Artist: Li Shutong (1880-1942)
Date: Modern, dated 1928
Material: Ink on paper
Gift of Xia Hongning
Li Shutong (1880-1942), also known by his zi (designated name) Xishuang, later became a monk with the monk name Yanyin and the hao (literary name) Hongyi. His ancestral home was in Pinghu in Zhejiang, but he was born in Tianjin. A skilled calligrapher, Li excelled in seal and clerical scripts. In his early years, he often modelled his work after Northern Wei stele inscriptions, but in his later years, he developed a unique style of his own. This scroll, created in 1928 when the artist was 49 years old, features brushwork that is round and smooth, embodying a sense of rustic simplicity and harmonious completeness.