A Study On Statue Colophons And Calligraphy Of Gongxian Grottos

During the Northern Dynasty, Buddhism developed with Caves and statues becoming prevalent.Gongxian grotto is another Royal cave group drilled after the Yungang, Longmen Grottoes, and theinscriptions on the remaining statues draw from the Han Dynasty stone or brick Art and form a perfectcombination of Buddhist themes and stone inscriptions. They are a true representation of Heluo folkcalligraphy in the basic style in the Northern Dynasty and the evolutionary process of characters, and theyare important entities with which to study caves and art archeology, and also an integral part of the historyof Chinese calligraphy.The theme of Gongxian Grottos is Sakyamuni, Buddhas, Maitreya and Avalokiteshvara. The clothingof Buddha follows the Indian "over-shoulder robe" and "bare right shoulder robe, and creates with changethe "Bao Yi Bo belt robe" with the characteristics of Chinese culture. The content of the inscriptions is fordead kins, old teachers, one’s own peace, the the elimination of karma suffering or for all sentient beings tobe reborn in the Western and the like. The inscription shrines are mostly single-lined sharp-linteled archs.The shape of inscription calligraphy is generally horizontal square or rectangular. Inscriptions employ anextensive use of folk characters, a common phenomenon of civil writing in the Six Dynasties. Inscriptionstyle in textual format roughly falls into the conventional, the abreviated and the expansion types.The Wei Monument Style becomes the mainstream writing style of the Northern Dynasty officialwriting and calligraphy. Gongxian Grotto statue colophons are a popular regular scripts. Contrast betweenstatue carving monuments and Dragon Gate colophons shows a distinctive characteristic of GongxianStatues calligraphy. The knotting structure has gradually changed from the "slant drawing tight knot" to a"flat wide knot", the body plainly level, the structure spacious and clear, strokes running freely, the typicalrepresentative of which is the Northen Qi statue carving colophon. It is of stylistic value in the history ofthe Southen and Northen Dynasty calligraphy and history of styles.