Ni Yuanlu -- Complete Collection of Chinese Calligraphers

Author: Li Tinghua
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Publishing Time: Not available
Features: Ni Yuanlu (1593-1644), styled Ruyu, styled Hongbao, was a native of Shangyu, Zhejiang, and a renowned calligrapher and painter of the Ming Dynasty. He passed the imperial examination in the second year of the Tianqi reign (1621) and rose to become the Minister of Revenue and Minister of Rites. In the late Chongzhen era, when Li Zicheng captured the capital and committed suicide, the Prince of Fuguo posthumously honored him as Wen Zheng, and the Qing Dynasty posthumously honored him as Wen Zhen. In the seventh year of the Tianqi reign (1627), he served as the chief examiner for the Jiangxi provincial examination. At that time, the eunuch Wei Zhongxian monopolized the court and corrupted the discipline. Yuanlu composed an exam question that satirized him. After Emperor Sizong ascended the throne and executed Wei Zhongxian, Yuanlu narrowly escaped disaster. Yuanlu was skilled in both calligraphy and painting. His calligraphy was influenced by Yan Zhenqing. Wu Desui of the Qing Dynasty, in his of the Chu Yue Lou, remarked: "Among the Ming scholars who studied Yan Gong, none surpassed Ni Wen Gong." His calligraphy deeply embodies the robust and vigorous brushwork of Yan Gong but is even more sharp and pointed, with a tendency toward square and tilted structures, using danger to imply correctness, and displaying a style that is extraordinary and resolute. By the late Ming Dynasty, he had established his own unique style. His running and cursive calligraphy features a rugged and vigorous brushwork, dynamic and unconventional characters, dense word spacing, and spacious line spacing, emphasizing rhythmic variations. His calligraphy excels in spirit and bone. Qin Zuyong, in Theories of Painting, said: "Ni Yuanlu's calligraphy is spiritual and divine, and his running and cursive calligraphy is particularly transcendent." Kang Youwei once remarked: "No Ming scholar was unable to write running script, and Ni Hongbao's new and unconventional styles were particularly numerous." His surviving works include A Dance of Cranes, Running Script Poem, and Poem of Jinshan, among others. He wrote Inner and Outer Etiquette of the Er Yi and Collected Works of Ni Wen Zhen.