Writers › Writer / Poet
Kong Deshao
Poet of the Sui-Tang transition and descendant of Confucius; a county aide under Sui, later Secretariat Director for Dou Jiande, killed in 621.
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 Kong Deshao, Secretariat Director of Dou Jiande's Xia
Kong Deshao came from Shanyin in Kuaiji (modern Shaoxing) and was a thirty-fifth-generation descendant of Confucius; he died in 621 and his birth year is unknown. Under Emperor Yang of Sui he rose to aide of Jingcheng county, then joined Dou Jiande, advising the adoption of the name Xia and serving as Secretariat Vice Director and Director in charge of dispatches. When Dou fell after the battle of Hulao in 621, Kong was executed. The Sui Shu and Bei Shi both place him among the literary figures, and the Gushi yuan includes two of his poems.
Life and times
Dates Birth unknown, died 621 CE; active from Emperor Yang of Sui to the early Tang (604–621)