsSeal (白文): 光休

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:
This Brocade Rock is truly an extraordinary cliff,
As if connected with a great Marchmount.
Rinsed in the mouth, its bones become ever more precipitous,
Coiling back and forth, the traces of black seem fresh.
Master Laozi himself once bored a hole in this rock,
And Nüwa used it to repair the Heavens above.
Where the Six Ding dug a hole,
There does it derive its awe.
On Brocade Mountain Rock, by He Guangxiu

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 number2014.7.3.15