Liu Gongquan

CHINA, Shaanxi, Tongchuan; Tang dynasty

Liu Gongquan was a calligrapher from Huayuan, Jingzhao (present day Yaozhou district in Tongchuan). He passed the imperial examination at the age of 29 and became a Imperial Scholar. His calligraphy caught the attention of Emperor Muzong (reigned 820–824) of the Tang dynasty, who summoned him to work in the imperial palace in Chang’an (present day Xi’an, Shaanxi). Later, during the reign of Emperor Wuzong (reigned 840–846), he was renowned as the Duke of the Founding Dynasty, and during the reign of Emperor Yizong (reigned 859–873), he was appointed as the Prince’s Tutor.
Liu’s calligraphic style was initially modeled after that of Wang Xizhi, but he later incorporated the essence of Yan Zhenqing’s form, developing his own unique style distinguished by well-proportioned characters comprised of thin and firm strokes and definitive dots. As his regular script displayed Yan’s style, it is often described as having “Liu’s structure with Yan’s versatility.” Liu’s fluid and graceful cursive script exhibits characteristics of Wang Xizhi’s famous style.
Emperor Muzong once asked Liu how his calligraphy was able to express his honest personality; Liu replied by saying “If one uses his heart to write, and one’s heart is upright, one will deliver that integrity in his writing; If one’s heart is filled with fear, then one’s writing will be crooked due to the weight of worry and weariness; These characteristics will be all exhibited in one’s style of writing.”
Calligraphic pieces by Liu include a multitude of stele inscriptions, his most well-known of which is Stele of Xuanmi Pagoda, the rubbings presently kept at the Xi’an Beilin Museum in Shaanxi and National Library of China in Beijing. A rubbing of his stele engravings of the Diamond Sutra, discovered at Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, is now kept in the National Library of France in Paris, while his Letter to the Emperor, written in cursive script, is kept at Palace Museum in Beijing.