Wu Dacheng's Studies Of Inscriptions On Ancient Bronzes And Stone Tablets As Well As His Calligraphic Contributions

When doing research, the scholars of Tsing Dynasty emphasize the gloss and textual research, and adovacate the proofing study method. And the metal and stone inscriptions serve as important material sources, for when using the metal and stone characters as referential and affirmative materials, they not only study the shape, institution and revolution of the metal and stone inscription, but also regard the metal and stone cutting as the model to practice calligraphy.Wu Dacheng, a prominent official of the later Tsing Dynasty, was born when the epigraphy was prevailing. Although he was occupied with the national affairs, he still spared no efforts to search for the steles to copy seriously, collected metal and stone inscriptions, devoted himself to the studies of epigraphy and made great achievements on the epigraphy, which have had a lasting influence on archeology. He had a thorough study of epigraph and developed an aesthetic standard which advocate "classic elegance". He used the metal and stone inscriptions as the model for seal cutting to learn calligraphy and made great achievements on calligraphy and Seal Cutting. He was versed in Zhen Script, Xing script, Li script, Seal Character and Seal Cutting, especially expert at Seal Character. His Kai Script(Regular Script)originated from stone inscriptions of North Wei Dynasty, Li Script modeled after Zhangqian Stele, Xing Script imitated Huang Tingjian, Seal Character learned from metal inscriptions of Shang and Zhou Dynasties. He " regards metal inscriptions as the originator", blends Big Seal Character with Small Seal Character, therefore his handwriting style is neat and smooth, up to the standard. His Seal Cutting is the first to follow the examples of Bell, Ding and ancient imperial seals. His studies of metal and stone inscriptions as well as his calligraphic achievements have a great influence on later generations while his thoughts and achievements on Seal Character and Seal Cutting have the utmost influence on posterity, of whom, Huang Tuling benefieted the most from him..Wu Dacheng's calligraphic achievements are based on his studies of the metaland stone inscriptions, therefore, studying his calligraphic contributions must start with his studies of the metal and stone inscriptions. Hence, the author intends to study his studies of the metal and stone inscriptions as well as his calligraphic contributions as a special subject, hoping to comprehend the intrinsic relations between the epigraphy and calligraphy consequently.