Calligraphy in Cursive Script

In the Japanese tradition of collecting and displaying calligraphy and paintings, the “triptych” or three-piece ensemble has a long history and holds a special aesthetic status. From the Muromachi period onward, the culture of Zen temples and shoin-style residences was deeply influenced by Southern Song literati art and Chan Buddhist aesthetics. During tea ceremonies, shoin receptions, and even ritual occasions, paintings and calligraphy were often displayed in sets of three. Collectors frequently remounted imported works to create ensembles of unified dimensions, expressing personal taste while endowing the pieces with new cultural symbolism and ceremonial meaning. The most famous example is the triptych now in the Tokyo National Museum—Liang Kai’s Shakyamuni Emerging from the Mountains paired with two Snow Landscape paintings—assembled during the Ashikaga Yoshimitsu era.

The present set of calligraphy by Zhang Ruitu and Dong Qichang was written on gold-flecked Ming-dynasty paper. After arriving in Japan, the works were remounted to identical dimensions and stored in a specially made wooden box that holds all three together. This treatment exemplifies the Japanese aesthetic tradition of the “three-piece ensemble” in painting and calligraphy collecting.