Page 13 - September 20 2021 Fabian Collection of Chinese Paintings Art Bonhams NYC

The Jinshi movement was fortified by archaeological discoveries this style. The four panels are dedicated to the artist’s friend Fang
made during the 18th and 19th century and supported by an Junyi (d. 1899) a scholar of ancient scripts as well as a seal carver
intellectual and academic movement to faithfully record the past. in his own right. Embracing the chiseled-in-stone aesthetic with
However, some new sources of inspiration were always in plain sight, brushstrokes that are bold and angular, the artist uses the brush to
but long ignored by the traditional orthodoxy due to their anonymity endow the work with movement and energy. Distilling the essence
or Buddhist nature. Wei Stele style (Weibei ti) is a variation of early of the early stone-carved characters, Zhao Zhiqian employs artistic
standard script (kaishu), originally utilized in carved stone stele license to transform the words into the art of the brush.
inscriptions from the Six dynasties, specifically the Northern Wei The remarkable aesthetic innovations introduced during the
Dynasty (386-534). After centuries of being overlooked, Wei Stelae Jinshi movement upended centuries of orthodoxy and profoundly
style was revived in the Qing dynasty, when critics praised the impacted Chinese calligraphy. Although Jinshi movement calligraphy
vigorous and compact demeanor of the characters and calligraphers never completely replaced the orthodox approach, the canon for
mimicked the chiseled stone appearance, and forceful, tectonic acceptable models of inspiration was widely expanded. The revival
strength of the characters. and transformation of early calligraphic styles continues to resonate
visually in China today, with popular Chinese language computer
Zhao Zhiqian (1829-1884), a master of Late Qing calligraphy, had a fonts based on Wei stele script and Han clerical scripts.
predilection for Wei Stelae script and Lot 4 Calligraphy in Running/
Standard script is an outstanding four panel example of his work in

Figure 4: Lot 4 Zhao Zhiqian (1829-1884) Calligraphy in Running / Standard Script

FINE CHINESE PAINTINGS | 9