Artists › Painters and Calligraphers
Wen Tong
Northern Song scholar-official and poet from Sichuan, a master of ink bamboo whose cousin Su Shi wrote about his method
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 Yuke · Hao Xiaoxiao Jushi · Hao Shishi Xiansheng
Wen Tong, courtesy name Yuke, styled Xiaoxiao Jushi and Shishi Xiansheng, came from Yongtai in Zizhou, in modern Sichuan. He passed the jinshi examination in 1049, governed Qiongzhou, Yangzhou and other prefectures, and rose to vice director in the Bureau of Honours. Appointed prefect of Huzhou in 1078, he died the next year at Wanqiu in Chenzhou before taking up the post, and is still called Wen of Huzhou. He painted ink bamboo and withered trees; his cousin Su Shi recorded his teaching that one must have the whole bamboo in mind before the brush touches the paper. He was also a poet, with a collected works, Danyuan ji. His Ink Bamboo hanging scroll is in the National Palace Museum, Taipei.
Life and times
Dates 1018 CE–1079 CE