Waiting for the Moon at Six Bridges

Mào Xiāng ranks among the most colorful characters in 17th-century China. Perhaps best known today as a poet and romantic, Mào also enjoyed considerable fame as a calligrapher during his own lifetime. He was a disciple of one of the most important calligraphers and painters of his age, Dǒng Qíchāng 董其昌(1555–1636).

The text of the calligraphy, recounting a visit to West Lake near the city of Hangzhou, is a well-known vignette from a travelogue by poet and essayist Yuán Hóngdào 袁宏道 (1568–1610). Yuán was a central figure in a group of late Ming writers and poets who believed that good writing originated from genuine feeling and authentic experience, rather than from strict imitation of traditional literary models. Throughout his short life, Yuán sought to balance tradition and innovation and to keep his perception of the world fresh. Although he died a year before Mào was born, the younger man undoubtedly became familiar with Yuán's philosophy of life through their mutual friend, Dǒng Qíchāng. Mào's choice of this text is an interchange both with Yuán (in part because he was also a bon vivant) and with his teacher, Dǒng, whose style of calligraphy Mào strongly alludes to in this scroll.