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| Scripts Development / Ancient Seal Script (大 篆 "Da Zhuan") (1400 - 300 B.C.) | ||||||
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(click image for closer view) or (click here to view a slideshow on the entire scripts development - requires monitor size 1024 x 768 pixels) |
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| Inscriptions on Bronze Vessels Western Zhou Dynasty cir. 1,000 B.C. |
San Shi Pan (San Basin) (散 盤) circa. 861-827 B.C. |
Mao Gong Ding (Mao Tripod) (毛 公 鼎) circa. 827-781 B.C. |
Shi Gu Wan (Stone Drum) (石 鼓 文) circa. 300 B.C. |
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| The diversity of the Chinese race and its many tribes managed to create much diversified forms of the written characters. It is not uncommon to see how one character can take 20 totally different forms. One can imagine the chaos in writing and interpreting.
The very first attempt to unify Chinese characters was carried out in the Western Zhou Dynasty when the Emperor ordered his Prime Minister "Zhou" (史 籀) to compile a lexicon to standardize all Chinese writings. Although this lexicon had long been lost, the "Zhou" (籀)script had become the basic for the "Zhuan" script developed in the Qin Dynasty. Most calligraphic information discovered in the Zhou Dynasty was from the inscriptions on bronze (鐘 鼎 文 "Zhong Ding Wen") and stone (石 刻 "Shi Ke") vessels in "Zhou" script. The purposes of these inscriptions were for praying to the Heaven, commemorating significant figures or recording important historical events. The strokes found on these inscriptions were more natural and vigorous, bearing nearly no trace of the stiffness of the previous bone inscriptions. Among the pieces unearthed, the Mao Gong Ding (Mao Vessel) (circa 827 B.C.) and Shi Gu Wen (Stone Drum) (circa 300 B.C.) represent the major spirit of calligraphy in that era. Mao Gong Ding was the inscription on a bronze tripod for commemorating the person called "Mao" while Shi Gu Wen was a piece of literature carved on a large stone drum, recording the hunting stories at that time. |
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