Calligraphy

This calligraphy was dedicated to Kida Kansaku (1879-1953). He moved to Tianjin in 1900 and lived there for over 40 years. Fluent in Chinese, Kida wore his hair in a queue and dressed in a Chinese manner. He was close to Kang Youwei, Luo Zhenyu, Zheng Xiaoxu, Xu Shichang and Weng Tonghe, and helped Puyi take refuge in Japan. Throughout his life Kida collected nearly 300 works of Chinese paintings and calligraphy, a part of which was given to him by Luo Zhenyu (1866-1940), an epigrapher. Four other works from the same collection will be offered in the Fine Chinese Classical Paintings and Calligraphy sale on 25 November 2014 ( Lots 1138-1141).