CALLIGRAPHY IN RUNNING SCRIPT

Zhang Ruitu was revered as one of the Four Calligraphy Masters of the Late Ming and lauded for his highly expressive and distinctive writing style. While he thoroughly learned and understood the work of ancient calligraphers, he sought to express his heart and develop a unique style filled with energy and tension. The angular brushstrokes, squat and horizontal proportions, bold attitude, and slanted characters, which were characteristic of his writing, can be seen in this example, as well as in his Scroll of Poetry in Running Script in the Shanghai Museum (see Y. Wang, ed., Chinese Calligraphy, New Haven and Beijing, 2008, pp. 330-33, fig. 6.22).