Cai Jing

CHINA, Fujian, Putian; Northern Song dynasty

Cai Jing was a calligrapher and politician born in Xinghua (present day Xianyou, Putian). In 1070, he became an Imperial Scholar after passing the imperial examination and eventually served as a high-level official in the imperial court.
He was highly gifted in the arts with talents in areas including calligraphy, painting, poetry, and writing. His achievement in calligraphy, with his unique stroke style, was particularly notable. His painting, Rounding Green, and his calligraphic piece, A Letter to Jiefu, are collected by the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan. He wrote a poetry for the painting entitled Listening to the Qin, which was painted by Emperor Huizong (reigned 1100–1125) of the Northern Song dynasty and is now kept at the Palace Museum in Beijing.
Cai’s other extant calligraphic works include the stone-carved Stele of Historical Record of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva at the Avalokitesvara Pagoda of Xiangshan Temple in Henan, and the Stele of the Spiritual Path by Zhao Yijian at the Dazu Rock Carvings Beishan Cave in Chongqing. Xuanhe Catalog of Calligraphy lists 76 of his works.