CALLIGRAPHY IN RUNNING SCRIPT

This set of twelve scrolls, which are stored in two Japanese wood boxes, were acquired by Robert H. Ellsworth from Mayuyama in Japan. This calligraphy is dated to 1591, when Dong Qichang was thirty-six years old and living in the Jiangnan area. The text is the “Hall of Daytime Elegance“ (Zhoujintang), composed by Ouyang Xiu (1007-1072). The wood boxes include numerous notes in Japanese that state the set belonged to the Chan Monk Yinyuan (Ingen, 1592-1673), who served as one of the last abbots of Wanfusi temple near Fuzhou in Fujian. When the Ming dynasty fell, Yinyuan left for Nagasaki in 1654, and in Japan he founded near Kyoto Manpukuji Temple, which was the Japanese pronunciation of Wanfusi, constructed in the late Ming style. It was said that Monk Yinyuan brought this calligraphy, which was originally mounted as a screen, to Japan and kept it in his new temple. Eventually, Yinyuan sold the calligraphy to his friend Mr. Minoya Magobei, who converted them into hanging scrolls. The colophons also include letters from Japanese collectors who sought to acquire the scrolls by purchase or loan at various times.