A Study of Seal-Script Inscriptions of the Later Han

With a Focus on the Yuan An and Yuan Chang Steles

Abstract

Whereas the erection of the Yuan Chang 袁敞 stele has been dated to Yuanchu 元初 4 (a.d. 117), there is no established view on the date of the erection of the Yuan An 袁安 stele. In recent years Yang Pin 楊頻 and Liu Haiyu 劉海宇 have concluded that it was erected in the same year as the Yuan Chang stele (i.e., Yuanchu 4). I concur with their view, but I feel that scope for further research remains in that they do not go so far as to situate the calligraphy and style of the inscription as a whole within the overall development of the seal script during the Han period.
  In this article, through a comparison of the two steles with the calligraphic style of inscriptional materials from around the same time, I accordingly seek out evidence corroborating the view that both steles were erected in Yuanchu 4. In addition, I also consider how the calligraphic style of the two steles can be positioned among these inscriptional materials.
  I compare the two steles with seal-script inscriptional materials such as the stone inscriptions on Mount Tai (Taishan 泰山), the inscriptions on stone tablets at Shaoshi 少室, the inscriptions on stone tablets at Kaimu Temple 開母廟, and so on from the perspective of the aspect ratio of the outer contour of the characters, the ratio of long lower character components, vertical and horizontal strokes, the space between horizontal strokes, the beginning and end of a brushstroke, etc., and as a result I surmise that there are strong reasons for considering the Yuan An stele to have been erected in the same year as the Yuan Chang stele. In particular, although the inscriptions on the Shaoshi and Kaimu Temple stone tablets differ in shape and structure from the two steles, they share a similar calligraphic style, and it is conceivable that there existed a common calligraphic foundation that transcended individual localities. In addition, connections can also be recognized between this common calligraphic foundation and the calligraphic style used in seal-script titles in the upper part of some inscriptions, and it is to be surmised that these seal-script titles were the result of an attempt to elaborate on this foundation in a strikingly decorative manner.
  On account of their structure and calligraphic style the two steles are often treated as steles that differ in character from other Han steles, but I point to the possibility that they may represent an intermediate style between the small seal script of the Qin period and the calligraphic style of seal-script titles that blossomed from the mid-second century onwards.