The Calligrapher — Mǐ Fú 米芾
Song eccentric genius of dynamic, 'flying' running script.
Song calligrapher (1051–1107), master of running script — Song eccentric genius ('crazy Zhang, idiot Mi') whose running script alternates discipline with glee. Song dynasty
Cultural Story
The 詩經 opens its seasonal round with 七月流火, the fire star sliding west as the harvest nears, a farmer's calendar in song. Tang poets bent 七律 into eight strict lines, Du Fu counting grief in regulated tones. Seven was a number of arrangement, not magic. A court musician tuned to seven strings; a cook cut 七彩 into a cold plate of seven colored vegetables.
Common words & phrases
- 七月 July · seventh month
- 七点 seven o'clock · 7 a.m./p.m.
- 七号 number seven · seventh
- 十七 seventeen · 17
- 七彩 seven colors · rainbow hues
- 七律 eight-line poem · regulated verse
Read the story behind the character
七月 is the month students flee dorms; 七点 is when the alarm screams and the subway doors jam. 七号 bus, 七号 battery, your 十七-year-old cousin. 七彩 appears on shampoo bottles promising rainbow shine and on temple lanterns at 元宵. The number lives as a label and a clock, rarely symbolic now, mostly a way to file the day and number the queue.
Own this character
Purchase delivers the original SVG of this glyph, brushed by Mǐ Fú 米芾, ready to place on skin, paper, or screen.