Artists › Painters and Calligraphers
Wang Chong
Suzhou calligrapher and poet of the mid-Ming, ranked with Zhu Yunming and Wen Zhengming, whose spare, archaic hand drew on Jin models
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 Luren · Zi Luji · Hao Yayi Shanren
Wang Chong, first courtesy name Luren, later Luji, styled Yayi Shanren, came from Wu county in Suzhou. As a youth he studied with Cai Yu, living for three years on Linwu Mountain in Lake Tai and then for many years by Stone Lake, but he failed the provincial examination repeatedly and entered the Imperial Academy as a tribute student. A poet and prose writer, he based his small standard script and running cursive on Jin masters, and his calligraphy is known for its spare, airy and archaic quality; he was ranked with Zhu Yunming and Wen Zhengming. He died in 1533, not yet forty by Western count. His own Song of Five Remembrances, written out as a handscroll, is among his surviving works.
Life and times
Dates 1494 CE–1533 CE