Mi Wanzhong (1570-1628), Running Script, hanging scroll

Ink on silk 172*45 cm

Mi Wanzhong (1570-1628), also known by his zi(courtesy name) Zhongzhao and his hao (literary name) Youshi, was a native of Guanzhong (in present-day Shaanxi province). Originally from Anhua, his family later moved to Shuntian (present-day Beijing). A descendant of the Song dynasty master Mi Fu, he attained the jinshi (a successful candidate in the imperial examination) degree during the Wanli reign (1573-1620) and served as the the Provincial Judicial Commissioner of Jiangxi. He excelled in landscape and flower painting and was known for his fondness for unusual rocks. In running and cursive script, he followed the style of Mi Fu and was regarded as the equal of Dong Qichang, earning the epithet “Dong of the South and Mi of the North.” He is the author of thetreatise A Research on Seal and Clerical Scripts (Zhuanli kao).