Lot 8004: Li Ruiqing (1867-1920) Calligraphy Couplet in Clerical Script, 1919

Calligraphy Couplet in Clerical Script, 1919
Two mounted scrolls for framing, ink on paper, dated jiwei (1919), signed Qing Daoren, with four artist's seals reading A'mei, Qing Daoren, baoshi shizhu, and huanglong yanzhai.
49 7/8 x 13in (126.7 x 33.3cm) each

Footnotes

• 李瑞清 隸書五言聯 水墨紙本 立軸一對 1919年作
  
  Provenance
  Quincy Adams Shaw Jr. (1896-1987)
  Thence by descent to the present owner
  
  Quincy Adams Shaw Jr. was born into a Boston family of enormous prominence and wealth, his grandfather, the first Quincy Adams Shaw, having been the president of the famed Calumet & Hecla Mining Company. The Shaw family built a significant art collection, including both Asian and European works, later gifting pieces by Millet, Corot and Donatello to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
  
  
  Li Ruiqing is known for his calligraphy in seal and clerical script.　From childhood, he studied epigraphy from the Han and Wei dynasty and inscriptions from Shang and Zhou bronzes. According to Li Ruiqing's inscription on the left scroll, the writing of this couplet is inspired by a Northern Wei stela, Lun jingshushi at Mt. Yunfeng in Shandong.
  
  An important calligrapher in Chinese history, Li Ruiqing was also a significant education reformer in the late Qing period. He was a pioneer who supported art education. After the Qing dynasty fell, he was still loyal to the imperial court and began to wear Daoist robes. He named himself Qing Daoren, which means a Daoist who came from the Qing dynasty. On his work he often signed Qing Daren, such as the couplet offered in this sale.