Writers › Writer / Poet
Yu Jianwu
Southern Liang poet and theorist of calligraphy, father of Yu Xin, who served Xiao Gang's literary circle and wrote the Shu Pin, a critical ranking of calligraphers.
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 Zi Shen · Shenzhi · Master Xuanjing (self-styled)
Yu Jianwu, courtesy name Zishen, came from Xinye in Nanyang (today's Henan) and was born in 487. A gifted poet from childhood, he became attendant to Xiao Gang, Prince of Jin'an, and was one of the Gaozhai scholars who compiled books at Yongzhou. He survived the turmoil of Hou Jing's rebellion by joining Xiao Yi, and rose to be Minister of Finance. He excelled at poetry and rhapsody and at regular and cursive script, wrote the Shu Pin on calligraphers, and is the father of Yu Xin; his collected works were later edited as the Yu Duzhi Ji.
Life and times
Dates 487 CE–551 CE