Tang Xiaoxian: New discovery of Zhao Zhiqian's calligraphy collection

Tang Xiaoxian: New discovery of Zhao Zhiqian's calligraphy collection Phoenix City Tang Xiaoxian My late uncle, Mr. Tang Wenming, was a native of Wuxi, Jiangsu. He loved calligraphy and painting cultural relics during his lifetime and collected a large number of them...

Phoenix City Tang Xiaoxian My great-uncle, Mr. Tang Wenming, was a native of Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. He loved calligraphy and painting cultural relics during his lifetime, and collected a large number of famous calligraphy and paintings, albums, folding fans, fans, and works of art made from ivory, jade, and jade carvings. In August 1966 during the Cultural Revolution, they were illegally raided by Red Guards from Wuxi No. 10 Middle School, Diesel Engine Factory Technical School, and Red Technical School, and almost all of them were destroyed. The Cultural Revolution, the darkest decade in Chinese cultural history, has ended nearly 40 years ago. Recently, precious paintings and calligraphy leftover from disasters have been repeatedly discovered in homes across the country. It’s truly a miracle. Could it be that the ancestors showed up? One of the single pieces (see attached photo) is an authentic calligraphy work by Zhao Zhiqian, a famous calligraphy and painting artist and seal cutting artist in the Qing Dynasty. Zhao Zhiqian, a native of Kuaiji (now Shaoxing), Zhejiang, was born in the ninth year of Daoguang (1829) and died in the tenth year of Guangxu (1884). The first name was Yifu, and the nickname was Lengjun; later the name was changed to Lushu, and the names were Beian, Mei'an, Wumen, etc. He is a versatile calligrapher, and is good at seal script, official script, regular script and xing script. His unique "Northern Wei calligraphy" is the most eye-catching. The banner was written by Zhao Zhiqian in his original Wei style running script, and the content is an excerpt from "On Rong" in "Qian Fu Lun" by Wang Fu of the Eastern Han Dynasty. "Yu Yu was born in Wu Di, Yue Mongolia was born in Baman, and he contributed to Qi and Qin, and established the Xia Dynasty with virtue. His reputation is recorded in books." This single piece has a strong and vigorous brushwork and a simple and majestic style. The brushwork is calm and dignified, and the top and bottom are evenly spaced. It gives people a dignified, solemn, graceful and simple feeling. It is really a rare masterpiece of calligraphy.

The original is 130 cm long and 34 cm wide

Part of Zhao Zhiqian’s seal is enlarged (Author’s email: wm-tang@hotmail.com)