We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Zhang Jizhi jiqi da zi.
- Authors
Fu Shen
- Abstract
Zhang Jizhi (1186-1266) was a major calligrapher of the late Southern Song who is ranked together with Lu You, Fan Chengda, and Zhu Xi as one of the four Masters of the Southern Song. In 1976 and 1983, I previously published separate studies of his medium-sized standard script calligraphy. As an addendum to those earlier studies, this paper focuses on Zhang’s large-sized standard script and related questions. First, the paper returns to my earlier discussion of the Suramgama sutra album with a purported inscription by Bai Juyi in the collection of the Taipei Palace Museum. In my earlier work, I used stylistic comparisons of the calligraphy to demonstrate that the transcription of the sutra was the original work of Zhang Jizhi, but that the inscription by Bai Juyi was a later forgery. Years ago a series of younger scholars and I made several further discoveries among late Ming documents that not only corroborated my original conclusion but also demonstrated when and by whom the inscription was forged. Histories of calligraphy regularly say of Zhang Jizhi that “the people of the Jin dynasty treasured his calligraphy” and that “the people of the Jin dynasty . . . offered gold ingots in exchange.” As a footnote to the main essay, I examine the relationship between Zhang Jizhi, the people of the Jin, and his Song contemporaries. The paper also briefly examines the way in which Zhang Jizhi inherited his calligraphic style from his clan, particular the famous early Southern Song calligrapher Zhang Xiaobo and his uncle. Attention then turns to the primary discussion of Zhang’s large and dedicatory plaque characters. For large characters, I focus on original handscrolls featuring lines of two or three characters, making comparative judgments of their quality and authenticity. There are no examples of Zhang’s plaque writings in China, while those that were transmitted to China are frequently mixed with the work of the Chan master Fojian (Wuzhun Shifan, 1178-1249). The opinions of Japanese scholars on the matter are inconsistent, which suggests that it is impossible to reach a definitive conclusion on the basis of the documentary evidence. Accordingly, I use stylistic analysis to organize this body of work into two large categories. The first set of works, of forceful and severe demeanor, can be clearly attributed to Zhang Jizhi. The second, having a somewhat more elegant and winsome manner, may seem attributable to Wuzhun Shifan on the basis of documentary evidence and seals, but when compared to signed and reliable examples of sermons, hymns, letters, and painting inscriptions, are difficult to identify as the products of Fojian’s hand. Zhang Jizhi’s work also influenced the writings of Chan monks who traveled to Japan. One example is Lanxi Daolong (1214-1278), a native of Fujiang in western Shu, who went to Japan in 1246 and became the founder of Kenchokokokuzenji. Some of the many works of calligraphy that he wrote during the more than thirty years that he spent in Japan show signs of Zhang Jizhi’s influence, such as his transcription of the Diamond Sutra.
- Subjects
CHINA; ZHANG Jizhi; CHINESE calligraphy; SONG dynasty, China, 960-1279; CALLIGRAPHERS; SUTRAS (Buddhism); BIOGRAPHY (Literary form)
- Publication
National Palace Museum Research Quarterly, 2011, Vol 28, Issue 3, p1
- ISSN
1011-9094
- Publication type
Article