Writers › Writer / Poet
Pan Xu
Late Eastern Han official from Zhongmu in Henan who rose to left secretary of the Masters of Writing and drafted the Edict Conferring the Nine Bestowments on the Duke of Wei.
In a study at night, a desk holds a brush pot, a porcelain vase with a plum branch, a lit red lantern, a folded fan and an unrolled blank scroll, with no one seated there, while through a round window the moon rises over a lake with a sailboat.
Also known as Pan Xu (variant character) · Zi Yuanmao · Originally named Zhi
Pan Xu, courtesy name Yuanmao and originally named Zhi, came from Zhongmu in Henan. Under Emperor Xian he served as gentleman of the Masters of Writing and then right secretary; in 215 he was appointed chancellor of Donghai but did not take up the post, and died that year in his fifties while still left secretary. Commissioned to draft the Edict Conferring the Nine Bestowments on the Duke of Wei, he was praised by Liu Xie and Yin Yun for edicts of classical elegance; he also wrote the stele for Xun Yu and left a two-fascicle collection. His nephew was the Western Jin writer Pan Yue.
Life and times
Dates Birth year unknown; died of illness in 215 CE, in his fifties