"Because of the void everything is possible. Without the void nothing is possible.", Written in Bold Black Script

Artists

Description

This large, horizontally oriented, rectangular album leaf is inscribed with seven columns of text, the columns with varying numbers of characters. The calligraphy on this album leaf was inscribed by Fung Ming Chip (b. 1951; standard Mandarin transcription: Feng Mingqiu). The three columns at the right of the composition are the main text and are written in "xingshu", or cursive script; the four columns that occupy the remaining two-thirds of the composition are the signature and date and also are written in "xingshu", but in a manner the artist characterizes as Bold Black Script. The text itself comprises twenty characters in three columns, as follows: eight characters in the right column; seven characters in the middle column; and five characters in the left column. The boldly written signature comprises fourteen characters in four columns, as follows: three characters in the right column; four characters in the second column; three characters in the third column; and four characters in the left column. The leaf is dated to 2009 by inscription; for the numbers in the date, the artist used the elaborate characters that typically are reserved for official documents and business records. This album leaf includes three seals of the artist, which the artist himself carved; the seals and their locations can be described as follows: Upper right: Rectangular, red, relief seal reading "Si Bu Guan" (Artist’s studio name) Middle left: Square, red, relief seal reading "Ming Chip" (Ming Qiu) (Artist’s given name) Lower left: Square, red, relief seal reading "Dui Cuo Yi Sheng" (“Right and wrong in life”) The inscribed text can be translated as follows: Because of the void everything is possible. Without the void nothing is possible. The dated artist signature reads: Er ling ling jiu nian Mingqiu shu yu Shenzhen Si Bu Guan The signature can be translated as: [In the] year 2009, Ming Chip wrote [this] in [his] Si Bu Guan [i.e., Studio of the Four No’s] in Shenzhen The three artist seals can be characterized as follows: Upper right: Rectangular, red, relief seal reading "Si Bu Guan" (Artist’s studio name) Middle left: Square, red, relief seal reading "Ming Chip" (Ming Qiu) (Artist’s given name) Lower left: Square, red, relief seal reading "Dui Cuo Yi Sheng" (“Right and wrong in life”) Note that the seal reading "Si Bu Guan" refers to the artist’s studio: the “Studio of the Four No’s”

Dimensions

Calligraphy proper: H. 39.2 x W. 64.9 cm (15 7/16 x 25 9/16 in.) Mounting: H. 50 x W. 70.1 cm (19 11/16 x 27 5/8 in.)

Provenance

Fung Ming Chip, Hong Kong (2009-2010), sold; to Susan L. Beningson, New York, 2010, gift; to Harvard Art Museums, 2011. Footnotes: This work was created by Fung Ming Chip in Hong Kong in 2009.