Joint Calligraphy

Huang Daozhou

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This scroll is a testament to the early friendship and mutual admiration of the two men, both of whom earned their "presented scholar" (jinshi) degrees in 1622 and went on to become outspoken exponents of political reform. It opens with a playful description by Huang of the similarities between the two friends' calligraphy. He states that he did not arrive at a style of his own until he studied Ni's writing, but he also recounts how Ni had made the same claim about Huang's influence on his calligraphy. Huang ends by remarking that after Ni became a high official, it was nearly impossible to obtain a piece of calligraphy from him. Ni Yuanlu's response, appended to the same length of satin, takes an equally sarcastic tone. Both men's calligraphic styles derive from orthodox models but have an emphatic angularity—with sharp, "side-tip" strokes made by holding the brush obliquely—that is said to reflect their forceful personalities.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art