Odes to the Red Cliff by Zhao Mengfu: A Viewing Guide

Begin with the portrait, then compare the movement of its lines with the writing. That connection gives you a clear route through the album’s two arts.

The 1301 Work at a Glance

The portrait and the main calligraphic leaves have slightly different widths. Keeping those measurements separate helps you understand an object whose parts are often reproduced together as one panoramic image.^[6]

The guides to Zhao Mengfu and the Yuan dynasty provide the wider artistic and historical setting.

A Friend’s Request Became a Tribute to Su Shi

Zhao’s inscription says that Mingyuan (明远, Míngyuǎn) supplied the paper and asked him to write the two odes. Zhao did so at Songxue Studio (松雪斋, Sōngxuě Zhāi), adding Su’s portrait at the beginning. The inscription dates the work to the eighth day of the first lunar month in 1301.^[1]

The commission belongs to a much wider history of admiration for Su. Zhao repeatedly engaged with his writings, and this work makes that admiration visible in two media: the imagined presence of the author and the carefully written words that follow.^[2]

Su’s odes were composed in 1082. The first turns a moonlit boat journey into a dialogue about grief, change and continuity; the second moves through an autumn return, a solitary climb, a crane and an elusive dream.^[4][5]

Those different narratives give the writing its literary sequence. They also distinguish Zhao’s work from Su Shi’s autograph of the Former Ode, which preserves the author’s own later transcription of the first text.

The Portrait Connects Painting with Calligraphic Line

Su appears in a robe, with a dark belt that stands out against the lightly described figure. The museum relates the portrait’s baimiao (白描, báimiáo), or outline-drawing approach, to the style of Li Gonglin (李公麟, Lǐ Gōnglín). It particularly emphasizes the concentrated brushwork of the belt.^[1]

Look at the belt first, then follow a line defining the robe. The heavier mark and the finer contour produce different kinds of emphasis. Both depend on the direction and continuity of a moving brush.

Now turn to the calligraphy. Compare a rounded stroke with the curving edge of the clothing. The relationship makes the portrait more than an introductory likeness: it offers a visual demonstration of the close connection between writing and painting.

The guide to Li Gonglin introduces the painter associated with that outline tradition. Su’s own life and works are covered in the Su Shi guide.

Follow the Changing Forms of the Same Character

The catalogue labels the work running script, but the museum’s exhibition account notes a mixture of regular, running and cursive forms. Its elegance emerges through controlled variation rather than a single repeated shape.^[2]

A useful example is jiu (酒, jiǔ), the character for wine. It appears repeatedly, and its structure changes through the writing. The museum singles out these variations as a particular pleasure of the work.^[2]

Find two occurrences and compare how the left-hand elements sit beside the larger right-hand component. Look at width, tilt and the amount of open paper inside the form. Then examine the neighboring characters to see how each version fits its immediate setting.

This gives you a repeatable task even with limited Chinese. Recognizing the same character lets you compare several choices within a single piece of writing.

The guide to Chinese calligraphy styles explains the script families that meet within this flowing hand.

Album Leaves Preserve a Longer Sequence

The writing was originally in long-scroll form and was later cut and mounted as an album. The date of that remounting is not established in the educational account. Today’s page divisions therefore belong to the object’s material history as well as to the experience of reading it.^[3]

In an album view, pause over a few columns and their spacing. In a digitally reassembled view, follow the progression across a longer span. Each makes different relationships easier to see. The guide to Chinese scroll formats explains the broader distinction between a continuous scroll and a page-based presentation.

Later responses extend that history. Xianyu Shu (鲜于枢, Xiānyú Shū) added a comment in 1301 praising Zhao’s achievement in both painting and calligraphy. His response shows that the union of those arts was already central to the work’s early reception.^[1]

Treat such comments and the collectors’ seals as later layers, while following the sequence from portrait to literary text. The guide to inscriptions and seals helps separate these different voices.

How to Read the Portrait, Writing and Later Responses

1. Begin with the belt. Compare its dark weight with the lighter lines of the robe, then look for related turns in the written strokes.
2. Compare two wine characters. Find repeated forms of 酒 and observe differences in structure, spacing and movement.
3. Change the viewing scale. Move from a close album detail to a longer reconstructed sequence. Notice what each view makes visible.
4. Identify the later voices. Separate Zhao’s inscription from the comments and seals added by subsequent viewers.

For a later response to the same literature, compare Wen Zhengming’s Red Cliff handscroll.

FAQs About Odes to the Red Cliff by Zhao Mengfu

Is the portrait a likeness painted from life?

No. Zhao made this work in 1301, two centuries after Su Shi’s death in 1101. It is a later portrayal of the admired author.^[1][2]

Does 27.2 × 11.1 cm describe the whole work?

No. Those are the dimensions of the principal calligraphic leaves. The portrait and other mounted sections are recorded separately.^[6]

Were the odes composed in 1301?

No. Su Shi wrote the literary works in 1082. The date 1301 identifies Zhao Mengfu’s transcription and portrait.^[1][2]

Sources

[1] National Palace Museum. Transcription of Both Odes to the Red Cliff in Running Script: object 425, dimensions, inscription and portrait

[2] National Palace Museum. Spotlight on National Treasures 2023-II: appreciating Zhao Mengfu’s Red Cliff album

[3] National Taiwan Arts Education Center. Understanding the Art of Calligraphy: Running Script, discussion of Zhao Mengfu’s Red Cliff Odes

[4] Su Shi. Former Ode on the Red Cliff: classical Chinese text, via Wikisource

[5] Su Shi. Latter Ode on the Red Cliff: classical Chinese text, via Wikisource

[6] Ministry of Culture. 2009 National Treasure designation: portrait and calligraphic-section measurements