Su Shi's Copy of "Record of" (Complete Version)

Author: Su Shi (Song Dynasty), edited by Yang Lu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1999-05-01
Features: The calligraphy works of Su Shi, the renowned calligrapher of the Song Dynasty, have long been revered as the "pinnacle of Song calligraphy." His regular script, especially known for its characteristic of "iron wrapped in cotton," rich and dynamic style, and innocent charm, is called the "Su style." The "Record of Fengle Pavilion" and "Record of" are representative works of the "Su style," celebrated as the "twin treasures of the calligraphy world." It is said that the stone carvings of these two records have long been lost. Some Qing Dynasty scholars claimed that the carvings were destroyed during the "party prohibition" in the Northern Song Dynasty, while others suggested they were ruined in the turmoil of the Southern Song Dynasty. Mr. Shu Zhou wrote an article, citing Su Zhe's poems as evidence to show that the northern ethnic minorities at the time highly valued Su Shi's works. He also used the incident of the destruction of the "Apricot Blossom Stele" as evidence to show that the conflict between the New and Old Parties affected the steles. Therefore, he inferred that the stone carvings of the two records were not destroyed in warfare but should have been lost long ago due to the "party prohibition." Without the original steles to be found today, the examination and restoration of the missing parts of the steles are based solely on the good rubbings. For example, the "Record of Fengle Pavilion" is said to have two types of "Northern Song rubbings": one missing ninety-three characters and retaining ten; the other missing twenty-one characters and retaining ten. Today, the characters of Su Shi are considered the "complete version." Some characters in the original rubbings differ from the current version, such as in the "Record of," "those who sit and stand and chatter loudly" is written as "sitting and standing" in the rubbing; "the monk Zhi Xian of the mountain" is written as "the monk Zhi Xian of the mountain said" in the rubbing; in the "Record of Fengle Pavilion," "wherever there are enemy states, how many can be counted" is missing the character "" in the rubbing; "the Song Dynasty received the Mandate of Heaven" is missing the character "" in the rubbing, and so on, all as in the original rubbing. However, some printed versions mistakenly write the sentence "gathering the hidden fragrance and shading the tall trees" in the "Record of Fengle Pavilion" as "gathering the hidden fragrance and shading the tall trees with fragrant flowers," and so on, which are corrected based on the good rubbings. After the examination and restoration, we have attached the "Illustration of Su Style Strokes and Pen Tips" and "Calligraphy Mnemonics" for the benefit of beginners. The stele title was carved by Mr. Weinan (He Yongze).