YAO YUANZHI (1773-1852)
Seven-character Calligraphic Couplet in Clerical Script
A pair of hanging scrolls, ink on gold-flecked paper
Each scroll measures 167 x 42.5 cm. (65 ³⁄₄ x 16 ³⁄₄ in.)
Inscribed and signed, with two seals of the artist
Dated leap ninth month, twelfth year (of Daoguang region, 1832)
Dedicated to Shizhuang

NOTE:
Yao Yuanzhi, who styled himself as Boang, Jianqing, and Zhuyetingsheng, was a native of Tongcheng, Anhui province. An Imperial Scholar during the Jiaqing era, Yao served as a government official and was also a painter and calligrapher. He was adept at painting figures, fruits and flowers, as well as writing in clerical script.

Dr Kuo is a renowned ophthalmologist in Taiwan. He was born into a family of doctors in Chiayi, Taiwan. Dr Kuo also graduated from the Taipei Medical College and served as the Chief of Ophthalmology at the Taipei Renai Hospital. His father studied Chinese and specialised in calligraphy, influencing Kuo to take an interest in Chinese culture, history and art. While practising medicine, Kuo often learned at the National Palace Museum in Taipei and began collecting paintings and calligraphy by well-known artists and celebrities and ancient artefacts. Kuo managed to build an extensive private collection, which works from it was later passed down through the family.