Deng Shiru's Clerical Script of the I Ching, Hexagram of Humility

Author: Deng Shiru
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2003-01-01
Features: Deng Shiru (1743–1805), native of Huaining in the Qing Dynasty. His original name was Yan, later using his courtesy name. He changed his name again to Wanbo. He lived near the Anqing Mountain and also went by the title Wanbai Shanshen. In his youth, he loved seal carving. While staying with the Mei family in Jiangning, he had the opportunity to view ancient gold and stone works since the Qin and Han dynasties. He copied them by hand for eight years, eventually mastering all four scripts ( Seal, Clerical, Cursive, Running). His Seal script was particularly divine. Bao Shichen, in his "Yizhou Shuangji," ranked him as the foremost seal script artist in the Qing Dynasty. He was frugal and upright. Even after gaining fame, he lived by writing and carving in the households of high officials. He loved traveling to famous mountains and waters, once carrying his belongings on a bamboo hat and walking a hundred miles on foot. He took the title "Jiyou Daoren." He died as a commoner. This album, "Deng Shiru's Seal Script on the 'Qian Gua' of the I Ching," originally consisted of six hanging scrolls, preserved by Mr. Chen Xianglong. Each scroll measured two feet wide and six feet long, with a dark silk border. The last scroll is inscribed "[Jiaqing Year, Bunchou, Tianzhong Festival]," which corresponds to the fifth day of the fifth lunar month of the tenth year of the Jiaqing era (1805). At that time, Deng Shiru was sixty-three years old. In October of that year, he passed away at home in his hometown. Deng Shiru once said: "[My Seal script does not match Yang Bing, but my Clerical script is no less than Liang Huo." This piece is considered a representative work of Deng Shiru's late-life Clerical script.