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Zhao Mingcheng
Late Northern Song epigrapher, son of chief minister Zhao Tingzhi and husband of Li Qingzhao, who compiled the Records of Bronze and Stone with her.
In an archive hall, tall wooden shelves hold scrolls and bound books with small tags, and one person climbs a ladder with their back turned; a long table in front holds an unrolled river map, a bronze lamp and a copper jug, with a city wall seen through the window.
Also known as Zi Defu · Zi Defu (variant)
Zhao Mingcheng, courtesy name Defu, came from Zhucheng in Mizhou and was the son of chief minister Zhao Tingzhi. As a student at the Imperial Academy he married Li Qingzhao, and the couple devoted themselves to collecting bronze and stone inscriptions, books and paintings. He served as prefect of Laizhou and Zichuan, then of Jiangning after the court fled south, and died of illness in Jiankang in 1129 before taking up a new post at Huzhou. His Records of Bronze and Stone catalogues some two thousand rubbings and is a key work of Song epigraphy. Li Qingzhao's lyrics such as 'A Spray of Plum Blossoms' and 'Zui Hua Yin' voice her longing for him.
Life and times
Dates 1081–1129 CE