Ci Zhai Letter

CHINA; Tang dynasty

This is a brief letter written by the monk Gaoxian. It was collated in Jiang Collection of Calligraphy Specimens, which is a re-compilation of the masterpieces featured in Chunhua Pavilion Collection of Calligraphy Specimens. The collection preserves calligraphic works by famous authors and dignitaries.
The running-cursive script in this work is both cautious and uninhibited in style, which brings to mind the works of calligraphers Wang Xizhi and Huaisu, whom epitomized the modern cursive and wild cursive scripts, respectively. Strongly influenced by Huaisu, Gaoxian wrote this piece in a free-form manner, with the first line showing signs of gradually hastened writing. The strokes become predominantly cursive after the first two characters, which are more regular in style. Nevertheless, Gaoxian is considerably restrained compared to Huaisu, as his characters tend to be individualized and discontinuous in series.
Gaoxian was widely acclaimed for his cursive script calligraphy. One of his works, the Thousand Character Classic, is regarded as a representative cursive script work dating from the Mid-Tang period (756–846).