Song and Yuan calligraphy

Song calligraphy was about expressing personal feeling and interest, which later writers called shangyi. Cai Xiang, Su Shi, Huang Tingjian and Mi Fu appeared one after another and came to be known together as the Four Masters of the Song; Su Shi said of his own writing that it was made by intent and had no fixed rule, the opposite of the Tang respect for strict method. In the early Yuan the general taste was for a return to the ancients, learning from the Jin and Tang with little innovation. Zhao Mengfu argued for blending the spirit of Jin writing into the strict Tang method, and Wang Xizhi influenced him most; he, Xianyu Shu and Deng Wenyuan were called the Three Masters of the early Yuan, and many calligraphers of the time followed him in favoring zhangcao.

Look at whether the strokes are let loose or held tight, and whether the characters run into each other or each stands on its own; then compare with the date on the label.

• Handscroll, hanging scroll, album 卷、軸、冊頁→Calligraphy is mounted as handscrolls, hanging scrolls and albums too, and each is looked at in its own way.