Artists › Painters and Calligraphers
Zhang Yu
Yuan Daoist of the Maoshan school from Hangzhou, known as a poet and calligrapher in the circle of Zhao Mengfu and Yu Ji
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 Boyu · Hao Juqu Waishi · Dharma name Sizhen · Hao Zhenju
Zhang Yu, courtesy name Boyu, Daoist name Sizhen, styled Zhenju and Juqu Waishi, came from Qiantang, today's Hangzhou, and was a Daoist of the Maoshan school under the Yuan. In his twenties he travelled through the Tiantai and Kuocang mountains before taking up Daoist study at Maoshan. He modelled his poetry on Du Fu and wrote both wild cursive and small regular script, moving in a circle that included Zhao Mengfu, Huang Jin, Yu Ji and Yang Weizhen. The National Palace Museum in Taipei holds his hanging scroll of a regulated verse in seven-character lines and another of Tang quatrains dated 1341. His collected poems survive in five juan.
Life and times
Dates Dates disputed: 1283-1350 or 1277-1348