Tang Dynasty
Ou Yangxun
Ou Yangxun (557-641), styled himself Xinben. He was born in Changsha, HuNan Province. He is one of the four famous regular script calligraphers of Tang Dynasty (including Yu Shinan, Chu Suiliang and Xue Ji). In Sui Dynasty, Ou Yangxun got the promotion as "Taichang (a name of officer) Doctor"; in Tang Dynasty, he was pointed as the Shuigengling (a name of officer) of the Emperor's son who would come to the throne, also called "OuYang Shuigeng". His great achievement in calligraphy was the masterpieces of regular script. The stroke is powerful, the style is well-knit, and the structure combines the features of mild and vigor. His achievement in regular script was superior to others'. Regular script with his own features was called "Ou style". His works are "Sweet Spring in Jiucheng Palace Stele", "Huadu Temple Stele", "Zhang Han", "Bo Shang" "Meng Dian" and so on.
Sweet Spring in Jiucheng Palace Stele 01
Sweet Spring in Jiucheng Palace Stele 02
"Sweet Spring in Jiucheng Palace Stele"
It was written by Wei Zheng and then Ou Yangxun wrote it in calligraphy when he was 75 years old. The stele was established in the sixth year of Zhengguan of Tang (632 AD). Now the Stele is still restored but is damaged more or less (was not the original one). The work records the story that Tang Taizong found fountain when being away from summer holiday in Jiucheng Palace. It praises the splendor of Jiucheng Palcae, the greatness of Tang Taizong's achievement, the event of finding fountain and the significant of fountain's auspicious symbols.
The calligraphy of this stele is solemn, which shows the features of strict structure and fluid charming powerful writing style of Ou Yangxiu's writing. In this work, the way of using brush is straightforward and well-knit, stable and precipitous. The stroke is like square and round, well-balanced, well-ordered and stately. Zhao Han in Ming Dynasty regards this stele in "Shimoxiuhua" as the top-class writing of regular script. It has great influences.
褚遂良
褚遂良（596-659），字登善，浙江钱塘人。在唐初书家四大家之一。博通文史，精于鉴定。深得唐太宗李世民的赏识。用笔的明净媚好而又沉著飞动。《唐人书评》中把褚遂良的字誉为"字里金生，行间玉润，法则温雅，美丽多方"，甚中其妙。流传作品有《雁塔圣教序》、《伊阕佛龛记》、《孟法师碑》等。
Chu Suiliang
Chu Suiliang (596-659), who styled himself Dengshan, was born in QianTang, Zhejiang Province. He is one of the four famous calligraphers in Tang Dynasty. He had a good master of literary history and authentication. The emperor of Tang Dynasty, Li Shiming, thought highly of him. The skill of Chu Suiliang's calligraphy is extraordinary. His calligraphy is admirable and flexible. In the "Review of Tang People's masterpiece", Chu Suiliang's calligraphy is regarded that "there are gold produced from the words; there are jade in the lines; the work is elegant and charming." His works are "Yan Tower Shengjiao Xu", "Yikui Niche (for a statue of the Buddha) Ji" and "Master (a title of respect for a Buddhist or Taoist priest) Meng Stele".
Yan Tower Shengjiao Xu 01
Yan Tower Shengjiao Xu 02
"Yan Tower Shengjiao Xu" by Chu Suiliang
"Yan Tower Shengjiao Xu", the full title was "Sanzo Daming Shengjiao possession of the North". It contains two steels, set up in the fourth Year of Yonghui (653). "Xu" was written by Li Shiming in Octomber. "Ji" was written by Li Zhi in December. When Chu Suiliang wrote it, he was 58 years old. As far as the fact that two Emperors wrote on person, we could see that the politic status of Chu Suiliang was so high that no one could surpass him. The character on this steel is thin and simple, not complicated. The steel is the most famous and mature one of his works. In "Tang People's Views on Calligraphy", it thinks highly of the works of Chu Suiliang: there are gold produced from the words; there are jade in the lines; the work is elegant and charming".
Sun Guoting
Sun Guoting(646-691), who styled himself Qianli, came from Fuyang county, Zhejiang province. Sun Guoting is a calligrapher and a theorist of calligraphy of the Tang dynasty. He was very learned and accomplished in the study of old things, and was especially good at cursive style. He learned his penmanship from Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi, therefore his handwriting style similar to their styles, is very forceful and vigorous. Chen Zi'ang, a famous poet of the early period of Tang Dynasty, wrote an epitaph for him, regarding him as "refined in writing, outstanding and eminent." Mi Fu also praised Sun Guoting as "embattled with the style and soul of Wang Xizhi and no one in Tang dynasty could match him for mimicking Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi's handwriting".
Sun Guoting also acquired great achievement in the theory of calligraphy. His theory about penmanship was collected in "Shupu", which showed his meticulous idea of writing with simple words yet profound meaning. The book was very important in the history of handwriting theory, and the study of calligraphy treasures the book a lot. Sun Guoting's works that pass down till today are "Shupu" and "Qianziwen".
Shu Pu 01
Shu Pu 02
"Shu Pu" (Book List) by Sun Guoting
"Shu Pu", a hard copy, was written by Sun Guoting of Tang Dynasty in the third year of Chuigong (687). Combing the theory of calligraphy and the art of calligraphy, it is a masterpiece in calligraphy. Sun Guoting sought to imitate the writing style of Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi; therefore, each of his strokes was very regular and constrained to rules, having the style of Wei and Jin dynasty. His writing was full of strength, with a combination of graceful, steady and vigorous features, making his writing both beautiful and of high quality. His writing style in this book varied greatly with round dots and thin or thick threads of characters. This book has been received high praises since then. Mi Fu, of Song dynasty, commented the book, saying, "the cursive writing "Shu Pu" by Sun Guoting, got the spirit of Wang Xizhi' wrting...and those who also imitate Wang Xizhi in Tang Dynasty can never match Sun Guoting." (The history of book)
Li Yong
Li Yong (675－747), who styled himself Taihe, was from Jiangdu county, Yangzhou. He enjoyed his fame from childhood, and then he was chosen to be "zuoshiyi", an officer whose job is to remind emperor of things he forgot. He used to be the governor of census register, the inspector of Kuozhou county, the highest officer of Beihai county, so he was also called "Li Beihai". He was very good at running script, which was learned from Wang Xizhi yet carrying a style of his own: the characters in his writing are very thick and vigorous, with left side a little higher than right side and a strong force in writing, which makes people feel quite risky yet comfortable. His writing was also said to have "the spirit of dragon and the form of elephant". All of the steles had been written in regular script since the period of Wei and Jin Dynasty, it was the emperor Tang Taizong who started to write stele in running script, which was enhanced by Li Yong. His style of running script on stele was both solemn and robust, which was very rare to see, so he was very popular at that time.
His works include "Duanzhou Shishi Ji"(write on the stone of Duanzhou), "LushansiBei"(the stele of a Temple in Mount Lu), "Yunhuijiangjun Lisi Xunbei"(the stele of the general Li Sixun), "yunhuijiangjun Lixiu Bei"( the stele of general Lixiu), etc.
Mount Lu Temple Stele 01
Mount Lu Temple Stele 02
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"Mount Lu Temple Stele" by Li Yong
"Mount Lu Temple Stele" which was also called "Mount Yuelu Temple Stele", was written by Li Yong in the eighteenth year of Kaiyuan of Tang (730 AD). The stele is now in the park of Mount Yuelu. It is the representative work of regular script by Li Yong. Li Yong wrote many steles in his life, but "Mount Lu Temple Stele" is the most exquisite one, with vigorous handwriting, imposing manner, steady yet risky finish-strokes, a combination of hardness with softness, short phrases blended with longer ones. In general the work is just like nature itself -- highest quality (of art).
Zhang Xu
Zhang Xu (？675－？750), who styled himself Bogao and Jiming, came from Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. He was once the officer who governed the palace guards, so he was also called "Zhang Changshi" (changshi is a name of officer). He was very brilliant and knowledgeable. Tang Wenzong, the emperor, once said that, the poems of Li Bai, the sword dance of Pei Min and the cursive writing of Zhang Xu were the "San Jue" (the top of the three categories). As a man, he was free, easy, and outstanding. He was also a friend of Li Bai and He Zhizhang, the three of whom were listed by Du Fu as three of "the eight great minds in wine". The legend went that Zhang Xu got his muse in cursive writing and later on was famous for his cursive writing, by watching madam Gongsun dancing with her exotic sword.
Because Zhang Xu's frivolous character, he was also known as "Zhang Dian" (the crazy guy). He, together with another famous cursive hand writer Huai Su, were called "Crazy Zhang and drunken Su". He loved to entangle his feelings and emotions in his writing. And he was so absorbed in it, so that his cursive writing turned to be very changeable, which was a wonder of the world. His works include "Langguan Stone Pillar Ji", "Dutong Tie", "Four Poem Tie" (this one is said to be a fake one from Song Dynasty).
Dutong Tie
"Dutong Tie" by Zhang Xu
There were only 30 words in "Dutong Tie", yet it was very smooth and most beautifully written. The writing process of Zhang Xu could be told by this work: the brush with one dip of ink could write continually until there was no ink left, and then the process repeated. In this way, the connect between each character was kept, and the thickness degree was also easy to be controlled; therefore, the whole work can produce the momentum of "dragon coming out of clouds, and clouds coming out of Mount Song". This is a real masterpiece in cursive writing. Zhang Xu's writing was firstly influenced by Zhang Zhi, Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi, with his best achievement in cursive writing. Zhang Xu created the cursive writing with natural and unrestrained as well as changeable styles of cursive script. Wang Shizhen of Ming Dynasty once said, "the work One thousand character by Zhang Shizhen change so abruptly that you can never guess what it will be like in the following writing." This is a precise remark of this work.
Li Yangbing
Li Yangbing, who styled himself Shaoyun, was born Zhao County, Hebei Province, during Kaiyuan period of the reign of Emperor, Tangxuan Zong. He was a writer as well as calligrapher of Tang Dynasty. He was once the governor of Jinyun and Dangtu County. He learned his penmanship from the work "the stele of Mount Feng" by Li Si, which made his writing style very vigorous and thin. He thought himself to be the only successor of this writing style since Li Si. He also believed his seal character was the best except Li Si, which was very true even according to today's comments. His always started his writing with mid-thick brush, yet thin when the writing was finished. Li Bai once commented in his poem, saying that "Li Yangbing writes seal character so smoothly, that one can do nothing but praise with amazement. His variable dictions and sentences just like the colorful stars and woven frame work of silk." At that time, Yan Zhenqing invited Li Yangbing to write the title with seal characters, whenever Yan finished writing on the stele, which shows the popularity of seal character. Sun Chengze in Qing Dynasty also says in "Gengzixiaoxia Ji", that "Li Yangbing is the master of seal character, since the creation of it in Qin and Han Dynasties," which reveals that he thought highly of Li Yangbing.
Li Yangbing's works include "Sanfen Ji" (the story of three tombs), "Chenghuang Temple Stele", "Banruotai Timing" (made title in Banruotai).
Sanfen Ji
Sanfen Ji 局部
"Sanfen Ji"(the story of three tombs) by Li Yangbing
The content of "Sanfen Ji" was written by Li jiqing from Tang dynasty, but it was written on the stele by Li Yangbing. It was set up in the second year of Daling of Tang (767). The stele has two sides, altogether 23 lines with 20 characters each line. The original stele was lost, a copy of the stele from Song Dynasty is now in Xian, Shangxi Province. The work "Sanfen Ji Stele"has the calligraphic style of "Mount Feng Stele" by Li Si, which means the characters were very thin and vigorous with slender ending stroke, vigorous lines, twisted turning points, various starting and ending part, similar to the shape of snakes and dragons. The characters were composed with lines of same thickness, which made them seem very free and light. Being one of the representative works of Li Yangbing, the work also enables Li Yangbing the most excellent calligrapher of seal character in Tang Dynasty. His seal character is also said to be "iron, liner and trace". Sun Chengze in Qing dynasy once said，" Li Yangbing ranks the first in the seal character after the period of Qin and Han dynasty. "Sanfen Ji" with exquisite strokes and rules is hard to be surpassed." (in Gengzixiaoxia Ji)
Yan Zhenqing
Yan Zhenqing (709-785), who styled himself Qingchen, was born in Linyi, Shandong Province. He is the great calligrapher in Tang Dynasty. He was an officer in Pingyuan so people called him "Yan Pingyuan". He also was an officer in the Ministry of Official Personnel Affairs in feudal China, the tutor of Emperors son who would success to the throne. He was pointed as the pioneer of establishing Lu country; therefore he was called "Yan Lugong". He was straight-forward, honest, and fair-minded. He never submitted to authority and never flattered others. He was famous for his uprightness. He was killed by rebel Li Xilie. Su Shi once said "Du Zimei's poems are the best, Han Tuizhi's writing works are the best, Wu Daozi's paintings are the best, Yan Lugong's calligraphy works are the best." Su Shi praised him as a great calligrapher who brought a flesh wind to calligraphy and achieved great achievement.
His regular script is not consistent with regular script in earlier period of Tang Dynasty. He writes regular script like Zhuashu, changes thin and hard characters into full, round and firm characters. The structure of characters is broad and the stroke is powerful, which gives people the magnificent impression. The style of his calligraphy shows the prosperous Tang Dynasty as well as his lofty moral character. His works are the model of combining the beauty of calligraphy and personality. The style of his calligraphy is named "Yan Ti". People name Yan Zhenqin's calligraphy and Liu Gongquan's calligraphy together as "Yan Jin Liu Gu" which means Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy is powerful like the power of muscle, and Liu Gongquan's calligraphy is powerful like the power of bone.
Yan Zhenqing's works mainly include "DuoBao Tower Stele", "Yan Qing Li Stele", "Yans' Temple Stele", "MaGu Immoral Altar Ji", "Manuscript of Mourning for Nephew" and so on.
Yan Qingli Stele
Yan Qingli Stele 局部
"Yan Qingli Stele"
"Yan Qingli Stele" was set up in the fourteenth year of Dali (779). It was in regular script, carving around for four dimensions and three of which were about the work. Yan Qingli was the grand-grandfather of Yan Zhenqing. When he wrote and carved this stele, he was 71 years old. This stele is powerful and simple, presenting the sense of resoluteness and sincere. It is also stately and charming. Yan Zhengqing is skilled that one stroke is of all the strength. It fully presents his powerful writing (like the power of muscle). The stroke is powerful, the character is natural. And in terms of structure, it is dense around and sparse in the center, which creates an expanding feeling and presented the special character. Now it is kept in Xian.
Manuscript of Mourning for Nephew
Manuscript of Mourning for Nephew 局部
"Manuscript of Mourning for Nephew"
It is also called "Manuscript of Mourning for Nephew Jiming", written by Yan Zhengqing when he was 50 years old. It contains 25 lines, 230 words in total. It records that Yan Jiming, Yan Zhengqing's nephew, was killed by rebel army. Yan Zhengqing was angry and grieved, missing his nephew and then writing downing this manuscript. In this work, the stroke is round, powerful and natural. We can feel his anger in this work. The running writing of characters is smooth, like river straightening down.
The ink in this work is dry. The artistic effect is coincident with the feeling of Yan Zhengqing at that time. It involves the strongest emotion that can make people crying and feel grieved. It is regarded as the fascinating masterpiece of grief and indignation. It is considered to be the second running script work following "Lanting Xu" written by Wang Xizhi.
Huai Su
Huai Su(725-785) styled himself Cang Zhen, and his family name was Qian. He came from Changsha county, Hunan Province. He was a monk in Tang Dynasty with Huai Su as his name as a monk. He was keen on Buddha from very young; therefore, he became a monk. He was famous for his cursive writing. Huan Su loved drinking very much, and whenever he wanted to drink, he would write on anything, no matter it was the wall or clothes, so he was also called "the drunken monk". He and another famous cursive style calligrapher Zhang Xu together were called "Crazy Zhang and Drunken Su".
His cursive writing was leaned from Zhang Zhi and Zhang Xu, yet he had a style of his own. His writing is usually full and vigorous, with mid-thick use of brush, every turning point similar to a circle, like countless rain dots linked together. Tang Lvzong said in "Reviews on Reading" that, "the cursive style of Huai Su, is ready to change for thousands of times with delicate differences of dots." Mi Fu, in "Book Reviews of Haiyue", said, "Huai Su' writing is very vivid, just like a warrior pulling out his sword and that his free and changeable use of brush in writing is just to the point."
The works of Huai Su include "Zixu Tie", "Kushun Tie", "Shiyu Tie", "Dacao Qianwen".
A narration on Myself
"A narration on Myself" by Huai Su
The paper work "A narration on Myself" with a width of 0.283m, and a length of 0.775m, has 126 lines with a total of 698 characters. It is kept now in the Museum of Taiwan. It is regarded as the representative work of Huai Su of his late years. This work is full of cursive style characters, with every stroke of middle thickness, which is just like to cast sand on the taper, every stroke is very bold and open, every character connect like rain dots. Such smooth connection produces a work of generous and heroic power, which shows the free spirit of Tang Dynasty. We can see the speed of the writer, the cooperation of his heart and hands, and the work is finished within on stroke. "With several cries, he can finish writing hundreds of thousands characters." An Qi in Ming Dynasty once commented on this book, saying "the color of ink and paper echoes with each other; a small dot can produce many changes of characters. Such ingenious work is just beyond description," which shows their high praises on this book.
Liu Gongquan
Liu Gongquan (778-865), who styled himself ChengXuan, was born in Yao Country, Shanxi Province. His calligraphy works in regular script gained the greatest achievement. He was influenced by Yan Zhenqing. He learned from the powerful, graceful calligraphy of Jin Dynasty and the noble, firm calligraphy of Yan Zhengqing. Then he created his own style of calligraphy-powerful and elegant. The characters' structure is really strict and nature. His works are comparable to Yan Zhenqing's, therefore, people named his work with Yanzhenqing's works as "Yanjinliugu" (It means Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy is powerful like the power of muscle, and Liu Gongquan's calligraphy is powerful like the power of bone.).
His works included "Xuanmi Tower Stele", "Shencejun Stele", "Mengzhao Tie" and so on.
Xuanmi Tower Stele 01
Xuanmi Tower Stele 02
"Xuanmi Tower Stele"
"Xuanmi Tower Stele" was written by Tang Peixiu and written in calligraphy by Liu Gongquan. This Stele was set up in December, the first year of Huichang of Tang (841AD). It was located in Xi'an, Shanxi Province. It is Liu Gongquan's works in late time, being written when he was 63 years old. The layout is well-balanced, neat and well-spaced. Liu Gongquan is skilled, using the brush fluently, the character being well-designed and full of power. His work has his own special features. "Xuanmi Tower Stele" can be regarded as the most representative work of the style of Liu Gongquan. It can be comparable to Yan Zhengqin's works.
