Cai Longyan Stele

Author: Compiled by the Press
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2001-12-01
Features: The Northern and Southern Dynasties were the most glorious period in Chinese calligraphy. In the late Han Dynasty and early Wei Dynasty, people discovered that the serifs in clerical script only served a decorative purpose and had no practical significance. For the sake of convenience, they abandoned the serifs and adopted the method of returning the brush tip and ending with a flourish, which gave rise to regular script. Although early regular script still retained strong clerical script influences, it immediately showed vigorous vitality upon its appearance. The Northern and Southern Dynasties can be considered the transitional period during which regular script gradually matured from its infancy. Over more than two hundred years, clerical and regular scripts intermingled, and every style was present. Especially in the Northern Dynasties, there was a flourishing trend of inscribing stone tablets and embellishing them with metalwork. People were unrestrained in their calligraphy and stone carving, creating works with ancient charm and unique interest, as well as new forms and expressions, much like entering the Shanyao Road, where one's eyes are dazzled by the endless sights. However, the Southern Dynasties banned stone inscriptions, leaving very few in circulation, making them particularly precious. Among them, the Cao Longyan Stele is the most famous stone carving in the Southern inscriptions. The full title of the stele is The Stele of General Longxiang, Protector of the Miao, and Commandant of Ningzhou, Cao Longyan, written in regular script. The front face of the stele has twenty-four lines, with forty-five characters per line. The back face has three columns: the top column has fifteen lines, the middle column has seventeen lines, and the bottom column has sixteen lines. According to Wang Zhuanghong's Supplementary Notes on Inscription Studies, the earliest known rubbing is from the late Ming to early Qing period. In the thirteenth line, the character "Min" in "Min Tian Bu Diao" (Heaven is not gracious) does not connect the horizontal stroke to the right stone, and this version is no longer available. Today, we have selected an earlier rubbing for publication in print to delight the.