名称：草书千字文
书法家：赵佶
书体：草书
分类：毛笔书法作品
年代：宋代
文件格式：图片
作品材质：纸本
备注说明：赵佶(宋徽宗)书法欣赏
"Thousand-Character Essay In Cursive Script"
By Song Emperor Huizong And Others
1. "Thousand-Character Essay"
is one of the most ancient textbooks
in China since the 3rd century. It
was an elementary reading material
teaching young children simple
words and basic knowledge.
Although there were other
similar kind of books in earlier
centuries, only "Thousand-Character
Essay" and another one, "Essay Of
hnprovisation" by Shi You of the
Western Han Dynasty, had been
past down. And "Thousand-
Character Essay" was the most
influential elementary textbook in
China in the past thousand years.
Produced in a feudal social
environment, the essay's contents
have to involve a series of ethics
and moral principles such as loyalty
and obedience to the ruler, filial
piety and righteousness. Anyhow,
it also has some wdue serving as an
introduction to basic knowledges
such as general science, history and
social life.
The scroll in question was
written by Emperor Huizong of the
Northern Song Dynasty. 'It was
written in a kind of" wild" Cursive
Script. It has its artistic and practical
value in the history of calligraphy.
It represents the calligrapher's
artistic achievement as well as
reflects the style of that time, hence
it plays an important role for the
study of the development of Chinese
calligraphic art.
2. Emperor Huizong was an
expert in calligraphy and painting.
He developed a unique style which
had great impact on succeeding
artists. In his early years, he had
studied the style of Huang Tingjian,
later he turned to study after Tang
calligraphers Xue Ji and Xue Yao.
When he was around 20, his
calligraphy had evolved an
"innovative" look which was
mistaken to be originated by
Huizong and was named "slender
gold ". It was indeed derived from
Xue Yao's" Visit To A Stony Creek
On A Summer Day '.
Huizxmg's writing in Cursive
Script was seldom seen. There was
the two lines of poem inscription
on a round fan collected in the
Shanghai Museum. Along with this
scroll, we can see that Huizong's
style originated from the" wild
Cursive Script" school of Zhang Xu
and Huai Su. It was slender, firm
and thrusting, it flowed freely and
yet did not depart from the
principles, showing a closer link to
Huai Su's works.
Like all other calligraphers,
Huizong favoured writing
"Thousand- Character Essay" and
had produced an unknown number
of scrolls. Only two of them
survived. One of them, dated 1104,
is now collected in Shanghai
Museum. That was done when he
was 22. The writing was a little weak
and rigid, not as good as his works
in later years. The scroll we are
discussing was done in 1122 when
Huizong was 40. It was when his
calligraphic skills had fully matured.
This "Thousand-Character
Essay" in Cursive Script reveals that
the writer, having observed the basic
principles of ~ wild" Cursive Script,
was able to exert his strokes freely
within the roles. He had attained
the artistic effect of" .with concepts
leading forward, the strokes follow
smoothly and unrestrained ". Some
critics queried if it was Huizong's
own creation and doubted that it
was perhaps a copy of HUai Su's
works. It was not totally groundless.
It was certain that Huizong derived
his style learning from Huai Su.
Other than Huai Su's "Thousand-
Character Essay" in Cursive Script,
Huizong had also copied other
related Cursive Script models. In
this Cursive Script scroll, the strokes
flow smoothly and vividly, showing
a sense of coherence and unity. It
is close to absolute perfection.
There is one thing worth noticing
thoughl in the scroll there are places
where the characters were written
in Running Script, for instance the
characters "Yi Yin", "Yuan" and
"Yong". This showed the influence
of Xue .Ii which was totally different
from Huai Su's style. It was
Huizong's personal characteristics.
3. This exquisite "Th:us:nd-
Character Essay" was written on a
gigantic sheet of flax paper. The
paper measures over ten metres
long which was amazing taking into
account that it was manufactured
some 800 years ago, Judging from
the quality ()f the paper, it was made
mainly fr()m flax. It had a smooth
surface, and was very absorbent.
Recent archaeological discoveries
has confirmed that the techniques
of paper-making in China started as
early :is the Western tian l)ynasty.
By the Northern Song 1)ynasty,
pat>er-making techniques had
developed to a very advanced st'we
as could be seen in this current
scroll. As collectors through()ut the
centuries had cared fi)r and resen,ed
it extremely well, the scroll is kept
intact and like new. It provides us
precious information about the
.advanced paper-making skills of the
Northern Song Dynasty.
Moreover, on this gigantic flax
paper which is dec()rated with
gilded patterns of dragons al-id
clouds, the motif was meticulously
hand-painted by skilled craftsmen.
Form the unity of the complete
sheet, the entire sheet should be
drawn by one single person , and
we should appreciate the immense
efforts put in it. The structure of
the dragon-cloud pattern runs tike
this - each set is formed by four
dragons and 24 layers of clouds.
The sets link together continuously
and form a compact picture with a
strong sense of unity and continuity.
The patterns are refined and precise,
without becoming rigid and
monotonous. In conclusion, this
scroll of Cursive Script is a great
treasure not only for the artistic
value of Emperor ttuizong's
calligraphy, the paper itself is also
a great unprecedented and
unrepeatable masterpiece.
