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PROPERTY FROM A SINGAPOREAN PRIVATE COLLECTION (LOTS 985-986)
HUANG DAOZHOU (1585-1646)
Collection of Poems
Details
HUANG DAOZHOU (1585-1646)
Collection of Poems
Album of eighteen leaves, ink on paper
Each leaf measures 27 x 38.5 cm. (10 5/8 x 15 ¼ in.)
Signed and dedicated to Weizhang
Colophons by nineteen artists, including Chen Baochen (1848-1935), Bao Xi(1868-1942), Liang Dingfeng (1859-1919), Zhu Yifan (1861-1937), Yan Fu (1854-1921), Nei Tenghu (1866-1934), Lin Shu (1852-1924), Li Ruiqing (1867-1920), Zheng Xiaoxu (1860-1938), Chen Sanli (1853-1937), Wang Zhen(1867-1938), with a total thirty-three seals
Frontispiece by Emperor Xuantong (1906-1967)
Two collector’s seals, including one of Emperor Xuantong
Collection of Poems
Album of eighteen leaves, ink on paper
Each leaf measures 27 x 38.5 cm. (10 5/8 x 15 ¼ in.)
Signed and dedicated to Weizhang
Colophons by nineteen artists, including Chen Baochen (1848-1935), Bao Xi(1868-1942), Liang Dingfeng (1859-1919), Zhu Yifan (1861-1937), Yan Fu (1854-1921), Nei Tenghu (1866-1934), Lin Shu (1852-1924), Li Ruiqing (1867-1920), Zheng Xiaoxu (1860-1938), Chen Sanli (1853-1937), Wang Zhen(1867-1938), with a total thirty-three seals
Frontispiece by Emperor Xuantong (1906-1967)
Two collector’s seals, including one of Emperor Xuantong
Literature
Collection of Poems by Huang Daozhou, Shanghai Youzheng Bookstore, Shanghai, 1920.
Lin Fusheng ed., Classical Works of Chinese Calligraphy: Clerical Script, Guangxi Fine Art Publishing House, Nanning, 2008.
Lin Fusheng ed., Classical Works of Chinese Calligraphy: Clerical Script, Guangxi Fine Art Publishing House, Nanning, 2008.
Further details
Comprising 82 regulated verses in five character lines and encompassing a wealth of themes and subjects, Collection of Poems was written by Huang Daozhou for Weizhang, scholar name of Huang Wenhuan (1568-1667), a native of Yongfu in Fujian. Huang Daozhou and Huang Weizhang were both Presented Scholars from Fujian, both served as officials in the same palace bureau and later were both incarcerated in the same prison. After his capture at Wuyuan in 1645 and during his imprisonment in Nanjing, Huang devoted himself entirely to poetry, writing verses that communicated his inner emotions to Weizhang.
According to Chen Baochen’s colophon dated 1915, Collection of Poems remained in Huang Weizhang’s family collection until it was acquired by Lin Jiushen. In 1917, Chen Baochen entreated Pu Yi (1906-1967), Emperor Xuantong, to inscribe a highly valuable four-character frontispiece, reading: “An heroic example of noble spirit”. From 1915 to 1928, proactive but courteous requests from Chen and Lin persuaded numerous former imperial ministers and scholars to add colophons to the album, many of them were originally from Fujian: e.g. advocate of evolutionary theory Yan Fu (1853-1921), translator of Alexandre Dumas’ La Dame aux Camélias Lin Shu (1852-1924), poet and calligrapher Zeng Xiaoxu (1860-1938). One of the most unexpected inscribers was Japanese scholar and student of Chen Baochen, Naitō Koji, whose studies in China afforded him the opportunity to inscribe this album alongside so many Chinese cultural luminaries.
Huang Daozhou achieved fame for his learning and rectitude. While his body was imprisoned, his mind found peace in the antique clerical script calligraphy of Zhong Yao (151-230), which he used to execute Collection of Poems. The undulating twists and turns reveal his character. In 1920, Lin published this work under the title The Exceptional Verses of Huang Shizhai. Nowadays, the printed edition is already a rarity, let alone this original Collection of Poems!
According to Chen Baochen’s colophon dated 1915, Collection of Poems remained in Huang Weizhang’s family collection until it was acquired by Lin Jiushen. In 1917, Chen Baochen entreated Pu Yi (1906-1967), Emperor Xuantong, to inscribe a highly valuable four-character frontispiece, reading: “An heroic example of noble spirit”. From 1915 to 1928, proactive but courteous requests from Chen and Lin persuaded numerous former imperial ministers and scholars to add colophons to the album, many of them were originally from Fujian: e.g. advocate of evolutionary theory Yan Fu (1853-1921), translator of Alexandre Dumas’ La Dame aux Camélias Lin Shu (1852-1924), poet and calligrapher Zeng Xiaoxu (1860-1938). One of the most unexpected inscribers was Japanese scholar and student of Chen Baochen, Naitō Koji, whose studies in China afforded him the opportunity to inscribe this album alongside so many Chinese cultural luminaries.
Huang Daozhou achieved fame for his learning and rectitude. While his body was imprisoned, his mind found peace in the antique clerical script calligraphy of Zhong Yao (151-230), which he used to execute Collection of Poems. The undulating twists and turns reveal his character. In 1920, Lin published this work under the title The Exceptional Verses of Huang Shizhai. Nowadays, the printed edition is already a rarity, let alone this original Collection of Poems!
Brought to you by
Amy Yang