If even one drop cannot be drawn, What use is the distant West River? All things must find their proper time, So why is it that you have come so late? Zhu Bangyan sent this paper from Xiuzhou. The men shout out, as if rushing into battle! To the side I look toward the Yingdou Lake So vast, without bounds are its shores. With a single pull, like a wind-born chariot. Expectations satisfied, all resentment disappears. Paid more money, the men are no longer angry. But the river mud seems to side with the trackers Stuck on the bottom, won’t budge. They've tried poles and again pulleys They have had to swallow the yellow gorge rising in their throats. The boat crew, angered, begins to argue, So the trackers, sitting down, stare and complain. Their strength spent, I've hired more one hundred in gold they consider too little. Today’s wind has shifted the east, And my boat fifteen men to tow. Inscription: Artist's inscription and signature (44 columns in semi-cursive and cursive scripts) Yesterday’s wind arose from the west-north, And innumerable boats all took advantage of its favor. To experts illuminate this artwork's story Today, these works are regarded as national treasures and the Metropolitan is the only leading museum in the West able to present major examples of this quintessential Chinese art form. In the 1950s when John Crawford began collecting it, most American scholars were unaware of its importance and the authenticity of many Crawford pieces was questioned. Su Shi (1036–1101) likened Mi's writing to "a sailboat in a gust of wind, or a warhorse charging into battle." Traditionally, calligraphy has been more highly esteemed in China than painting. It was not his aim to form perfect characters instead, he entrusted his writing to the force of the brush, giving free reign to idiosyncratic movements, collapsing and distorting the characters for the sake of expressiveness. Mi wrote Sailing on the Wu River with a suspended arm, working from the elbow rather than the wrist. Few works demonstrate this principle as clearly as this handscroll by Mi Fu, the leading calligrapher of late Northern Song. Sun Guoting's Manual on Calligraphy (687) states that calligraphy reveals the character and emotions of the writer.
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