Han Yi Stele and Its Calligraphy Style

Author: Mou Jianmin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-02-01
Features: The Han Dynasty clerical script holds significant importance in both the history and aesthetics of calligraphy. Works such as the "Yi Ying Stele," "Li Qi Stele," and "Zhang Qian Stele" have had a profound influence on later calligraphic styles. The "Yi Ying Stele," also known as the "Complete Name of the Stele for the Placement of a Hundred Stone Seats by Lu Prefect Yi Ying" or the "Stele of the Hundred Stone Attendant," is one of the renowned steles from the flourishing period of Han Dynasty clerical script. This stele was carved during the Yongxing Year of Emperor Xian of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The original stone was originally placed in Xianyuan County, Confucius State, Shandong Province, and is now housed in the Stele Forest Exhibition Hall of the Dongmu Hall in the Daxindian Hall of the Confucius Temple in Qufu. The stele has suffered significant weathering and erosion. It is approximately 260 cm tall and 128 cm wide. The inscriptions are arranged in eighteen lines, with each line containing forty characters. At the end of the stele, there is a regular script postscript that reads, "Written by Zhong Taiwei of the Later Han Dynasty, inscribed by Zhang Ziqiu in the seventh year of the Jiaku period of the Song Dynasty according to the illustration."