Ancient Chinese legal manuscript name scroll. Small grass Thousand Characters script trace

Author: Xi Huai Su
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-06-01
Features: Xi Huai Su, styled Zang Zhen. A prominent calligrapher of the Tang Dynasty, with the secular surname Qian and originally from Changsha, Hunan. There are two theories about his birth and death dates: one suggests he was born in 725 AD (the 13th year of the Kaiyuan era of the Tang) and died in 785 AD (the first year of the Zhenyuan era of the Tang); the other suggests he was born in 737 AD (the 25th year of the Kaiyuan era of the Tang) and died in 799 AD (the 15th year of the Zhenyuan era of the Tang) or slightly later. Based on the inscription "Written on the 17th day of the sixth month of the 15th year of the Zhenyuan era, at Lingling, when I was sixty-three," on the back of his work Small Grass Thousand Characters, as well as the fact that no one has yet claimed the Small Grass Thousand Characters to be a forgery, it is more credible that his birth and death dates align with the latter theory. It is said that after he devoted himself to Buddhism, he became the younger brother of the Tang monk Xuanzang, and his name was Huai Su Bingle, not Huai Su Zang Zhen. As the author lacks further evidence, they dare not make definitive conclusions and present both names here for reference.
Initially, Huai Su studied calligraphy under his cousin Wu Tong. He practiced regular script under Zhong Yao and cursive script under the Two Wangs (Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi), Zhang Zhi, and Zhang Xu. Unfortunately, his regular script works have not been preserved. Today, the surviving works of Huai Su include several ink rubbings such as Bitter Bamboo, Self-Description, Small Grass Thousand Characters, On Calligraphy, and Eating Fish, as well as over a dozen engraved works like Madonna, Zang Zhen, Large Grass Thousand Characters, and Wang Lu.