ten bold characters in black on white; some dry brush areas; dark blue, gold and yellow mount

Stone Shadows, early 19th century

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Scratchy and rough, the writing mimics the surface of the stone, the first character of the poem. Matsumoto used a style of calligraphy called feibai (“flying white”) in which the use of a relatively dry brush results in dry, streaky strokes. The “white” refers to the paper showing through the ink. This poem is an example of wuyan jueju, a quatrain of five characters each. Matsumoto excerpted these two lines from a longer composition titled

“Remembering Zhengnanpin” by eighth-century Chinese poet Du Fu. Japanese kanshi (Chinese-style) poets studied Chinese poetry extensively and incorporated it into their own works.
石影銜珠閣
泉聲帶玉琴
Stone shadows hold the jeweled tower in the South;
The spring water's voice strums the jade qin
(Trans. adapted from Stephen Addiss)

Details
Title
Stone Shadows
Role
Artist
Accession Number
2013.29.342
Curator Approved

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ten bold characters in black on white; some dry brush areas; dark blue, gold and yellow mount