Chinese Poems and Calligraphy 1779 Mitsui Shinna ???? Mitsui Shinna—a celebrated late-eighteenth century Japanese calligrapher and master of seal-carving (tenkoku)—brushed this dynamic array of Chinese characters in various scripts on individual sheets that were then pasted across the expanse of a six-panel folding screen. Most arresting are the pairs of oversized characters in archaic seal script (tensho) on the right, in standard script (kaisho) in the middle, and in a variant form of seal script rendered in a mottled form, as if characters from an ink rubbing, on the left. Each pair of larg

Chinese Poems and Calligraphy 1779 Mitsui Shinna ???? Mitsui Shinna—a celebrated late-eighteenth century Japanese calligrapher and master of seal-carving (tenkoku)—brushed this dynamic array of Chinese characters in various scripts on individual sheets that were then pasted across the expanse of a six-panel folding screen. Most arresting are the pairs of oversized characters in archaic seal script (tensho) on the right, in standard script (kaisho) in the middle, and in a variant form of seal script rendered in a mottled form, as if characters from an ink rubbing, on the left. Each pair of large characters comprises the beginning of a couplet of Chinese Tang-dynasty verse. The remaining eight characters of each couplet are inscribed in expert cursive script (s?sho) on the adjacent panel. The first couplet is from a poem by Du Fu (712–770); the second and third couplets are from poems by Li Bai (701–762). Both poets have been highly esteemed in Japan from the Heian period (794–1185) through early-modern this screen, the calligrapher selected phrases that would combine to help create an imaginary outdoor setting for a gathering of friends. The couplet by Du Fu on the first two panels (on the right) reads:????? ????? Deep in the bamboo grove,is the place for guests to the pure lotus blossoms appear,is the time to enjoy the coolness. The next couplet, occupying the middle two panels, is by Li Bai—from a poem praising a Buddhist temple garden, which thus continues with the metaphors of an idealized garden setting where literati gather. With the first two characters rendered in oversize standard script, the inscription reads:????? ????? Towers and terracesarise like mirages on the and trees emit a heavenly the final pair of panels is another couplet by Li Bai, a passage from a set of twelve poems honoring Li Bai’s close friend Yuan Danqiu???, a Daoist recluse. Again, the first two characters are inscribed in seal

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