清朝 金農 隸書典故成語軸 紙本水墨
Chronicle of the Warring States in clerical script (lishu)
By Jin Nong, Chinese, 1687-1764
Qing dynasty (1644-1911)
Hanging scroll, ink on paper, on loan, R2005.70.06

This painting appeared in Chinese Calligraphy display in the Chinese Painting Gallery of the second floor Chinese Gallery Suite. Label text approved Feb 2006. 

Clerical script (lishu) developed over 2000 years ago in response to the greater demand for written documentation during China’s first imperial dynasties. During this time, edicts from the court were copied by clerks who used straight strokes with angled turns as a way to save time. It was in this style that experiments with the modulated pressure on the brush began to be more apparent; these experiments quickly led to the development of cursive script (caoshu or “grass script”) which is one of the earliest personal art forms in China.

No Han dynasty clerical script, and indeed no clerical script prior to those of the artist Jin Nong, looked like this. In Jin’s work horizontal strokes dominate, appearing to be carved into the paper, while the vertical strokes seem almost an afterthought. Sun Qianli addresses the issue of using the ancient to make a very contemporary statement in his 687 Treatise on Calligraphy (Shu pu): Estimable is the ability to write in ancient style without being in discord with one’s own time and to create modern art without going along with its shortcomings.

Content
In keeping with the antique flavor of his style, this calligraphy is an excerpt from the Chronicle of the Warring States (c. 475-221 BCE).

Biography
Jin Nong was among the first generation of artists at Yangzhou where he moved late in his life. He did not become a practicing artist until age fifty. In calligraphy, Jin found his particular form of self expression through the free interpretation of ancient scripts. He based these on his large collection of antiques, ink stones and rubbings of ancient calligraphies.

© Asian Art Museum of San Francisco