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Peach Blossom Spring

Calligrapher He Zhuo Chinese

Not on view

清 何焯 楷書桃花源記 軸 紙本

The most legible of all the script types, standard script developed in the third century and remains in use today. If semicursive and cursive scripts allow the calligrapher to display expressive brushwork, with standard script the calligrapher is able to showcase less flashy but equally important skills: compositional balance and orthodox brushwork. Here, the Qing dynasty court calligrapher He Zhuo does so in his transcription of the poem “Peach Blossom Spring” by Tao Yuanming (365–427). The structure of each character is spacious yet solid, while the brushwork is simultaneously strong and fluid.

Peach Blossom Spring, He Zhuo (Chinese, died 1722), Hanging scroll; ink on paper, China

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