Artists › Painters and Calligraphers
Yang Ningshi
Calligrapher who served all five Northern dynasties from Later Liang to Later Zhou and whose Leek Flower letter links Tang and Song calligraphy
A desk holds an unrolled sheet bearing three bold black ink strokes, with a rack of many brushes above it, a stone ink slab and ink stick, a porcelain bowl, a red lacquer box, a dish of red seal paste and a paperweight; a small seated figure shows through a round window onto bamboo.
Also known as Zi Jingdu · Hao Xubai · Yang Shaoshi · Madman Yang
Yang Ningshi, courtesy name Jingdu, styled Xubai, came from Huayin in Huazhou, present-day Shaanxi, and was a son of the Tang chief minister Yang She. He passed the jinshi examination under Emperor Zhaozong of Tang and went on to serve the Later Liang, Later Tang, Later Jin, Later Han and Later Zhou, becoming junior preceptor under the Han and grand guardian of the heir apparent at the start of the Xiande era, hence the name Yang Shaoshi. He often feigned madness to keep clear of affairs, earning the name Madman Yang, and liked to write on the walls of the temples of Luoyang, where he died in the winter of 954. His surviving writings include the Leek Flower letter, the Way of the Immortals for Daily Life and the Summer Heat letter, and Song critics paired him with Yan Zhenqing.
Life and times
Dates c. 870 CE–954 CE