Liu Gongquan's Stele of the Divine Strategy Army, fully copied

Author: Jiang Liping
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-06-01
Features: Liu Gongquan, styled Chengxuan, was born in the 13th year of the Dali era of Emperor Da of the Tang Dynasty. He served through nine dynasties and reached the rank of Taizisi (Vice Minister of Imperial Secretariat). He passed away at the age of 88, becoming a prominent calligrapher of the Tang Dynasty. Especially in regular script, he inherited the strengths of Wang Xizhi, Ouyang Xun, Yu Shinan, Chu Suiliang, and Yan Zhenqing, creating a unique style of regular script. At the age of 63, he wrote the "Xuanmi Taobei," which was slender, upright, and combined both square and round forms, marking the formation of his Liu-style calligraphy. Later, at the age of 66, he wrote the "Shencaijunbei," which was vigorous and heavy, strict yet unrestrained, steep yet harmonious, and strong yet round, further maturing his Liu-style calligraphy. To master this stele, one must focus on brushwork, structure, and artistic spirit. Liu Gongquan is one of the calligraphers in Chinese calligraphy history who paid great attention to brushwork. The precision of his brushwork can be summarized in four words: upright, clean, deep, and flowing. Next is structure. Compared to the styles of Ouyang, Zhan, Chu, and Yan, Liu-style calligraphy is more lively and varied in structure. The treatment of tight inside and loose outside is very evident. Moreover, the artistic spirit is the hardest to learn. As the saying goes, "A person's handwriting reflects their character." To study Liu's calligraphy, one must first study his character. The original "Shencaijunbei" was erected in the restricted area of the imperial palace and could not be freely copied. Only a few rubbings have been passed down in the world, and now only the first volume of the Southern Song rubbing remains. The stele is worn and damaged, with missing pages and characters, making it impossible to complete the original text. Fortunately, through the joint efforts of fellow scholars, many indistinct characters have been identified from the textual content, making this edition more complete and rich for copying.