Hong Kong Palace Museum

6000. Exhibition introduction

“Through joyful encounters with things, they immerse themselves in the pleasure of the moment and find true contentment.” So wrote Wang Xizhi (303–361) in his famous Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion, a masterpiece in Chinese literature and calligraphy. For Mr Wong Kwan Shut, who had been studying this magnum opus since childhood, it illuminates a profound truth: life’s transience turns every beautiful moment and every brief holding of a rare treasure into a perennial source of joy beyond compare. Driven by a lifelong passion for classical Chinese literature, painting and calligraphy connoisseurship, and his own artistic creation after ancient masterpieces, Mr Wong tirelessly engaged in lofty pursuits of beauty that gave him the very delight that Wang Xizhi described.

A preeminent connoisseur and scholar-artist based in Hong Kong, Mr Wong had built an extensive and significant collection through a lifelong engagement with great works of successive dynasties. He possessed particularly profound knowledge of the principles, techniques, and aesthetics underlying paintings and calligraphic works from the Wei and Jin to the Ming dynasties (3rd–17th century). This expertise enabled him as an artist to cultivate a personal style steeped in classical traditions yet distinguished by a lyrical, poetic quality all his own. Mr Wong stood out as a true modern heir to China’s time-honoured literati tradition.

From 2025 to 2026, Mr Wong Kwan Shut and his spouse Mrs Wong Pong Chi-ying generously donated 68 works to the Hong Kong Palace Museum, including representative works by Mr Wong, works he created in collaboration with his friends, as well as classical paintings from his collection. Dawning on this important donation, the exhibition pays homage to an exceptional scholar-artist, who conversed with and emulated ancient masters with his eloquent brush.

This exhibition is organised by the Hong Kong Palace Museum. The works on display are generously donated by Mr Wong Kwan Shut and Mrs Wong Pong Chi-ying to the Hong Kong Palace Museum.

6001. Ink Bamboo Inspired by the Poetic Sentiment of Jiulong Shanren

Wong Kwan Shut favoured themes of bamboo and landscape in his painting. His artistic style was shaped under the guidance of Li Yanshan, a distinguished painter from Guangdong. Through an introduction by one of his teachers, Wong had the opportunity to regularly seek guidance from Li, who praised his brushwork for its rare “elegance and refinement”.

In the six-panel folding screen in front of you, the bamboo branches appear to sway gently against a shimmering gold surface. This work combines the expressive beauty of Chinese ink painting with the aesthetics of Japanese gold folding screens, reflecting how Wong’s unique artistic style was influenced by his early years of study in Japan.

The upper right corner is inscribed with a seven-character, eight-line poem, Again, Bamboo in the Rain, by the early Ming painter and calligrapher Wang Fu. The poem reads:

In a lofty hall, wine is set beneath the setting sun.
Before me, no friend compares to you.
When drunk, my creative spirit awakens, unleashing incisive brushstrokes.
With the sweep of my hand, bamboo rises like blue clouds.
When the painting is complete, spirits seem to gather.
Suddenly the walls are covered with phoenix feathers.
If only you may visit again in deep autumn.
Then we may trim the candlewick and listen to the wind and rain while lying together on connecting beds.

Wang Fu was a native of Wuxi in Jiangsu province. He once lived in seclusion at Mount Hui, also known as “Nine Dragons Mountain” because of its nine peaks, and from this he derived his sobriquet “Jiulong Shanren” meaning “Master of Nine Dragons Mountain”. Renowned for his achievements in poetry, calligraphy, and painting, Wang was widely regarded as the “pioneering hand” of bamboo painting in the Ming dynasty. This poem evokes the creativity that flows when a scholar gets intoxicated and the longing for intimate friendship forged in all-night conversations. In addition, the phrase that compares bamboo shadows upon walls with phoenix feathers is remarkably vivid in capturing the spirit of bamboo.

6002. “Departing from White Emperor City at Dawn” by Li Bai in Gossamer-line Script

In this work, Wong employs a calligraphic style known as yousishu (“gossamer-line script”), a style created by the Southern Song calligrapher Wu Yue. The script derives its name from its fine, continuous strokes that resemble the threads spun by silkworms. Extant authentic examples of Southern Song gossamer-line script are exceptionally rare and therefore highly treasured. Wong was deeply inspired after having the opportunity to study Wu Yue’s original work at the Fujii Yurinkan Museum in Japan. This work is executed on silver cardboard, a type of calligraphic paper specially treated to produce a luminous metallic sheen. Writing on such a smooth surface requires exceptional focus, steadiness, and absolute brush control to maintain seamless, ultra-fine lines without a single break.

When reflecting on the experience of transcribing classical poetry, Wong once said: “When transcribing the verses of past masters, the boundaries between past and present, self and other, completely dissolve. Mind and hand work as one, as though I am intoxicated. The poetic visions and ink of the ancients become entirely my own, pouring directly from my chest. The joy of such moments is truly beyond words.”

The poem inscribed here, Departing from White Emperor City at Dawn, is by the renowned Tang poet Li Bai, revered by later generations as the “Immortal Poet”. One of Li’s most famous works, the poem is admired for its powerful energy and rhythmic momentum. It was written after Li, sentenced to exile, received news of his pardon upon reaching White Emperor City in Kuizhou, located in present-day Sichuan province. He immediately embarked downstream, sailing eastwards through the Three Gorges towards Jiangling.

At dawn I took leave of the White Emperor in the midst of luminous clouds.
The thousand miles to Jiangling, I have returned in a single day.
With the voices of gibbons on both banks crying incessantly, my frail boat had already passed ten thousand towering mountains.

Departing from White Emperor City at Dawn by Li Bai (701–762), Tang dynasty

Translated by Elling Eide (1935–2012)

6003. The Four Gentlemanly Plants

This work by Wong Kwan Shut depicts a subject commonly seen in traditional Chinese literati painting, the “Four Gentlemen”. The “gentlemen” are plum blossom, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum, and each of them embodies unique virtues associated with the cultivated scholar. The plum blossom represents resilience and purity; the orchid signifies integrity and independence; the bamboo symbolises humility and righteousness; and the chrysanthemum denotes seclusion and a withdrawal from worldly affairs.

When creating a literati painting, scholar-artists strived to achieve spiritual resonance and poetic sentiment. Rather than emphasising technique and realism, they sought to convey inner essence and focused on ink play through the combination of the four arts of painting, calligraphy, poetry, and seal carving.

Literati subject matter commonly centres upon the “Four Gentlemen”, landscapes, or birds-and-flowers, through which the scholar-artists express their emotion, literati spirit, and refined lifestyle. In this work, each painting is paired with classical poems inscribed by the famous connoisseur Yang Renkai. The content focuses on the appreciation of plants and the cyclical beauty of the seasons, while also reflecting the artist’s yearning for virtues associated with the ideal gentleman. Through the combination of painting and calligraphy, the works become a physical embodiment of the spiritual dialogue between past and present literati.

Wong also once claimed in an interview that “in China, painting and calligraphy share a common origin… they are fundamentally interconnected. Painting depicts images of nature, while calligraphy paints the images of words. Both are deeply related to literature. Even if a painting contains no literary subject, a painting of landscape or drifting clouds often still reminds one of poetic sentiments. Therefore, poetry and painting can be considered a single entity. In later literati painting, if the audience lacks literary cultivation and cannot appreciate the poetry, the aesthetic pleasure will be significantly reduced.”

6004. “To the Tune of Prelude to Water Melody” in Cursive Script

In this handscroll, Wong not only demonstrates his bold and expressive cursive calligraphy but also brings together a gathering of literati across time and space through the inscriptions on the scroll. The colophons were inscribed by three titans of Chinese painting and calligraphy connoisseurship: Qi Gong, Yang Renkai, and Xu Bangda. They are joined by the Shanghai painter Chen Peiqiu and the renowned traditional ink artist Feng Dazhong, all of whom shared a close, long-standing rapport with Wong.

This handscroll was initially gifted by Wong to a friend, who subsequently invited these distinguished masters to add their inscriptions. After passing through various hands, the handscroll eventually made its way back to Wong, who gladly added his own colophon. Years later, this handscroll reappeared at an auction and was repurchased by Wong’s wife, Mrs Pong Chi-ying, and subsequently donated to the Hong Kong Palace Museum.

Many will be familiar with the Northen Song literary master Su Shi and his works. The lyric inscribed here, Prelude to Water Music—Bright Moon, When Did You Appear?, is a famous work by Su Shi, also known by his courtesy name Zizhan and sobriquet Dongpo Jushi. It describes the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, when the poet was drinking wine while admiring the moon. In the preface, Su Shi sets the scene: “On this Mid-Autumn Festival Day of the bingchen year, I drank happily until dawn and became drunk, after which I wrote this piece while reminiscing about my brother Ziyou.” Through this work, Su Shi expressed his longing for his younger brother, as well as his own sense of loneliness and isolation.

Bright moon, when did you appear?
Lifting my wine, I question the blue sky.
Tonight in the palaces and halls of heaven
what year is it, I wonder?
I would like to ride the wind, make my home there,
only I fear in porphyry towers, under jade eaves,
in those high places the cold wind would be more than I could bear.
So I rise and dance and play in your pure beams,
though this human world — how can it vie with yours?

Circling red chambers,
low in the curtained door,
you light our sleeplessness.
Surely you bear us no ill will —
why then must you be so round at times when we humans are parted!
People have their griefs and joys, their togetherness and separation,
the moon its dark and clear times, its roundings and wanings.
I only hope we two may have long, long lives,
may share the moon’s beauty, though a thousand miles apart.

Prelude to Water Music—Bright Moon, When Did You Appear? by Su Shi (1037–1101), Northen Song dynasty

Translated by Burton Watson (1925–2017)

6005. Master Dongxin in the Act of Painting

The inscription on the upper left of this painting records the context of its creation. It was painted by Wong for a Japanese friend, whom he recognised as a kindred spirit, and documents a friendship that transcended national boundaries.

From the mid-Kangxi period to the late Qianlong period, eight painters with individualistic styles were active in the Yangzhou region of Jiangsu province. They later became collectively known as the “Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou”. Amongst them, Jin Nong, was considered the leading figure. Jin was an erudite scholar of broad accomplishment. He was especially known for his original “lacquer script” calligraphy, which had an archaic simplicity characterised by heavy horizontal strokes contrasted with slender vertical lines. At the same time, he also excelled in seal carving and connoisseurship. Although he only started painting at the age of 50, he was skilled in landscapes, figures, birds-and-flowers, horses, Buddhist imagery, and especially black ink plum blossom paintings.

In this work, Wong pays tribute to Jin, a master who was unbound by ancient traditions. The spirit and form of the figures, in particular the thick flowing beards and slender braids, are very similar to a self-portrait by Jin painted at the age of seventy-three, now housed at The Palace Museum in Beijing. The overall composition, on the other hand, resembles the Su Zhai (“Studio Su”), a painting by Jin’s disciple Luo Pin, in the collection of the Shanghai Museum. Through these references, Wong demonstrates his ability to create new possibilities through the act of copying the ancient masters. This type of landscape painting, featuring a secluded studio, first flourished during the Yuan dynasty. Such works usually depict a studio surrounded by trees, rocks, or garden landscapes, reflecting the idealised environment yearned for by an artist-scholar. Through painting such serene landscapes, the artist-scholar projects his aspirations for reclusion, communion with nature, and moral refinement.