To General Hua · Du Fu

Du Fu · Sage of Poetry · Tang · Du Fu

“錦城絲管日紛紛，半入江風半入雲。此曲祇應天上有，人間能得幾回聞。” “In Brocade City strings and pipes play all day long, half carried off by the river wind, half into the clouds. Such music belongs in heaven alone — how many times can mortals hear it?” Du Fu’s quatrain of 761, written in Chengdu for the general Hua Jingding: open praise of the music, often read as a veiled rebuke for his use of imperial rites. All 28 characters of the poem are set vertically, each collected from public-domain stele rubbings: 25 are in Yan Zhenqing’s hand, from his Duobao Pagoda, Yan Family Temple, Zang Huaike and Magu Altar (麻姑仙壇記) steles; 絲, 回 and 管 survive intact in no Yan rubbing, so 絲 and 回 come from the Sui monk Zhiyong’s Thousand Character Classic (Song-carved rubbing, National Palace Museum, Taipei); 管 comes from Ouyang Xun’s Huangfu Dan Stele. 回 is written 廻 after Zhiyong, and 只 (only) as 祇 following Tang usage (Duobao Pagoda form). Fine rain in ink wash.

$32 (reference) · ¥229 CNY

Case only · fits standard-size inserts (insert not included)