Zhao Mengfu Calligraphy

Zhao Mengfu, courtesy name Zi’ang, was a native of Huzhou descended from Zhao Kuangyin, Emperor Taizu of Song. He received an official appointment at fourteen through hereditary privilege from his father and studied at home after the fall of Song. In 1286, the twenty-third year of Zhiyuan, Emperor Shizu of Yuan sent Cheng Jufu to recruit scholars in the south, and Zhao entered court service. A member of the Song imperial family serving the dynasty that conquered Song became a central tension in assessments during his life and afterwards. Calling him simply a Yuan calligrapher would omit this background.[1][2]

《元史》 records many administrative details from his early Yuan service. He opposed mechanically calculating the monetary threshold for capital punishment for corruption using the face value of depreciated paper currency, arguing that the law concerned human lives. When sent to investigate officials in the south, he flogged no one despite having authority to do so. He later spoke to a court insider about harsh levies and helped secure reductions. His standing at court depended on literary and political abilities as well as his art.[1]

In 1292, the twenty-ninth year of Zhiyuan, Zhao requested a provincial appointment to avoid suspicion at court and became deputy administrator of Jinan Circuit. 《元史》 recounts his doubt about a reported murder of a man who had fled compulsory saltworks service. He delayed judgment; the man later returned and the wrongful accusation was cleared. Zhao also held offices including supervisor of Confucian education in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Provincial service connected him with scholars from north and south, monasteries and patrons commissioning inscriptions.[1][2]

Under Emperor Renzong he again received distinction, serving as a Hanlin lecturer and later as a senior Hanlin academician. The emperor compared his literary gifts with those of Li Bai and Su Shi, praising his learning, painting and calligraphy. 《元史》 also records objections to a member of the Song imperial family taking part in the compilation of national history; the emperor nevertheless defended his scholarly position. His long residence in the south and periods of duty in Dadu meant that his works served friends, scholars, monasteries and the imperial household.[1]

His wife Guan Daosheng was also accomplished in calligraphy and painting, and their sons Zhao Yong and Zhao Yi continued the family tradition. 《元史》 and the Palace Museum’s research describe this familial and artistic network. Friends and fellow artists such as Zhou Mi and Xianyu Shu provided occasions for exchanging and discussing works. In 1295 Zhao painted 《鵲華秋色》 for Zhou Mi, allowing him to imagine the landscape of his ancestral home in Jinan, which he had never visited; a scroll of 《趵突泉詩》 relates to the same period. Painting and calligraphy often arose within the same social exchanges rather than as unrelated arts.[1][6][7][8]

Zhao advocated studying Jin and Tang calligraphy and painting. He practised after Zhong Yao, the Two Wangs, Zhiyong and Tang masters, stressing the spirit of antiquity and brush technique. Several authentic versions of 《千字文》 listed by the Palace Museum differ in script, date and present location; some other transmitted versions with similar titles remain disputed. “Zhao style” conveniently names his influence but can conceal the continuing changes from youth to old age and from small regular to cursive script.[5][9]

《帝師膽巴碑》 of 1316, the third year of Yanyou, is a long regular-script scroll composed and written on imperial order late in his life. It connects a Tibetan Buddhist imperial preceptor, Yuan court ritual and the inscription for Longxing Temple. The Palace Museum sees its brushwork as combining Li Yong, Liu Gongquan and the Two Wangs: orderly without stiffness. Zhao died in 1322 and was posthumously made Duke of Wei with the name Wenmin. Ethical judgments of his Yuan service differ, but assessments of technique and authenticity in individual works must still rest on evidence from those works.[1][4]