Zhang Mengfu's calligraphy, Shouchuntang

Author: Zhao Mengfu (Yuan Dynasty)
Publisher:
Publish Date: March 1, 1992
Features:
All who study calligraphy must first learn regular script; all who study regular script must choose to learn the four styles of Ou, Yan, Liu, and Zhao. The representative works of these four styles of regular script are: Ou Yangxun's Nine Dragon Pavilions, Yan Zhenqing's Dapotang, Liu Gongquan's Xuanmiao Pagoda, and Zhao Mengfu's Shouchuntang. Therefore, these four calligraphy books have long been the textbooks for learning calligraphy, serving as both introductory and advanced learning materials. However, due to continuous chipping and weathering over thousands of years, the ancient steles have become damaged, and even the best copies of these prints cannot avoid minor errors.
Mr. Huang Yang (Shuzhou) of the Chinese Calligraphy and Painting Research Society, deeply devoted to the four styles, visited all four steles and meticulously examined and verified the damaged sections, proving what the original characters were. He also extensively studied the calligraphy of the four masters, selecting characters with similar brushwork to fill in missing or heavily faded areas, integrating them seamlessly with the entire stele. For some missing characters in current calligraphy books, it was found that there were originally no missing characters, but were mistakenly included due to residual traces in the original steles or prints. These have now been identified and removed. Conversely, some sections in the steles that were originally characters were mistakenly omitted in previous editions, which have now been corrected and added back.
Thus, the four-style "Four Missing Characters Edition," combining research findings with practical value, is now presented for the first time. Because the "Complete Characters Edition" embodies the essence of the four masters' calligraphy, it fills the gaps in the steles for the first time and restores their original appearance, making it highly valued by calligraphy scholars and eagerly welcomed by calligraphy enthusiasts!