Collective characters ancient poetry. Shi Chen Stele

Author: Xu Qinghua
Publisher:
Publishing Date: Not available
Features: Beginners in calligraphy must start by copying ancient steles and tablets, striving for strokes, structures, and styles to resemble the originals. Once copying is mastered, the desire to create one's own works often leads to failure. The transition from copying to creation is not an easy step—some may never cross it, or may fail to do so properly, leading them astray. Selecting characters from the copied steles to compile into works is an excellent method. However, the characters in the works may not all be found in the copied steles. Even if found, piecing them together may not achieve coherence in terms of size, weight, inclination, or harmonious balance. For this reason, we decided to invite experienced calligraphers to edit and publish a series of couplets and poetic compositions composed of characters selected from famous steles and tablets across history. With the help of computer image processing technology, we aim to present the most perfect results to our readers.
The Shichen Stele (also known as the Shichen Front and Rear Steles) is the full title of The Stele of Shichen Worshiping Confucius in the Temple, consisting of two stones. It was erected in the second year of the Jianning era (A.D. 169) during the Eastern Han Dynasty and is now located in the Confucius Temple in Qufu, Shandong. The stele is meticulously crafted, with a rigid and imposing structure. It exudes a profound and ancient charm, with well-balanced strokes and a harmonious composition, making it a quintessential example of temple art. Yang Shoujing once remarked on this stele: "Those who claim that not all Han Dynasty clerical scripts are excellent would find it hard to match the unparalleled ancient and robust spirit of this piece."
The compilers devoted several months to carefully selecting and comparing characters from each poem, ensuring both fidelity to the original works and adherence to the source steles, with no strokes replaced. At the same time, they appropriately employed computer technology to achieve coordination, resulting in this collection. As a preliminary effort, there are undoubtedly many imperfections, and we welcome the readers' corrections.