A Study on the Cursive Script in First Script of Master Ke

Abstract: Since its debut, the cursive script First Script of Master Ke has been considered to be one masterpiece discovered in the Mogao Caves of Dunhuang, China, and repeatedly included in an array of authoritative collections and books on Chinese calligraphy. Although it is undoubtedly precious for academic researches, particularly for cursive script studies, there have been by far few in-depth studies on its cursive style, artistic features, and inheritance and influence. This paper adopts comprehensive and multiple perspectives to focus on these subjects, such as analyzing the text of this calligraphic work. The author believes that it is a clerical cursive script, or zhangcao (章草), written in the Tang Dynasty when jincao (今草), also called modern cursive, of Wang Xizhi style was dominant, representing a brand new cursive style with Northwest China origin directly developed from the zhangcao style created by the calligraphers Zhang Zhi (张芝) and Suo Jing (索靖). It is a distinctive approach of zhangcao development featuring the regional popularity among high ranking monks. Since the cave for housing manuscripts in Dunhuang was closed, this cursive style has barely produced any influence on the cursive scripts in the Song Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty, particularly in the renaissance of zhangcao during the early Yuan Dynasty. This paper studies First Script of Master Ke in hope of contributing to the studies of Dunhuang manuscripts and history of Chinese calligraphy, as well as contemporary cursive writing.

Keywords: First Script of Master Ke; Dunhuang Studies; calligraphy; cursive script; Buddhist calligraphy

*Corresponding author, Ji’an Wang: Nanjing Normal University, E-mail: njwja@126.com