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

THE STYLES

LI-SHU OR OFFICIAL STYLE

L1-Shu is said to be the invention of acertain Ch‘éng Miao of Ch‘in dynasty (246-207 B.c.). Ch‘éng Miao had the misfortune to offend the first Emperor of Ch‘in and was thrown into the prison of Yiin-Yang ( §§), where he lay for ten years, brooding over a new style of writing. Ultimately he produced about three thousand characters in the style we now call Li-Shu, and, in consideration of this amazing achievement, was set free and promoted to a high position in the government. His style was adopted almost universally for official purposes, for which it was much more convenient than Seal writing, which the clerks found slow and laborious. At first Li-Shu was regarded as a kind of shorthand, and was used only by clerks and officials. Indeed, Lz in Chinese means ‘ clerk ’, and the style is sometimes called Clerical Style. It is also called Tso-Shu (2 #), ‘ Tso’ meaning ‘to help ’—a help to quicker and easier writing. Later, the Emperor’s orders, the government proclamations, and the inscriptions on ceremonial vessels used at public services all came to be written in Li-Shu. No authentic record exists to prove whether the original examples of this style were beautiful in appearance or merely serviceable, but it is clear that later developers of it have adopted beauty rather than convenience as their standard. By the Han period Li-Shu was established as one of the standard styles and used, probably, more extensively than any other. All kinds of stone monuments and public documents were written in it. Unfortunately most of the Han writings are unsigned, so we shall never know the names of the great Li-Shu stylists of those times. But this does not prevent us from appreciating the style itself: the firm, decorative

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