Zhao Mengfu's Poems on Baotu Spring, paper, running script, 33.1cm in length and 83.3cm in width. Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei
Zhao Mengfu (1254-1322), whose courtesy name was Zi'ang, who called himself Songxue Taoist, was a member of the Song clan and a native of Huzhou (now Wuxing, Zhejiang). After the death of the Song Dynasty, he became an official in the Yuan Dynasty and became a Hanlin bachelor. After his death, he was posthumously granted the title of Duke of Wei, with the posthumous title of Wenmin.
Baotu Spring is located outside the west gate of the old city of Jinan City, Shandong Province. When Zhao Mengfu served as an official in Jinan, he often visited this place. Zhao Mengfu's poems, calligraphy, paintings, and music are all excellent, and his calligraphy, seal, seal, branch, and cursive script are all unparalleled in ancient and modern times. He studied under Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty in his early years, then under Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi, and finally returned to study under Li Yong. He is the master of calligraphy after the Tang Dynasty and had a great influence on that time and later generations.
The character Zhao is known for its completely aesthetic style. The poem "Baotu Spring" was written in December of the first year of Yuanzhen (1295), the first year of Emperor Chengzong's reign in the Yuan Dynasty. No later than the eighth year of Dade (1304) before the death of Zhou Mi. That is, works produced between the ages of forty-two and fifty-one. The poem "Baotuquan" written by Zhao Mengfu of the Yuan Dynasty is smooth, graceful and round. This is the characteristic of Zhao's calligraphy style, and it is also a rare large-scale calligraphy ink and regular script in the surviving Zhao books. There are "two questions on the right" in the case file, but only one of them exists today. It can be seen that the front of the file has been lost.
Explanation: Baotu Spring. The Luan River originates from nowhere in the world, and white jade pots gush out from the plains. If the valley is empty for a long time, the vitality will be exhausted. If there is a drought every year, there is no need to worry about the drying up of the East China Sea. The clouds and mist moisten the steam without filling it. The sound of the waves shakes the famous lake. Sometimes I wash away the dust on the spring, and my heart is filled with ice and snow, and I feel refreshed and lonely. The two titles on the right are both in Jinan, near Guojia. Gongjin's family is from Qi, so he wrote this. Meng Fu.
