Tang Sun Guoting's Composition on the Jingfu Hall

Author: Sun Guoting
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Sun Guoting, styled Qianli, also known as Qianli by name and Guoting by style. The Shupu calls him a native of Wu Shaoyang, the Shushufu calls him a native of Fuyang, and the Shuduan claims he was from Chenliu. His birth and death years are unknown; he was born around the 22nd year of the Zhenguan era of Emperor Taizong of Tang and died in the 3rd year of the Chang'an era of Empress Wu of Tang. He held the position of Shufu Lushi. He was knowledgeable in both ancient and modern matters, with outstanding literary talent. He excelled in calligraphy, particularly in cursive script. His cursive script followed the style of the Wang brothers (Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi), demonstrating skillful brushwork, bold and decisive lines, with his regular and running scripts being inferior only to his cursive script. He was a close friend of Wang Shaozong. Wang was overly slow, while Qianli was too rapid. In terms of regular script, he was proficient, and in cursive script, he was masterful. The Shupu he wrote has been passed down in ink. This scroll, the Fufu Jingfu, originally had no signature. However, due to a postscript by the Song scholar Zeng Zhao at the end of the scroll, claiming it was written by Sun Guoting, it has generally been referred to as the Sun Guoting Fufu Jingfu. The author of the Fufu Jingfu was He Yan of the Wei Dynasty. The characters "Xuan," "Rang," "Shu," and "Gou" in the scroll all have missing strokes due to taboos, likely written by the Song people or a copy of their work. The original is on paper, measuring 29.2 cm in height and 600 cm in length, with a total of 160 lines. The brushwork is sharp and rigid, and the structure retains the essence of ancient cursive script, demonstrating a high level of artistic achievement in calligraphy. In the Ming Dynasty, it was collected by Xiang Yuanbing and bears the seals of the Tianlai Pavilion collection. The small regular script annotations by Xiang Yuanbing are also quite refined. Dong Qichang selected and copied twenty lines of this scroll for the Xihongtang Tie. During the Qianlong era of the Qing Dynasty, the Momo Xuan Faptie was engraved with a full copy of this scroll. It is now published in a photolithographic edition for the study and reference of calligraphy workers and enthusiasts.