Quick Answer: What Is Zhu Yunming’s Four Poems by Cao Zhi?
Four Poems by Cao Zhi is an ink-on-paper handscroll written by Zhu Yunming (祝允明, Zhù Yǔn Míng). The poems are by Cao Zhi (曹植, Cáo Zhí); the surviving calligraphy is a Ming work.
- Collection: National Palace Museum, Taipei, catalogue number 故書000097, titled Miscellaneous Poems.
- Scale: The written work measures 36.2 × 1154.7 cm.
- 風格： Cursive script (草书, Cǎo Shū) alternates flowing connections with more separate marks.
The title names both a literary source and a later act of writing. It does not mean that Cao Zhi wrote this physical scroll.
An extended line can give way to compact marks, and a heavy stroke can sit beside a fine connecting thread. Those changes make the writing worth examining at the scale of a few characters before trying to absorb the whole scroll.
Follow the poems in sequence, then compare how connected and separate marks carry their words.
Separate the Poet from the Calligrapher
The catalogue identifies one paper handscroll, 36.2 cm high and 1154.7 cm long, with Zhu as its calligrapher. [1]
That length is more than eleven meters. A fully reduced reproduction can establish the scroll’s extent while making individual brush marks difficult to inspect. Return to selected details for the second task.
The Chinese-calligraphy guide explains the importance of writing as a visual practice. Here, an earlier poet’s language becomes material for a later calligrapher’s decisions.
The work belongs to the writer’s late career, but the winter remark at its end does not provide an exact year. [3]
The scroll was designated a National Treasure in 2013. [2]
Separating literary composition from physical execution keeps the reader from assigning a Ming scroll to the much earlier poet.
Follow the Four Poems in Order
The sequence moves through different human situations. These short descriptions are reading aids, rather than translations of the complete poems.
| Poem | Main subject |
|---|---|
| Harp Song (箜篌引, Kōng Hóu Yǐn) | Feasting, friendship and the passing of life |
| The Beautiful Woman (美女篇, Měi Nǚ Piān) | An admired woman without a suitable match |
| The White Horse (白马篇, Bái Mǎ Piān) | A skilled young warrior and public duty |
| The Famous Capital (名都篇, Míng Dū Piān) | Young men, hunting, games and feasting |
The four titles occur in this order in the scroll’s transcribed text. [1]
The second poem’s unmatched beauty has also been read as a figure for talent that has not found recognition. [3]
The Chinese-poetry guide develops that movement between a depicted person and a broader concern. The poem’s subject and its interpretation answer different reading questions.
The final poem includes a ball-game expression whose interpretation is disputed; riding and striking a ball is one proposed reading. [4]
Keep that uncertainty attached to the particular phrase. The title of a poem about a white horse likewise identifies its verbal subject, rather than promising a painted horse on the scroll.
Compare Connected Lines with Detached Marks
Start with the opening poem’s writing. Find a broad, dark stroke, then a fine line nearby. Follow the fine line until it ends, and notice how the next mark begins in relation to it.
Some passages use separate points and strokes recalling chapter cursive (章草, Zhāng Cǎo), alongside more continuously flowing forms. [3]
The cursive-script guide supplies context for these conventions. Cursive writing can change its degree of connection within a single work.
Compare an angular turn with a rounded one. Then compare the width of two neighboring characters. The eye moves between differences in shape, as well as along a line that physically connects marks.
Light and heavy strokes, tilted and upright forms, and sparse and dense arrangements contribute to the work’s rhythmic variation. [4]
The guide to reading calligraphy helps separate textual order from visual attention. Read vertical columns from right to left, while allowing a striking mark to draw you back for comparison.
Read the Winter Inscription and Paper Joins
The closing inscription describes writing in fierce winter wind and mentally reaching back fifteen hundred years. It expresses an imaginative relation to the past, rather than supplying a precise calendar calculation. [3]
The handscroll was assembled from eight sheets, with seals crossing paper joins. [3]
Those joins add another scale of looking. After comparing strokes and characters, inspect how the writing occupies a continuous support made from separate pieces.
The inscriptions-and-seals guide explains why an end note, an artist’s seal and a later collector’s mark should be read separately. They contribute different kinds of evidence to the same object.
FAQs About Zhu Yunming’s Four Poems by Cao Zhi
Did Zhu Yunming compose these four poems?
He wrote the calligraphy; Cao Zhi supplied the earlier poems.
Does the scroll have an exact creation year?
Its winter inscription gives a season and circumstance, but no exact year.
Is every character joined to the next?
No. Flowing connections alternate with more independent marks and forms.
資料來源
[1] National Palace Museum. Miscellaneous Poems by Zhu Yunming, 故書000097
[2] Ministry of Culture, Bureau of Cultural Heritage. Zhu Yunming: Miscellaneous Poems handscroll
[3] He Chuan-hsing, National Palace Museum Monthly. The Wonders of Cursive Mastery: Two Late Masterpieces by Zhu Yunming, pp.72–77
[4] National Palace Museum. Sports and Skills: Miscellaneous Poems