Han Dynasty
Yi Ying Stele 01
Yi Ying Stele 02
Yi Ying Stele
Full title is "Prime Minister Yi Ying of Country Lu in Han Dynasty Building One Hundred of Stone Soldiers Stele". It was carved in the first year of Emperor Huan Yongxing (15 AD) and has now been kept in the Confucius Temple in Qufu, Shandong Province. Having the ancient high quality, elegant style, and the vigorous charming script, Yi Ying Stele was one of the most outstanding tablets in Han Dynasty. Although in terms of the requirement of artistic creation, Yi Ying Stele might be over neat and confined, it is a good choice for beginners who try to study the Han clerical script, and can help them gain a fair understanding of the structure of clerical script and gain the skill of using brush.
Shimeng Song 01
Shimeng Song 02
Shimeng Song (An ode on the stone door)
Full name, "A Tribute for Yang Meng, the commander of Sili". The stone is 2.61m high and 2.05m wide.
It was witten on the stone tunnel of the south end of Baoxie Street of the City of Bao in Shangxi Province, in praise of Yang Meng, the commander of sili , by Wang Sheng, a prefecture chief of Han Zhong the second year of Jianhe Emperor of Eastern Han Dynasty (148 AD).
The calligraphy is old and natural with variation. The starting point of the brush is a wild cross stroke, making the style a deep implication of nationality with fluent and round characters. The whole work is filled with effortless style that is both interesting and surprising, which has long been praised as "the cursive style in the clerical script". It enjoys the highest position of all the writing works in clerical script in Eastern Han Dynasty, and it also a representative of all the carved stone writing.
Li Qi Stele
Li Qi Stele
Full title is "Prime Minister Han Chi of Country Lu in Han Dynasty Making Sacrificial Vessel for Kong Temper Stele". It was carved in the second year of Emperor Huan Yongshou (156 AD) of the Eastern Han Dynasty. This stele consisted of the most of records. It is regarded as the excellent work of clerical script works. The style is powerful, vigorous and charming. The character is special, being of great power like iron and being changeable like dragons. One character has its own feature.
曹全碑局部
曹全碑全碑
Cao Quan Stele
Full title is "The Tribute of Cao Quan who is the governor of Heyang in Han Stele". It was engraved and erected by Wang Chang and others in October, Zhongping the second year of the Eastern Han Dynasty(185 AD). As one of the masterpieces, "Cao Quan Stele" is unique in the history of Han Li Shu. It is the well-preserved tablet inscription that has a large quantity of Han Li characters. The style is charming; the structure is flat and symmetric; the stroke is straight. This stele belongs to the same types as "Yi Ying Stele" and "Li Qi Stele". It is the most famous work of Han clerical script works. It is famous for its elegant style and symmetric structure, therefore, calligraphers think highly of it. Wan Jing in Qing Dynasty says: it is a valuable work, charming and elegant.
Zhang Qian Stele 01
Zhang Qian Stele 02
Zhang Qian Stele
The stele's full name is "The Tribute of Zhang Qian who is the governor of Chang Dang, the old town in Han Dynasty". The stele was set up in the third year of Han's Zhongping (186 AD), in Dongping county, Shandong Province. The stele now is exhibited in the gallery of stele in Dai Temple of Mount Tai.
Zhang Qian Stele is a classical work of Clerical script (Chinese writing style) of Han Dynasty, when the square characters were popular in writing. This style is simple but luxuriant at the same time. The size of the character varies accordingly. It is thick with strength, and the starting points of each character does not necessarily be "Cantou" (a thick dot) and the finishing points not necessarily be"yanwei" (a thin lifting mark).His calligraphy is bold and vigorous. It is a great treasure in the art of penmanship.
钟繇《宣示表》局部
Zhong Yao
Zhong Yao, who styled himself Yuanchang, is a calligrapher from Henan Province in the Dynasty of Three Kingdoms. He once was the vice prime minister, and then prime minister at the early days of Wei dynasty. He learned his penmanship from Cao Xi, Liu Desheng, and Cai Yi. His regular script style, which is elegant and graceful as well as deep and serene, formed a special style at that time.
Zhong Yao experienced the period of the transition from clerical script to regular script; his writing style also conveys a strong sense of the clerical script style. His regular script is a little in italic and the row middles are very dense. The cross and point are very thick and vigorous as well as simple, giving an impression of natural and plain form. His writing works include "A Statement for Request", "A Statement for Celebration of Victory", "A Statement of Recommending Jizhi', " A Statement for Faithfulness" and so on.
