清朝

Qing Dynasty

In the Qing dynasty, epigraphy flourished and stele studies gained new importance, making seal, clerical, and northern stele scripts major sources for innovation. Evidential scholarship and inscription research helped form a weighty, archaic style.

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Qing Dynasty

Ren Bonian: Running-Script Couplet

Ren Bonian was an outstanding modern painter and a leading figure in the Shanghai school. He absorbed techniques from folk painting as well as Western watercolor and sketching, strengthened the realist dimension of Chinese painting, and skillfully fused meticulous and freehand methods, traditional Chinese and Western approaches, literati painting and folk painting. His greatest achievements were in figure painting and bird-and-flower painting. Xu Beihong praised him as the foremost Chinese painter after Qiu Ying and even wrote an appraisal of his work. This couplet, ?If one is free from vulgarity, one has the bones of an immortal; if one is affectionate, one has the heart of a Buddha,? was written for the mountain gate of Nengren Temple on Baiyun Mountain in Guangzhou.

Qing Dynasty

Yang Shoujing: Running-Script Couplet

Yang Shoujing was a major late Qing and early Republican scholar of historical geography, epigraphy, bibliography, calligraphy, and book collecting. Together with leading scholars in philology and mathematics, he was counted among the ?three great excellences? of the Qing. His calligraphy had a deep influence extending even to Japan. In structure, brush use, and formal invention, his writing is full of fresh ideas: center-tip strokes, clearly articulated lifting and pressing, flexible variety, grace without slipperiness, and beauty without superficiality. The slanting upper-right horizontals and sweeping lower-left lines give his work a distinctive tension and an unforced strength.

Qing Dynasty

Zhao Zhiqian: Excerpts from Shi You's ?Rapid Memorization Chapter?

Zhao Zhiqian was an outstanding Qing painter, calligrapher, and seal carver. Drawing on Qin and Han bronze and stone inscriptions, he selected widely yet distilled their strengths into a style that became known as the ?Zhao school.? His calligraphic achievement was broad, and he was especially skilled at using Northern stele structures in running script, written with a soft brush that gives the work richness and charm. This excerpt from Shi You's ?Rapid Memorization Chapter? is one of his representative works, with calm yet lively brushwork, dignified and simple structure, and an energetic force that fully reveals the spirit of Northern Wei-style epigraphy.

Qing Dynasty

Zuo Zongtang: Running-Script Couplet

Zuo Zongtang was one of the leading military and political figures of the late Qing. In 1875 he led his forces to recover Xinjiang, and in 1884 he directed military affairs in Fujian to resist French aggression, achievements that secured his place in history. Though famed as a general, he was also deeply accomplished in letters and calligraphy, honoring epigraphic models and excelling in seal, clerical, running, and cursive script. His strokes are forceful and bold, his style expansive and heroic, and many of his couplets circulated widely. This pillar couplet, written for the Ouyuan garden in Suzhou and quoting Du Fu, reveals a spirited ambition through its lean brushwork, cool structure, and open layout.

Qing Dynasty

He Shaoji: Clerical and Running-Script Couplet

He Shaoji was one of the most influential calligraphers of the late Qing. Early on he studied Yan Zhenqing, then turned to Northern Dynasty stone inscriptions, and only around the age of sixty began writing seal and clerical script extensively. His regular script borrows the expansive structure of Yan while avoiding looseness, and it also incorporates the dense, steep qualities of Northern Dynasties steles, Ouyang Xun, and Ouyang Tong, along with the spirit of works such as the ?Zhang He N? Epitaph? and the ?Daoyin Stele.? These combined influences make his calligraphy exceptional.

Qing Dynasty

Lin Zexu: Stele of the Ten Futile Things

Lin Zexu was not only a far-sighted statesman but also a skilled calligrapher. Grounded in the calligraphy of Ouyang Xun, his writing does not seek charm through slanting strokes; instead it is dignified, calm, and orderly, with subtle variation inside its regularity and a natural ease in the places where intention is most visible. Although this piece is less marked by the deep hidden strength and archaic simplicity often associated with Lin Zexu, its text still carries a strong moral and educational force.

Qing Dynasty

Chen Hongshou: Clerical Script Couplet

Chen Hongshou was a highly accomplished artist and one of the famous ?Eight Masters of Xiling.? His seal carving drew upon Qin and Han models, while his clerical script became especially celebrated for its lean vigor, free composition, and inventive interweaving of forms. This work shows clear, slender, ancient-looking brushwork, relaxed elegance, and a reclusive scholarly spirit. Though the structure may appear casual at first glance, it is in fact carefully and ingeniously arranged.

Qing Dynasty

Liu Yong: Postscript to the Stele of Master Meng

Liu Yong served as a grand councillor under both the Qianlong and Jiaqing emperors. Beginning from Yan Zhenqing and later absorbing many other masters, he developed a calligraphic manner known for heavy, rich ink and sturdy inner structure. He pursued the fullness of ?black? while also creating atmosphere through the subtle management of ?white,? producing a powerful balance of density and openness. Because of this distinctive style, he became widely known as the ?thick-ink premier.?

Qing Dynasty

Emperor Kangxi: Tranquility Leads to Great Vision

The ?Tranquility Leads to Great Vision? stele preserves four large regular-script characters written by the Kangxi Emperor in 1679 for Wu He, then Governor-General of Shaanxi and Sichuan. The composition is rigorous and dignified, the brushwork full and rounded, and the overall effect steady yet luminous. Very little of Kangxi's surviving ink writing remains, so this piece is considered especially precious.

Qing Dynasty

Emperor Qianlong: Imperial Couplet at Daxinzhuang

This couplet, ?Cold weather delays the flowering trees; warmth moistens the fields for ploughing,? was written by the Qianlong Emperor for the Sui'an Room at the Daxinzhuang traveling palace in Sanhe. Qianlong visited the Yanjiao palace area many times and left behind numerous poems and couplets there. This inscription expresses the idea that cold weather hinders the growth of flowers and trees, while a warm climate benefits agricultural development.

Qing Dynasty

Deng Shiru: Excerpts from "Disciple Duties" in Seal Script

Deng Shiru was one of the great Qing masters of calligraphy, epigraphy, and classical learning. This seal-script rendering of excerpts from ?Disciple Duties? was written in the year before his death, when he was sixty-two. It is widely regarded as his most mature work, showing complete command in brush movement, character structure, and the seasoned unity of man and writing. It is also considered one of the works with which Deng himself was most satisfied.

Qing Dynasty

Zheng Banqiao: Accepting Loss Is a Blessing

?Accepting Loss Is a Blessing? was written by Zheng Banqiao for a distant relative, Zheng Xuan. After Zheng Xuan suffered a devastating loss when timber prices collapsed, he poured out his distress to Zheng Banqiao, who wrote this encouraging inscription to calm him. Later, on a subsequent voyage, timber prices surged and Zheng Xuan unexpectedly made a fortune. Reflecting on Zheng Banqiao's words, he came to understand their deeper meaning and adopted the piece as a family maxim, carving it on the high wall of his house for future generations. Zheng Banqiao's handwriting here mixes clerical and regular script, combining spare, hard strength with painterly touches.

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