Lin Zexu's calligraphy

Author: Huang Quanxin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1998-03-01
Features: Lin Zexu's calligraphy is primarily in regular and running scripts, specifically influenced by Ouyang Xun. After being exiled to Ili, he began to freely indulge in calligraphy, and people from near and far sought his works, depleting the supply of silk and paper within days. Cheng Chunhai once gifted a couplet that read: "Administering affairs as if writing true scripts, dense and unbroken; loving the people as nurturing orphans, deeply empathetic." Lin Zexu excelled in small regular script, with his couplets naturally harmonious. Lin Zexu was a man of integrity throughout his life, incorruptible in office, steady yet firm, upright yet graceful. His running script shows a Jin-style charm, combining literary refinement with substance, neither forceful nor harsh, embodying a harmonious beauty. From the perspective of Qing Dynasty calligraphy, the period before Jiadao was the "cliff-script era," while the period after Jiadao was the "stele-script era." The stele-script era was further divided into the Tang-cliff period between Jiadao, and the stele period from Xian Tong to Guangxu. Lin Zexu's calligraphy reflects the style of the Tang-cliff period during the Jiadao era of the Qing Dynasty.