Calligraphy, the art of fine and expressive handwriting, developed as an independent fine art in more than one world tradition rather than from a single point of origin. In China, the earliest evidence of writing later prized for its calligraphic form dates to the Shang dynasty, roughly 1600 to 1046 BCE, and by the third century CE calligraphy had become the supreme visual art in the Chinese tradition. During the Han dynasty, 206 BCE to 220 CE, Chinese artisans perfected the four basic materials still used by calligraphers today, the brush, ink, paper and inkstone. The most celebrated Chinese calligrapher, Wang Xizhi, worked in the fourth century CE and is best known for the Lantingxu, or Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion, written in 353 CE, whose fluid running script became a model for later generations. A separate, equally rich tradition developed in the Islamic world from the seventh and eighth centuries CE, as Arabic writing spread with the early Islamic conquests; Arabic calligraphers wrote with a reed pen called a qalam, its tip cut at an angle to produce a thick downstroke and thin upstroke, using ink typically made from lamp soot bound with gum arabic.
Facts
MediumInk applied by hand with a tool shaped to vary line weight, chiefly an animal-hair brush bundled into a bamboo or wood handle in the Chinese and East Asian tradition, or a reed pen called a qalam cut at an angle in the Arabic and Islamic tradition, worked on paper, silk or another prepared surface. 1 Signature TechniqueThe Four Treasures of the Study: an ink brush (maobi), Chinese ink, paper, and an inkstone. 2 Place of OriginChina, where the earliest known Chinese characters are the oracle bone script (jiagu wen) carved on ox scapulae and tortoise plastrons. 2 Notable ExampleThe Mao Gong ding, one of the most famous examples of bronzeware script in Chinese calligraphic history, bearing 500 inscribed characters, the largest number of bronze inscriptions discovered to date. 2 Connections
Associated With
Practitioners
Source Wikipedia: Ahmed Karahisari
Source Getty Research Institute, Union List of Artist Names: Hakuin Ekaku (Japanese monk and painter, 1685 or 1686-1768)
Source Wikipedia: Ibn al-Bawwab
Source Ibn Muqla - Wikipedia
Source Wikipedia: Kim Jeong-hui
Source Mary Concepta Lynch (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Mir Emad Hassani
Source Wikipedia: Ogata Kenzan
Source Wikipedia: Ouyang Xun
Pu Ru, Artists Source Getty Research Institute, Union List of Artist Names: Pu Ru (Chinese painter, calligrapher, and poet, 1896-1963)
Source Orchid Pavilion Preface in Cursive Script (Asian Art Museum, San Francisco)
Source Yan Zhenqing - Wikipedia
Source Yaqut al-Musta'simi - Wikipedia
Source Wikipedia: Zhao Mengfu
Works In This Form
Gold Kufic calligraphy on indigo-dyed parchment.
Early illuminated manuscript of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, c. 1400-1405.
Early illuminated Ethiopian Gospel manuscript.
Small illuminated book of hours by Jean Pucelle, 1324-1328.
Source Orchid Pavilion Preface in Cursive Script (Asian Art Museum, San Francisco)
Illuminated book of hours by the Rohan Master, c. 1430s.
Source Vergilius Vaticanus (Wikipedia)
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Influenced By
Also in Language Atlas: which influenced this subject.
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Originated In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject originated.
Source Calligraphy (New World Encyclopedia)
Sources
1. The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York- Heilbrunn Timeline: Chinese Calligraphy, essay by Dawn Delbanco
- Heilbrunn Timeline: Chinese Calligraphy
View the Source 2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationCalligraphy, East Asia Technique section
To write Chinese characters, traditional East Asian writing uses the Four Treasures of the Study: ink brushes known as maobi (毛筆/毛笔), Chinese ink, paper, and inkstones.
- Works In This Form: Book of Kells
View the Source Calligraphy (New World Encyclopedia)
New World Encyclopediaentry text on definition and major traditionsQuote, entry text on definition and major traditions
the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner.
Arabic calligraphy (Wikipedia)
Arabic calligraphy, lead sectionQuote, Arabic calligraphy, lead section
It is known in Arabic as khatt (Arabic: خَطّ), derived from the words 'line', 'design', or 'construction'.
Calligraphy (Wikipedia)
Calligraphy, East Asia History section, Mao Gong ding
Mao Gong ding is one of the most famous examples of bronzeware script in Chinese calligraphic history. It contains 500 inscribed characters, the largest number of bronze inscriptions discovered to date.
Calligraphy, East Asia History section, oracle bone script
In ancient China, the oldest known Chinese characters are oracle bone script (甲骨文), carved on ox scapulae and tortoise plastrons.
Lead section
Often, it has line spacing between one-quarter or one-half inch, although one-inch spaces are occasionally used, as is the case with Uncial script (from Latin: litterea unciales, lit. 'inch-high letters'). == East Asia == Chinese calligraphy is known as shūfǎ or fǎshū (書法, or 法書 in traditional Chinese, 'the method or law of writing'); Japanese calligraphy is called shodō (書道, 'the way of writing'); and Korean calligraphy is referred to as seoye (Korean: 서예; Hanja: 書藝; 'the art of writing').
View the SourceOrchid Pavilion Preface in Cursive Script (Asian Art Museum, San Francisco)
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco- Practitioners: Wang Xizhi
- Works In This Form: Lantingji Xu (Orchid Pavilion Preface)
View the Source Vergilius Vaticanus (Wikipedia)
Ibn Muqla - Wikipedia
Practitioners: Ibn Muqla, lead paragraphQuote, Practitioners: Ibn Muqla, lead paragraph
Ibn Muqla (Arabic: ابن مقلة) was a polymath, calligrapher, vizier, and poet prominent in Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age. Born in 9th century Baghdad, Ibn Muqla systematized Arabic calligraphy through geometric and mathemati
Yan Zhenqing - Wikipedia
Practitioners: Yan Zhenqing, Lead sectionQuote, Practitioners: Yan Zhenqing, Lead section
Yan Zhenqing (simplified Chinese: 颜真卿; traditional Chinese: 顏真卿; pinyin: Yán Zhēnqīng; Wade-Giles: Yen Chen-ch'ing; 709 - 23 August 784) was a Chinese calligrapher, military general, and politician. He was a leading Chinese calligrapher and a loyal governor of the Tang dynasty.
Mi Fu - Wikipedia
Practitioners: Mi Fu, lead paragraphQuote, Practitioners: Mi Fu, lead paragraph
Mi Fu (Chinese: 米芾; 1051-1107) was a Chinese painter, poet, calligrapher and art theorist of the early Song dynasty. Born in Taiyuan, he was known for his landscape painting technique, later referred to as "Mi Dots", which involve
Yaqut al-Musta'simi - Wikipedia
Practitioners: Yaqut al-Mustasimi, lead paragraphQuote, Practitioners: Yaqut al-Mustasimi, lead paragraph
Yaqut al-Musta'simi (Arabic: ياقوت المستعصمي) (died 1298) was a well-known calligrapher and secretary of the last Abbasid caliph.
Mary Concepta Lynch (Wikipedia)
Practitioners: Mary Concepta Lynch, lead paragraphQuote, Practitioners: Mary Concepta Lynch, lead paragraph
Mary Concepta Lynch (1874-1939), was an Irish nun and skilled artist, illuminator, and calligrapher, who spent 16 years ornately decorating the Celtic design in the Oratory of the Sacred Heart at St. Mary's Dominican Convent in
Wikipedia: Ogata Kenzan
Practitioners: Ogata Kenzan, LeadQuote, Practitioners: Ogata Kenzan, Lead
was an Edo period Japanese potter, painter, and calligrapher
Wikipedia: Ibn al-Bawwab
Practitioners: Ibn al-Bawwab, LeadQuote, Practitioners: Ibn al-Bawwab, Lead
was an Arabic calligrapher and illuminator
Wikipedia: Zhao Mengfu
Practitioners: Zhao Mengfu, LeadQuote, Practitioners: Zhao Mengfu, Lead
was a Chinese calligrapher, painter, and scholar during the Yuan dynasty
Wikipedia: Ouyang Xun
Practitioners: Ouyang Xun, LeadQuote, Practitioners: Ouyang Xun, Lead
was a Chinese calligrapher, politician, and writer of the early Tang dynasty
Wikipedia: Ahmed Karahisari
Practitioners: Ahmed Karahisari, LeadQuote, Practitioners: Ahmed Karahisari, Lead
was an Ottoman calligrapher
Wikipedia: Kim Jeong-hui
Practitioners: Kim Jeong-hui, LeadQuote, Practitioners: Kim Jeong-hui, Lead
was one of the most celebrated epigraphists, scholars, and practitioners of calligraphy of Korea's later Joseon period
Wikipedia: Mir Emad Hassani
Practitioners: Mir Emad Hassani, LeadQuote, Practitioners: Mir Emad Hassani, Lead
is perhaps the most celebrated Persian calligrapher
Getty Research Institute, Union List of Artist Names: Hakuin Ekaku (Japanese monk and painter, 1685 or 1686-1768)
Practitioners: Hakuin Ekaku, RolesQuote, Practitioners: Hakuin Ekaku, Roles
calligrapher
Getty Research Institute, Union List of Artist Names: Pu Ru (Chinese painter, calligrapher, and poet, 1896-1963)
Practitioners: Pu Ru, Record headingQuote, Practitioners: Pu Ru, Record heading
P'u Hsin-yü (Chinese painter, calligrapher, and poet, 1896-1963)
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