Chinese calligraphy : an introduction to its aesthetic and technique : with 6 plates and 155 text illustratons

INTRODUCTION

country. The inscriptions on them are very unobtrusive. For us the inscription is often the most important part. We hang examples of tasteful writing painted on boards, or else we engrave beautiful characters upon stones. These writings may be quotations from well-known sayings, or admonitions of an older generation to a younger, or essays extolling the beauties of a particular spot, or a description of the building itselfwhen and how it was constructed, for example. By the side of ancestral tombs there generally stands a tablet on which is written, for the edification of those who come after, accounts of the dead person’s character and deeds. Whatever the inscriptions may be they are always written in a good hand.

Our houses are usually of one story, with rather lofty rooms. In the central hall there are always some pieces of calligraphy ; generally there are paintings as well, but some houses have calligraphy only. There is a fairly common traditional plan for houses in China. Looking in from the entrance door one gains an impression of depth and spaciousness. At the end of the hall, hanging in the centre, will be a large painting or a few huge written characters, on either side of which will hang a pair of scrolls bearing writing, very often a couplet from a poem, to which we give the name of Twi-Tzi (# ¥), Parallel Sentences. On the left-hand wall we commonly find four paintings representing the scenery or typical flowers of the four seasons of the year. On the opposite wall will be four strips of calligraphy constituting either a well-known essay written out in four parts by one calligrapher or four separate poems written by different hands. This, as I have said, is merely one typical arrangement ; considerable variation is practised. In the room set apart for study at least one painting and one piece of calligraphy are

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