A Consideration on the Complicated Lines on the “Yanta Shengjiaoxuji Memorial”

Abstract

  Chu Suiliang (596-658) is considered to be one of the three greatest calligraphers of the Chutang period following Ouyang Xun and Yu Shinan, as confirmed in a series of Shuluns, which regard him as a successor of Oufa and Yufa.

  However, among his representative works of the Kaishu Memorial, the change in calligraphic style from the Meng Fashi Memorial (642) to the Fang Xuanling Memorial (ca. 652) and Yanta Shengjiaoxu/Shengjiaoxuji (653) is too drastic to be interpreted simply as something he inherited from his predecessors. This paper examines the possibility that the change is partly attributable to multiple overwriting, whereby extra-fine tentative lines were drawn before overwriting them with lines of basic thickness and adding corrections for finishing touches.

  The Fangxuanling and Yanta Shengjiaoxu/Shengjiaoxuji memorials, Chu Suiliang's later works, have some complex dots and strokes that seem unlikely to have been drawn in a single stroke. These traces appear in specific patterns in the same parts of the same letters or in similar dots and strokes of different letters, which are largely classified into partial corrections, and the overwriting of extra-fine dots and strokes with those of basic thickness. The cases showing all the three traces, namely the extra-fine dots and strokes, the overwritten dots and strokes in the basic shapes, and corrections for finishing touches; the cases with nearly half of the dots and strokes of a letter showing traces of multiple overwriting; and the large number of cases where the letter shapes are reasonably regarded as the results of multiple overwriting. All suggest the possibility that these traces are not the results of simple corrections, but the letters were intentionally prepared step by step.

  Chu Suiliang is a historical master of calligraphy who is said to have inherited the calligraphic styles of his predecessors and developed his own style in his later years. This paper examines the richly articulated dots and strokes, as well as decorative and florid style in his later works mainly from the perspective of technique.