Flowers’ Fragrance
Happy New Year!
Let’s start 2018 with The Expressive Significance of Brush and Ink. This is a series exhibition at the National Palace Museum in Taipei. The artworks are rotated at the beginning of each quarter. Among those that just went on exhibition today is a famous poem from the Northern Song calligrapher Huang Tingjian, titled Flowers’ Fragrance.
In 1087, Huang Tingjian wrote two poems to his friend Wang Gong (王鞏) in Yangzhou, saying, “Wang Jinqing (王晉卿, 王詵) has many times written poems waiting for my response, but I have never felt like writing a poem. However, he does not give up, often sending gifts of flowers. In jest, I have written this poem to him!” Thus, this poem was originally meant for Wang Shen and it expressed Huang’s desire to avoid responding to him. Here, the brushwork is strong and upright, and the ink varies between dry and moist. The poem translates as, “Flowers’ fragrance incenses one to break meditation; Even one in a frame of mind past middle years. Poetic thoughts come in spring not unlike the rowing of a boatman against the stream.” (花氣薰人欲破禪，心情其實過中年。春來詩思何所似，八節灘頭上水船。)
The National Palace Museum is open all year round from 8:30 am to 6:30 pm, or 9 pm on Fridays and Saturdays.
Address: No. 221, Sec 2, Zhishan Rd, Shilin District, Taipei, Taiwan
September 28, 2021 @ 4:09 am
There is a little known Huang tingjian scroll in Japan in the Eisei Bunko in Tokyo. It used to be in the collection of Zhang Daqian but he lost it thru the dishonesty of his Japanese contacts. In the 1950’s Zhang wanted to make a copy of his Huang masterpiece which he acquired from Ye Gongzhuo. He contacted his good friend in Japan and entrusted the scroll to him to get Benrido in kyoto to make copies for his friends. He then flew to the US where he learned of the sudden death of his friend. He sent two thousand dollars to his widow and then went to Kyoto to retrieve the scroll. The widow denied all knowlege of the scroll….
Decades later Zhang was contacted by Moritatsu Hosokawa, the patriarch of the Hosokawa collection to authenticate a calligraphy scroll. Lo and behold it was the scroll that was stolen from him. After Zhang told him the story of his loss, Hosokawa muttered
Sorry, sorry but offered no restitution. Still he insisted that Zhang pen a colophon on the scroll. Zhang obliged, detailing his purchase, ownership and subsequent loss.
The colophon has never been seen again. The scroll is today designated an important cultural treasure in Japan and is the jewel in the Eisei Bunko collection. Just don’t ask how they acquired it……