Dong Wei Lian Fu Statue Inscription

Author: Lu Fushi
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-01-01
Features: The Great Series of Chinese Folk Calligraphy. This volume selects rubbings of the "Lianfu Statue Inscription" from the collection of Du Yun Xuan. The full title of the "Lianfu Statue Inscription" is "Lianfu Leading Monks and Laypeople Statue Inscription," carved in February of the second year of the Xinghe era (550) during the Eastern Wei Dynasty, as recorded in "The Great Dictionary of Chinese Calligraphy." It is located in the Guanyin Hall in Lian Village, thirty li west of Jixian County, Henan. The calligraphy is regular script. It preserves thirty-one lines, each with twenty-two characters, enclosed within square grids. The statue top is carved with seal script, and the sides feature images of Buddhas and Buddhist ornaments. The calligraphy is square yet expansive, strong and crisp. The statue inscription is relatively finely carved, with clear brushwork at the beginning and end of strokes, meticulous and restrained, elegant and refined. The strokes are graceful yet contain a sense of resilience. Upon reviewing the entire piece, the statue inscription displays clean and sharp chiseling and brushwork, yet it does not give the impression of being overly rigid or even. I believe there are several possible explanations for this:
First, the flatness of individual characters contains a sense of levitation, such as the upward curl at the end of a dash or the rounded and smooth hook of a vertical hook.
Second, the influence of clerical script, such as the treatment of the in the character "" as a "," and the transformation of the character "" from square to round.
Third, the of cursive script influence, such as the characters "," "," "," "," and "," where their cursive brushwork makes the strokes concise and flowing.
Fourth, the presence of variant characters, such as "" (), "" (), and "" ().
Fifth, variations in the size and slant of character forms.
All of these contribute to making the calligraphic style appear more lively, which also gives Northern Dynasties statue inscriptions their characteristic of being natural and full of novelty. However, the proportions of these factors vary across different statue inscriptions.
It can be said that in this statue inscription, the delicacy of carving and writing is its main feature, and this is also the primary support for the gradual refinement and standardization of Tang Dynasty regular script. The maturity of a calligraphic style relies on both technical support and the establishment of concepts. The more uncertain and primal a work is, the richer its becomes, and the more it attracts calligraphers with innovative awareness. The Northern Dynasties period saw the emergence of numerous pioneering works in regular script, making the emergence of mature regular script in the Tang Dynasty inevitable. We can observe that Tang Dynasty calligraphers drew nourishment from Northern Dynasties regular script from various perspectives, intensifying and refining it to create a personalized symbol. Successful calligraphers in history all possessed this clear awareness of learning. Therefore, when we look back at what is termed "folk calligraphy," it is largely because the calligraphers lacked the awareness of cultivating standardized calligraphy, let alone deliberately adhering to and perfecting such standards during the writing process. Perhaps it is precisely because of this that these works appear more spontaneous, natural, and full of .