Terms and conditions of use
Calligraphy in the official script (eight characters couplet)
(書法 (隸書八言對聯))
(19th century)
- Medium
- ink on paper
- Measurements
- (a) 181.2 × 33.1 cm (image) (right scroll)
(b) 181.2 × 33.1 cm (image) (left scroll) - Place/s of Execution
- China
- Inscription
- (a) inscribed in brush and ink (in image) u.c.r.: 慕白世弟屬
(b) inscribed in brush and ink (in image) l.c.l: 蝯叟何紹基
stamped in red ink (in image) l.c.l.: 何紹基印 / 子貞 - Accession Number
- 1709.a-b-D4
- Department
- Asian Art
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1956
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of The Gordon Darling Foundation - Gallery location
- Not on display
- Physical description
- (a) This piece of calligraphy is one of a pair. It is placed on the right side of the pair and is read first, as Chinese is read from right to left. It is written in eight Chinese characters in the official script (隸書 lishu) of calligraphy. This vertical piece of calligraphy is also the first line of a couplet of poems, echoed and balanced by the second line of the couplet. Read from top to bottom: 君囿祥麟斑文仙卉 ‘[In] Imperial park auspicious unicorn, Banwen (bird) [in the midst of] celestial [immortal] grass.’ The characters are well spaced and are written with childlike naivete and individuality in the official script (隸書 lishu). (b) This piece of calligraphy is one of a pair. It is placed on the left side of the pair and is read last, as Chinese is read from right to left. It is written in eight Chinese characters in the official script (隸書 lishu) of Chinese calligraphy. This piece of calligraphy is also the second line of a couplet of poetry, echoing and matching in meaning the eight characters in the first line of the couplet. Read from top to bottom: 女牀鳴鳯歸昌帝梧 is translated as ‘Nu Chuang (lit. female bed but is also the name of a mountain in Shaanxi 陝西 province, China) phoenix singing together in the evening and resting on the heavenly Wu (tong) tree’. This second line matches the first line of the couplet 君囿祥麟斑文仙卉 ‘[In] Imperial park auspicious unicorns, Banwen (bird) [in the midst of] celestial [immortal] grass.’ The first two characters in each line such as 女牀 (Nu chuang) meaning literally ‘female bed’ on the left matches the first two characters 君囿 in the first line on the right. The first character, 君jun, meaning literally ‘gentleman, a man of noble character’ is a counterpoint to the first character 女 meaning female or woman in the poem on the left. Similarly, 囿 you, the second character in the poem on the right and meaning ‘a park or a zoo’ echoes the word 牀 chuang meaning ‘bed’. Similarly, the third and fourth characters 鳴鳯 meaning ‘singing phoenix’ in the second line matches the third and fourth characters 祥麟 meaning ‘auspicious unicorn’ in the first line. The fifth and sixth characters 歸昌 meaning ‘phoenix singing together in the evening’ in the second line matches the fifth and sixth characters 斑文 Banwen, the name of a bird in the first line. Finally, the last two characters 帝梧 meaning ‘heavenly wu tree’ in the second line matches the last two characters 仙卉 meaning ‘celestial [immortal] grass’ in the first line. The characters are well spaced and are elegantly written in the li 隸 or official style of Chinese calligraphy.
