Couplet in Clerical Script

Zhai Yunsheng

1776–1860

Couplet in Clerical Script, early-mid 1800s, Qing dynasty (1644–1911)

Where object was made: China

Material/technique: ink; paper

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 112.6 x 23 cm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 44 5/16 x 9 1/16 in
Mount Dimensions (Height x Width x Depth): 134.6 x 32 cm
Mount Dimensions (Height x Width x Depth): 53 0.9921 x 12 5/8 in

Credit line: Gift of Dr. William P. Fenn

Accession number: 1980.0169.b

Not on display

Add to portfolio

If you wish to reproduce this image, please submit an image request

Images

Label texts

Exhibition Label: “From the Way of Writing to the Weight of Writing," Jun-2007, Ai-lian Liu I often reminded myself to be useful to the world, But always ashamed of being a burden to other. Archive Label 2003: Zhai Yunsheng devoted more than forty years of his life to practising calligraphy and collecting rubbings of bronze and stele inscriptions. Among the various scripts that evolved throughout Chinese history, Zhai Yunsheng favored clerical script, which was the standard form of writing of the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E. to 220 C.E.). Although superseded by scripts that were easier to write, the stoutness and sublimity of the clerical style continued to fascinate later calligraphers.