Manuscript — 前後赤壁賦 DSE

Object

Author: 蘇軾 Su Shi (1037–1101)
Date: 1082 CE · Song dynasty, Yuanfeng 5
Medium: Ink on paper, handscroll
Dimensions: 23.9 × 258 cm
Script: Running-regular (行楷)
Location: National Palace Museum, Taipei
Acc. 故畫000882
Licence: CC BY 4.0 · npm.gov.tw

Significance

This handscroll is the only surviving manuscript of the First Red Cliff Rhapsody in Su Shi's own hand — one of the most celebrated examples of Song-dynasty calligraphy, valued as both literary text and visual art.

In classical Chinese culture, calligraphy is understood as a direct expression of the writer's inner character (書如其人, "the writing is the person"). Access to this scroll gives the reader something no printed edition can offer: the materiality of the text in the author's own hand, composed in exile.

⚠ Editorial Note — Characters 1–36

The first 36 characters of this scroll are not in Su Shi's hand. The opening section of the original was damaged after Su Shi's death, and the missing text was supplied by the Ming-dynasty calligrapher 文徵明 Wen Zhengming (1470–1559).

Wen Zhengming was himself a distinguished calligrapher, but his hand is visibly different from Su Shi's. All scholarly editions flag this supplement. The first tile in the viewer below is marked accordingly.

The Second Rhapsody

No autograph manuscript of the Second Red Cliff Rhapsody is known to survive. The second rhapsody exists only in later transcriptions and printed editions — a fact that makes this handscroll of the First Rhapsody the sole surviving witness to Su Shi's brushwork on these texts.

Colophons

The scroll bears colophons by the Ming calligrapher and critic 董其昌 Dong Qichang (1555–1636) and other later hands. These are part of the scroll's collection history and are not Su Shi's composition.

Open full IIIF viewer at NPM ↗

宋蘇軾書前赤壁賦　卷。國立故宮博物院，台北。 Former Ode on the Red Cliff. National Palace Museum, Taipei. CC BY 4.0 · www.npm.gov.tw

宋蘇軾書前赤壁賦卷 National Palace Museum · IIIF images · CC BY 4.0 ← scroll to navigate the handscroll →

Note: Characters 1–36 (first tile) are in the hand of Wen Zhengming (文徵明, Ming dynasty), not Su Shi. Su Shi's autograph begins at character 37.

Images served via IIIF from iiifod.npm.gov.tw · CC BY 4.0 · National Palace Museum, Taipei View collection record ↗