Couplet in clerical-standard script

Object Details

• Artist

  Zhang Hairuo (1877-1943)

• Label

  Off I go to the peaks in front to plant the seeds of pines;

  I bring along some springtime wine and seek a bamboo grove.

  The creation of matching couplets (duilian) became a literary game during the seventeenth century and has remained popular among Chinese poets and calligraphers to this day. A successful matching couplet complies with all the rules of balanced composition that apply to much of traditional Chinese poetry. Couplets may be original, borrowed from an existing poem, or combine two lines from separate poems.

  For the present couplet, Zhang Hairuo selected lines from two poems composed during the Tang dynasty (618-907). He borrowed the first line (right scroll) from a poem by Li Pin (active 840s-870s) titled "Inscribed on the Thatched Hall of Alchemist Gu on Yangshan," which describes the departure of the immortal alchemist into the mountains. The second line (left scroll) comes from a poem by Wang Changling (ca. 690-ca. 756) titled "Rustic Picnic at Longbiao," which describes an excursion taken by the author in his place of exile. In this couplet, pine and bamboo serve as parallel symbols of moral fortitude and integrity, adding nuance and purpose to the ideas of departure and separation.

• Provenance

  To 1998

  Robert Hatfield Ellsworth (born 1929), New York City, to 1998

  From 1998

  Freer Gallery of Art, given by Robert Hatfield Ellsworth in 1998 [1]

  Notes:

  [1] All Chinese calligraphy in the gift were published in Mr. Ellsworth's Later Chinese Painting and Calligraphy: 1800-1950, vol. 3 (New York: Random House, 1986) (according to Curatorial Note 4, Joseph Chang, May 19, 1998, in the object record).

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Three Friends of Winter: Pine, Bamboo, and Plum in Chinese Painting (August 12, 2001 to February 3, 2002)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Robert Hatfield Ellsworth (1929-2014)

• Origin

  China

• Credit Line

  Gift of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Freer Gallery of Art

• Type

  Calligraphy

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1940s, 1900s

• Name

  Ellsworth, Robert Hatfield

• Place

  China

• Topic

  Clerical-standard script, Art, Couplet, Chinese Art, Robert Hatfield Ellsworth collection, Modern period (1912 - present)

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Calligraphy (visual works)