Prajna Platform Inscription

CHINA; Tang dynasty

This 24-character inscription, engraved at Prajna Platform on Wushishan in Fujian, records that the inscriber was Li Gong, and the calligrapher was Li Yangbing. The name “Abbot Monk Huisi” appears at the end of the inscription in regular script characters. Legend has it that a monk used to study the Prajnaparamita Sutra fervently at this location, lending its name to the terrace. At present, this is the only original Tang dynasty (618–907) epigraph that remains intact, and for this reason it is widely studied among calligraphers and art historians.
Li Yangbing once boasted that in regard to seal script, he was second only to Li Si, a renowned politician, scholar, and calligrapher of the Qin dynasty (221 BCE–207 CE). This was a worthy claim considering how he built upon the basis of the Qin seal script and further developed the brushstrokes and character form. His works, together with those of Li Si, became model specimens for later students of the script. In this particular piece, Li Yangbing’s classic seal style comprising full yet elongated and energetic strokes can be seen. The composition is highly spirited, yet rigorously structured.
Li Yangbing, also known as Shaowen, was a renowned calligrapher from Zhao (present day Hebei). He was a relative of Li Bai, the great Tang poet, and was known to have a strong interest in the classics and calligraphy. His small seal script was renowned, and many after him studied seal script calligraphy by copying his works.