Selection of Fine Dunhuang Calligraphy. 3, The Lotus Sutra

Author: Huang Zheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-07-01
Features: Oracle bone script, Northwest Han bamboo slips, Dunhuang manuscripts, and the imperial archives of the Qing court are collectively known as the "Four Great Discoveries" in the history of textual studies. However, in the context of calligraphy history, oracle bone script, Han bamboo slips, and Western Regions manuscripts serve as a crucial key for us to reinterpret the history of calligraphy. Thanks to oracle bone script, we have come to understand the beauty but unreliable nature of ancient mythological accounts of character creation, as well as the historical limitation of tracing calligraphic traditions back only to the Jin inscriptions of the two Zhou dynasties before the Song Dynasty. Moreover, with the discovery of Northwest Han bamboo slips and subsequent finds of bamboo slips in Central China and the Xiang-Chu regions, we have learned that alongside the grand monuments of the Qin and Han dynasties, there existed such vivid and lifelike brushwork, which can be cross-referenced with stone inscriptions, thereby altering our perspectives on some classic interpretations in calligraphy history.
Then there are the Dunhuang manuscripts. Their emergence has revealed that, in the Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern Dynasties periods, apart from the universally revered calligrapher Wang Xizhi, there were also numerous diverse writing styles scattered among the people—styles that were less concerned with brush technique and varied in form rather than being rigidly confined to a few canonical patterns. These styles effectively complement our overly simplistic interpretation of tradition and classicism, even forming an aesthetic style of folk and popular calligraphy that stands in contrast to the classics.
Professor Huang Zheng is an expert in Dunhuang studies, mentored by renowned scholars such as Jiang Liangfu, Jiang Lihong, and Guo Zaiyi. With his profound academic background, he collaborated with the calligraphy-savvy Jiang Yin to compile this Selected Masterpieces of Dunhuang Calligraphy, offering great convenience to the calligraphy community. Furthermore, his meticulous research on each manuscript, including annotations, transcriptions, and notes, distinguishes this work from the typical printed Dunhuang calligraphy manuscripts available in the market, giving it the functionality of an academic document.