Page 74 - japanese and korean art Utterberg Collection Christie's March 22 2022

涅槃寂静 | THE COLLECTION OF DAVID AND NAYDA UTTERBERG (LOTs 1-20)

20
CHUSHI FANQI (CHINA, 1296-1370)
Calligraphy - Farewell
Signed Chushi Daoren Fanqi, sealed Chushi
Hanging scroll; ink on paper
10√ x 24º in. (27.6 x 61.5 cm.)
With a box inscriped and dated 1975 by Tayama
Honan (1903-1980)
$180,000-250,000
楚石梵琦 餞別偈

PROVENANCE:
Sano Collection
Jintsu Seigando, Tokyo, 22 Oct. 2002
LITERATURE:
Tayama Honan, Zenrin Bokuseki Shui (Tokyo:
Zenrin Bokuseki Kankokai, 1977). no.125.

One of the most eloquent poets and virtuoso
calligraphers of the Yuan dynasty, the Chan master
Chushi Fanqi (1296-1370) was orphaned at a
young age. He began living in a monastery where
he became a novice at the age of nine. In his
youth, he encountered the calligrapher, painter and
scholar Zhao Mengfu (1254-1322), one of the most
influential figures in the history of Chinese art, who
was greatly impressed by his gift for calligraphy.
Chushi Fanqi studied calligraphy with the revered
calligrapher and with his support, he was ordained
as a monk at the age of sixteen. A disciple of the
master Yuansou Xingduan (1255-1341), Chushi
Fanqi was summoned by imperial decree to travel
to the capital to assist in the writing and copying
of Buddhist canons. Throughout his life serving as
abbot of important temples in China, his friendship
with Zhao Mengfu fostered a life-long affinity with
the arts.
The present calligraphy contains a farewell poem
composed and written by Chushi Fanqi for the Long has he served as attendant to great masters at the temple, The exact dates of Kanchu Genshi’s sojourn in China are unknown, although it has been
monk Kanchu Genshi (1346-1428) before Genshi suggested that existing references in the anthology of Chushi Fanqi’s writing date to
set sail homeward to Japan. In the poem, Chushi His thoughts are now with the ship Japan-bound. the late 1360s. Chushi Fanqi often extolled the virtue, sincerity and wisdom of Kanchu
Fanqi eulogizes that after an extended stay at the Has Bodhidharma ever visited China, Genshi, which served as a testament to the close friendship between the master and the
Zhongtianzhu Temple, near Hangzhou, the young young monk. The Utterberg work is a fine example of Chushi Fanqi’s mature calligraphy,
Japanese monk longed to return home: And Shenguang [Huike], India? marked by a sharp, angular brushwork that conveys a sense of daring vitality.