Calligraphy in Semi-Cursive Style (xing-caoshu)
c. 1660–1709
Medium
Hanging scroll; ink on paper
Dimensions
image: 28.6 × 64.1 cm · overall with knobs: 115.6 × 73.8 cm
Classification
Calligraphy
Department
Chinese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert T. Gow
Accession Number
2003.353
Tags
About this artwork
This spontaneous, bold calligraphy style is characteristic of members of the Japanese Ōbaku school (Huangbo in Chinese) of Chan (Zen in Japanese) Buddhism, which was founded in Japan by Chinese monks in the 1600s. The monk Yueshan emigrated to Japan from the Chinese province of Fujian, taking a priestly post at Manpukuji, the headquarters of the Ōbaku school in Japan. He later became the seventh abbot of the distinguished temple. Yueshan’s calligraphy features rounded characters that allow him t...