Han Yin Zhou Stele

Author: Editorial Board of Selected Calligraphic Works from Ancient Inscriptions
Publisher:
Publication Date: November 1, 1991
Features: "The Inscription of Yin Zhou, Official of the State of Yu" is commonly known as the "Yin Zhou Stele." It is written in clerical script and carved during the sixth year of the Xiping era of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The stele originally had a seal script header, but only the characters "[From the Inscription]" remain today. The stele has fourteen lines, with twenty-seven characters per line except the last line, which has seventeen characters, totaling three hundred sixty-eight characters. In the first year of the Hongqing era of the Yuan Dynasty, this stele was discovered by Abaci, a Dalaqar, in Weichuan and placed in the Confucius Temple in Yanling, Henan. It soon sank into the ground and was rediscovered in the seventeenth year of the Jiajing era of the Ming Dynasty and placed in the Yanling Confucius Temple again, where it remains today. The "Yin Zhou Stele" is located about ten years before or after the famous steles such as the Heng Fang Stele, Shi Chen Stele, Han Shi Ming Stele, and Zhang Qian Stele. Although their styles vary, they generally tend to be thick and square, showing a clear difference from the Yi Ying Stele and the Lijing Stele. This rubbing is made with thick ink, with clear character outlines. The character "[De]" at the end of the thirteenth line is faded, while the character "[Bu]" is intact, suggesting it is a rubbing from the Qing Dynasty's Guangxu era. It is preceded by a title slip by the Qing Dynasty's Qian and Jia era scholar Qian Yong, which has since been re-mounted and moved to the inner pages. The stele is followed by a postscript by Xu Fu. It is now published as a photolithograph for calligraphy enthusiasts to study and reference.