About Exhibits

Besotted by Flower Vapors interactive installation

This new media art installation takes its material from Huang Ting-chien's Besotted by Flower Vapors handscroll, using a montage of Huang's calligraphy and floral motifs to create an audiovisual immersive technological garden. When the audience approaches the wall, the flowers in the center morph into calligraphic characters. Coupled with the ancient poetic text, the installation works as a whole to place the audience within Huang's creative process.

Artifact Inspiration：Besotted by Flower Vapors, Huang Ting-chien, Sung dynasty
Voice acting: Lim Giong.

A Tour of the Imperial Garden

Animated elements were taken from Castiglione's Immortal Blossoms in an Everlasting Spring. As if one were entering an imperial garden in full bloom, this installation uses 3D animation to erect Castiglione's perspective composition in three dimensional space. The images in the screen are arranged in one-point perspective and slowly zoom in towards the visitor to create the illusion of entering the picture plane.

Artists：The National Palace Museum, Vick Wang.
Artifact Inspiration：Immortal Blossoms in an Everlasting Spring by Giuseppe Castiglione.

Spring Birth

"Spring brings back all the verdure of the Earth;
Blossoms burst forth on branches with their songs."

The images here of flowering crab apple, magnolia, peony, carnation, and peach blossom are representative of Giuseppe Castiglione's fine brushwork and use of bright colors. He renders the charming poses of the birds and delicate blossoms in a unique style influenced by both Chinese and Western painting methods. Combining voice-activated interactive technology and animation that brings the moving beauty of spring to life in the paintings, this installation is completed by audience participation. The voice activates the animation and creates the appearance of movement. As the birds and blossoms sway in the breeze, audiences may bask in their eternal charm and fall under the enchantment of Castiglione's spirited naturalism.

Artifact Inspiration：Immortal Blossoms in an Everlasting Spring by Giuseppe Castiglione, Qing dynasty.

Seven-character verse

1. Huang Ting-chien, Sung dynasty
2. Album leaf, 30.7 x 43.2cm

Huang Ting-chien was a native of Hsiu-shui, Kiangsi. Good at poetry and prose, he once said regarding himself that he studied cursive script for more than 30 years. Upon seeing Su Shih's calligraphy, he then abandoned his style, which he thought commonplace, and achieved the marvels of Chang Hsü and Huaisu in his brushwork. This work from the album "Ink Treasures of the Four Sung Masters" is a seven-character regulated verse written to his friend in jest. Though the characters are in cursive form, the brushwork has elements of running script. Each character is independent, the strokes starting and stopping with moderation and composure. Though only five lines, each component exhibits considerable variety in the size and density as well as the length and breadth, making this cursive script text a rarity.

The Spirit of Autobiography

The Spirit of Autobiography, inspired from Autobiography, the world-famous cursive script masterpiece produced by T'ang dynasty monk Huaisu, is the world's very first calligraphy virtual reality installation. In the original, Huaisu excerpts poetic praise given to him by his contemporaries, who compares his calligraphy to images in nature. A famous segment, "my brush varies as the snake glides poised into his post, or thrashes in tune with the windstorm upon the walls," captures the changing rhythm in Huaisu's brushwork.

In the virtual reality installation, the calligraphic text transforms rapidly from dragons and snakes into a storm. A dancer dances slowly in the diaphanous mist between water and sky, using his dance forms to interpret the speed and strength behind the calligraphy. Finally, a virtual brush can be used to practice writing calligraphy.

Artifact Inspiration: Autobiography, T'ang dynasty, Huaisu.

Autobiography

1. Huaisu, T'ang dynasty
2. Handscroll, 28.3×755cm

The monk Huaisu, originally going by the surname Ch'ien and the style name Ts'angchen, was a native of Ch'angsha (or Lingling) in Hunan. Achieving renown in his hometown for cursive script, he later headed north to Chang'an, where famous people at the time presented poetry in admiration of his calligraphy. In the "dingsi" year of the Dali reign (corresponding to 777), he transcribed these verses of praise along with a preface by the master calligrapher Yan Zhenqing to compose this handscroll. Some of the lines here refer to natural phenomena or use exaggerated phrases to describe the beauty of Huaisu's cursive script. Other passages praise him as an inheritor of the "wild and crazy" cursive script of Chang Hsu in his pursuit of unusual and unbridled qualities. The entire work was done with fine yet strong brushwork, the features continuous throughout for an unlimited range of unusual expressions, making this a master work art of cursive script.

The Cold Food Observance

1. Su Shih, Sung dynasty
2. Handscroll, ink on paper 34.2×199.5cm

Su Shih (style name Tzu-chan) was a native of Meishan in Sichuan better known by his sobriquet Dongpo. Often grouped with Cai Xiang, Huang Tingjian, and Mi Fu as one of the Four Masters of Northern Sung calligraphy, he excelled at poetry and prose, painting, and calligraphy. In 1079, Su Shi was living in exile in Huangzhou (Huanggang, Hubei). On the Cold Food Festival in the fourth month of his third year, there he was inspired by the change in seasons to comment on the difficulties of life and the frustrations in his official career, composing "Two Poems on the Cold Food Observance in Rain," which he later transcribed in calligraphy upon this handscroll. The dramatic ups and downs of Su Shih's emotions in his poetry were transformed into a flood of ink wandering about the paper with leaning forms here and there in a bold and unrestrained manner. This handscroll has circulated for more than 900 years from the Sung dynasty to the present, with later generations praising it as the best example of Su Shih's surviving calligraphy.

Zijin Ink Stone

1. Mi Fu, Sung dynasty
2. Album leaf, ink on paper, 28.2 x 39.7 cm

Mi Fu, in his youth was known as Fei, later changed to the style name Yüan-chang and the sobriquets Lu-men chü-shih and Hsiang-yang man-shih. He excelled at connoisseurship in the arts and had the honor of being summoned by Emperor Hui-tsung in 1104 to serve as the Erudite of Painting and Calligraphy. This work narrates how his prized Zijin Ink Stone, which had been taken away by Su Shih, was about to be buried with Su after his death, but, fortunately for Mi Fu, he was able to finally have his prized possession returned. The joy of his emotions overflow onto paper in the form of an inscription of appreciation. The varied spacing of the lines is free and easy, following the mood of his spirit in the text as it modulates back and forth, the calligraphy possessing a rhythm of fast and slow as well as light and heavy. The lively and quick brushwork flows in an uninterrupted manner. The overall bearing is bold and outstanding, but also reveals a state of naturalness and pure innocence.

On Sichuan Silk

1. Mi Fu, Sung dynasty
2. Handscroll, 27.8×270.8cm

"On Sichuan Silk" is a handscroll that inclu des eight poems on six subjects in a variety of formats, including five and seven character archaic, truncated, and regulated verse. The entire scroll composed of 556 characters in a total of 71 lines is a masterpiece by Mi Fu, written at the age of 37. On one hand, the contents of the poetry reveal Mi Fu's ambitions as an official and his praise of the literary talents of the recipient of the scroll. On the other hand, Mi Fu, using a precious piece of Sichuan Silk, performed calligraphy to the best of his abilities, moving the brush both quick and slow, sometimes light and fleeting while at other times steady and heavy. The concealment and expressiveness of the brushwork was unconstrained by conventions as characters appear in a variety of positions with both force and beauty. Even within the same stroke or character, one can find different calligraphic methods used, revelatory of Mi Fu's skill at an infinite variety of forms as well as his calligraphic expression that differs from that of Su Shih and Huang Ting-chien.

Chengxin Hall Paper

1. Tsai Hsiang, Sung dynasty
2. Album leaf, ink on paper, 24.7 x 27.1 cm

Tsai Hsiang, style name Chün-mo, was a native of Hsien-yu in Fukien. In calligraphy, he followed in the tradition of T'ang masters, being gifted in their classical and regulated manner. The movement of the brush in this work is like that of running script, but the characters are similar to those of regular script, being calligraphed in an easy-going manner. Compared to other works by Tsai Hsiang, there is a touch of refinement in addition to the dignity of the manner here. The brushwork and characters generally reflect a fusion of the styles of the two T'ang masters Yü Shih-nan and Yen Chen-ch'ing. The contents describe a request for producing one of the most famous of papers, Chengxin Hall Paper. Li Pien, Emperor Lieh-tsu of the Southern T'ang, is said to have ordered its production in Hsüan-ch'eng. The surface of this type of paper was said to be as fine as the membrane of an egg and as pure and resilient as jade. Exceptionally thin and lustrous, it was regarded in the Sung dynasty as the finest of all papers.

Poem on the Hall of Pines and Wind

1. Huang Ting-chien, Sung dynasty
2. Handscroll, 32.8×219.2cm

Huang Ting-chien, style name Lu-chih and sobriquets Fu-weng and Shan-ku tao-jen, was a native of Fen-ning, Kiangsi. He specialized in poetry and prose as well as calligraphy, being known in the latter along with Su Shih, Mi Fu, and Tsai Hsiang as one of the Four Masters of the Northern Sung. In the eighth lunar month of 1102, Huang Ting-chien took a trip to the Western Mountain at Wu-ch'ang (modern O-chou, Hupeh), along the way visiting such famous sites as the "Hall of Pines and Wind". Moved by the occasion, he calligraphed his own seven-character archaic verse, through which he expressed a desire for relief from his present predicament and a longing for his friends. The handscroll, though calligraphed on joined pieces of paper with impressed designs that did not absorb the ink very well, yet exhibits strength in his brushwork, which gesture boldly into elongated wave-like strokes forming compact and lean characters. The work is representative of Huang Ting-chien's later style.

Stamps of Landscape

Elements of the mountains, waters, stones, clouds, flowers, trees, houses and humans from Activities of the Twelve Months can be arranged by visitors on the screen via the digital interactive augmented reality program. Audience members can decide where they want to stamp on the screen and the locations of the other elements will arrange themselves accordingly to the position of the impression.

Artifact Inspiration: Activities of the Twelve Lunar Months (Tenth Month), painting academic artists.

Roaming through Fantasy Land

Roaming through Fantasy Land is a virtual reality adaptation of the late Sung and early Yuan dynasty painter Zhao Mengfu's Autumn Colors on the Qiao and Hua Mountains. The immersive virtual reality experience whisks the audience from the real world into a virtual fantasy land, in which one roams through the autumn scenery of Jinan Province depicted by Zhao Mengfu, proceeding along the contours of the sandbanks, the ancient Yellow River, pine trees, and the warm toned shallow waters. This installation allows the audience to partake in the profound friendship that spurred Zhao Mengfu to paint this masterpiece for Zhou Mi.

Artifact Inspiration: Autumn Colors on the Qiao and Hua Mountains, Yuan dynasty, Zhao Mengfu.

Emperor Ming-huang's Flight to Szechwan

1. Anonymous, T'ang dynasty
2. Hanging scroll, 55.9×81cm

This painting depicts what happened in the An Lushan Rebellion that had taken place in the Tianbao era of the T'ang dynasty. Before rebel troops captured the capital of Chang'an (Xi'an), Emperor Minghuang (Xuanzong) escaped the chaos by taking an imperial journey to Shu (Sichuan). Historical records mention that the entourage crossed small bridges below lofty cascades on narrow plank paths so frightening that even the horses feared to go. Such a scene is depicted here, in which the red-robed figure is none other than Emperor Minghuang. This painting is also known as "Picking Gourds," and related paintings ascribed as such appear in Sung and Yuan dynasty records, with many paintings surviving that are similar in composition to this work. The brushwork still preserves the stylistic features found in T'ang dynasty to Five Dynasties period. However, in terms of form, it exhibits the ideals of landscape composition from the Sung dynasty. The work is carefully and meticulously done throughout with beautiful colors, making it worthy of being considered a classical masterpiece of early blue-and-green landscape painting.

Travelers Among Mountains and Streams

1. Fan K'uan, Sung dynasty
2. Hanging scroll,206.3×103.3cm

Among the leaves of the trees in the lower right part of the mountain forest is Fan Kuan's signature. A native of Huayuan (modern day Yaoxian, Shaanxi), Fan Kuan, style name Zhongli, excelled at landscape painting. At first, he studied the styles of Li Cheng and Jing Hao, but he later created a style of his own after long years of observing nature. The succinct composition contains large rocky outcroppings in the lower foreground, a line of donkeys in the middle ground, and a towering mountain in the distance. The foot of the peak has been left blank to suggest a band of clouds and mist, creating the effect of distance and height in the space. Throughout the work, angular strokes outline the forms, to which short brush texturing was added to build substance in the landscape forms. The contrast created by the small train of donkeys set against the monumental peak highlight an absorbing aura of majesty.

Early Spring

1. Kuo Hsi, Sung dynasty
2. Hanging scroll,158.3×108.1cm

Done in 1072, this is not only the finest representative work of the master Kuo Hsi but also one of the most important surviving milestones in the history of Chinese landscape painting. Under Emperor Shen-tsung, Kuo Hsi entered service at court, and his landscapes were used to furnish new government offices and halls during the government reforms of Grand Chancellor Wang An-shih. This painting may very well have been one of these works. The composition here is arranged in a symmetrical manner, but the sense of order still reveals variations full of rhythm and movement. In addition, the effect of light and dark achieved through the use of graded washes of ink also adds considerably to the illusory effect of space in this landscape. The inclusion of such activities as boating, gathering firewood, and traveling transforms the painting further into a mystical realm, full of life, wherein the beholder can travel and abide. These forms of expression are verbally expressed in Kuo Hsi's notes on painting recorded in Lofty Ambitions Among Forests and Streams, making this work evidence of his painting theories.

Clearing After Snow in the Min Mountains

1. Anonymous, Sung dynasty
2. Hanging scroll, 115.1×100.7cm

The rocks and landscape forms in this painting reveal dramatically twisting outlines, to which copious layers of light and dark ink wash tones were added to create textured surfaces. The effect created by the brushwork is very similar to that found in the mountain forms in Kuo Hsi's Early Spring. However, the structural composition of the mountains are more fragmented than in Early Spring, and the lines also twist and turn in a more painterly manner, indicating that this is an extension of Kuo Hsi's style. Some of the brushwork is also similar to that of Jin dynasty landscapes, indicating that the post-Kuo Hsi style evidenced in this painting had obviously crossed political boundaries and spread to the north occupied by the Jin dynasty. This work is also quite detailed, the buildings and figural activities reflecting a thirteenth-century revival of the Northern Sung monumental style of landscape painting.

Windy Pines Among a Myriad Valleys

1. Li T'ang, Sung dynasty
2. Hanging scroll, 188.7×139.8cm

On one of the peaks left of the main mountain is a signature that reads, "Brushed by Li Tang of Heyang in spring of the 'jiachen' year (1124) of the Xuanhe reign of the Great Sung." Li Tang (style name Xigu), a native of Heyang (Mengxian, Henan), was active from the late Northern to early Southern Sung. In a secluded valley grows a luxuriant forest of pines as a torrent of spring water flows downward. Although the mountain forms are layered densely, there is still a sense of space between them. With small "axe-cut" strokes to texture the mountain forms, to which light and dark washes of blue and green were added, the solidity and luster of the mountains form a unique effect. The light and dark coloring of the pine needles also creates a flourishing and dynamic effect. The pine forest of the foreground and overlapping water and mountain forms behind reveal a painting method that expresses deep distance.

Buildings on a Mountainside

1. Hsiao Chao, Sung dynasty
2. Hanging scroll, 179.3×112.7cm

On one side of a central precipice is Hsiao Chao's signature. Legend has it that Hsiao was once a bandit in the Taihang Mountains in the late Northern Sung until he tried to rob the fleeing court artist Li Tang, who taught him instead how to paint. Later, Hsiao entered the Southern Sung Painting Academy. The left side of this work is composed of a soaring precipice with many sharp and craggy rocks. From the central part of the mountain form extends a rocky outcropping, upon which stand two figures talking with each other and appearing to be looking out and admiring the beautiful scenery on the distant banks. This work has already begun to depart from the monumental majesty of Northern Sung landscape paintings, being more similar to the style found in Li Tang's Wind in Pines Among a Myriad Valleys, which presents scenes up-close and focuses on the details and richness of forms. With the solid rocks and misty distant mountains, the beautiful scene effectively contrasts substance and void.

Ancient Temple in Mountain Pass

1. Jia Shigu, Sung dynasty
2. Album leaf, 26.41 x 26cm

In the lower left corner of this painting is the signature "Jia Shigu," an artist who does not appear in texts on painting from the Southern Sung. The left side of this work depicts a rocky outcropping with pine trees growing on two hilltops, between which is a valley with a towered wall gate. Around the hill to the other side is the building of a monastery. The right part of the painting reveals a level stretch of land, where two travelers have been sketchily rendered. In the far distance, the partial outline of a mountain was washed in ink. The brushwork throughout the work consists of short, heavily-inked strokes. In addition to some of the rock faces being rendered with textured dots, blue-and-green pigment was also added to suggest thick growths of verdant grass. The method of separating the rocky forms along the bottom of the painting is similar to the treatment at the bottom of Li Tang's Wind in Pines Among a Myriad Valleys. This is an example of mid-twelfth century landscape painting from the early Southern Sung.

Walking on a Mountain Path in Spring

1. Ma Yuan, Sung dynasty
2. Album leaf, 27.4 x 43.1cm

Ma Yüan (sobriquet Ch'in-shan) was originally a native of Ho-chung, but his family later moved to Ch'ien-t'ang (modern day Hangchou). He served as Painter-in-Attendance during the reigns of Kuang-tsung and Ning-tsung (1190-1224). From grandfather to son, the entire family served as court painters. Willows grow on the bank of a stream, orioles chirp, and a scholar in white robes wearing a translucent stiff cap walks in solitude, followed by servant boy carrying a lute. It is like the poem inscribed by Ning-tsung which reads, "The wild flowers dance when brushed by my sleeve/ The reclusive birds make no sound, shunning man's presence." Ma Yüan's use of brush was heavy and coarse and his rendering of drapery was decisive, often using the so-called "nail-head" and "rat-tail" stroke methods. His use of ink includes many layers of light and dark washes. This is the thirteenth leaf from the album Ming-hui chi-chen.

Autumn Colors on the Qiao and Hua Mountains

1. Zhao Mengfu, Yuan dynasty
2. Handscroll, 28.4×93.2cm

Zhao Mengfu (style name Zi'ang, sobriquet Songxue daoren), a member of the Sung dynasty imperial clan, went north after the Sung fall to serve as an official in the Yuan capital of Dadu. After returning south from his service in the Ji'nan Circuit, he painted in 1295 for his friend Zhou Mi (1232-1298) a scene of Zhou's ancestral land. The composition of the scroll is spare; sitting upon the shores of marshy slopes and expanses of water are the pointed Hua (buzhu) Mountain to the right and the rounded Qiao Mountain on the left. Both the sloping banks and trees, which recalls the motifs in Dong Yuan's landscapes, through Zhao Mengfu's application of ink and color, have become even more animated, forming a naturally beautiful scenery pleasing to the eye. Zhao Mengfu's innovative revival of archaic painting styles later inspired Huang Gongwang to master a new vitality in his brushwork.

Summer Lotus

Southern Sung dynasty painter Feng Ta-yu's Lotus Blossom in the T'ai-yeh Pond portrays a lotus pond with flowers in full bloom, some of which blossom resplendently in the face of the wind, sporting dewdrops, while others are still budding in anticipation of blooming into vivid colors. In the pond, a flock of ducks swim leisurely. In the air above, butterflies flutter and swallows spread their wings, the scene teeming with vibrant life. The interactive virtual sensory installation, which presents a scene of summer lotuses in a pond decorated with charming details depicted by the painter, allows audience members to virtually experience the dynamism of life in summer.

Artifact Inspiration: Lotuses in the Wind at Taiye, Feng Ta-yu, Sung dynasty.

Lotus Blossom in the T'ai-yeh Pond

1. Feng Ta-yu, Sung dynasty
2. Album leaf, 23.8 x 25.1cm

Feng Ta-yu was a native of Suchou in Kiangsu. He took the sobriquet I-chai and eventually served in the government position of Ch'eng-shih-lang. By the age of six, he could already write prose and he excelled at conveying the spirit of lotuses in every context of light and dark, wind and rain. In this work, the ninth leaf from the album "Painting Compilation of the Sung and Yuan ," a pond is seen filled with lotus plants gently blown in every imaginable direction. The red and white blossoms float above the water surface as a group of ducks leisurely feed below them. Lively butterflies and swallows can be observed flying about and whiling away the summer. The Chinese title of this leaf includes the characters "T'ai-yeh," which is found in Feng-ch'an shu from Records of the Grand Historian. Emperor Wu-ti (r. 140-87 B.C.) of the Former Han had a palace constructed at the T'ai-yeh Pond which included a pavilion. During the reign of his successor, Emperor Chao-ti (r. 86-74 B.C.), a golden swan was reported to have descended to the pond. Officials at the time took the phenomenon as an auspicious sign. In Feng's album leaf of lotus blossoms, the harmonious composition and elegant coloring, complemented by the butterflies and ducks, echo the delicate air of auspiciousness in the above story.

Poem, Hui-tsung

1. Hui-tsung, Sung dynasty
2. Handscroll, 27.2×263.8cm

Emperor Hui-tsung (personal name Chao Chi), adept at both calligraphy and painting, mastered all the subjects of landscapes, figures, and birds-and-flowers. In calligraphy, the brush force in his running, cursive, and regular scripts is strong yet spirited, approaching the method of Huang T'ing-chien. Reaching back to the style of Hsueh Ji, Hui-tsung developed a bony yet strong manner of his own that became known as "slender gold script." This five-character regulated verse poem, whose exceptionally large characters expand to almost five Chinese inches tall, is the largest of any surviving example of Hui-tsung's calligraphy. The brushwork is even more upstanding than in small-character calligraphy. "Slender gold script" was a calligraphic style created by Hui-tsung that especially emphasized sharp and strong strokes, the movement of retracting the brush for vertical and horizontal strokes revealing particular attention. The left-falling diagonal strokes are also as sharp as knives, and the right-falling ones as strong as bent steel. The flicked hooks express speed that emphasizes gesture.

Chimonanthus and Birds

1. Hui-tsung, Sung dynasty
2. Hanging scroll, 83.3×53.3cm

The Sung dynasty emperor Hui-tsung also had the common name Chao Chi. Excelling at painting and calligraphy, he was also an astute art collector, gradually amassing a collection of precious masterpieces at the court that far exceeded the scope and quality of those of previous dynasties. This work shows a pair of Chinese bulbuls perched on the branch of a plum tree in blossom with a wasp flying about. Below are two stalks of blossoming sweetleaf sprouting up from below, and to the left is a poem and the right a signature, both done in Hui-tsung's distinctive "slender gold script". The composition is simple yet extremely effective, and the brushwork is elegantly precise yet very strong, expressing the pure and crisp atmosphere of a cold winter's day. With regard to the detailed observation of the physical forms, lines and strokes closely follow and change with variations in the shapes and textures. In addition, the attention of the artist in composing the scene is reflected in the "S"-shape of the trunk of the plum tree that rhythmically expands into the upper portion of the scroll to express the idealized beauty of a supra-natural scene.