Guan Daosheng

CHINA, Zhejiang, Huzhou; Yuan dynasty

The wife of Zhao Mengfu, Guan Daosheng, also known as Zhongji or Yaoji, was a painter and calligrapher from Wuxing (present day Huzhou, Zhejiang). A devout Buddhist, she and Zhao Mengfu were both disciples of Master Zhongfeng Mingben. Guan was known to be clever and talented with an outgoing personality.
She was particularly skilled in embroidery, as well as bamboo painting. Regarded as the creator of the “clear bamboo” or “new bamboo grove” style, Guan once painted a mural at Zhanfo Temple in Zhejiang which featured a vivid display of bamboo among rocks. She also painted images of the Buddha, Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, and landscapes.
Guan also excelled in calligraphy and essay writing without any formal learning. Her handwriting in semi-cursive and regular scripts was hard to differentiate with that of Zhao Mengfu. She once wrote several copies of the Diamond Sutra and offered them to various well-known temples and monks. Her Thousand Character Classic was written under the imperial order of Emperor Renzong (reigned 1311–1320) of the Yuan dynasty.
Extant artworks by Guan include Embroidery of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, kept at the Nanjing Museum in Jiangsu, and Embroidery of the Eighteen Arhats, which features an inscription by Master Zhongfeng. Guan’s calligraphic piece, Letter from Guan Daosheng to Master Zhongfeng Mingben, is kept at the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan; and Deep Autumn, a letter to her sister-in-law, is kept at the Palace Museum in Beijing. Among the several surviving paintings by Guan, Avalokitesvara with a Fish Basket is retained at the Osaka Municipal Museum of Art in Japan.