Art of Handwriting and Inscriptions on Two Sets of Strips Made in the Early Eastern Han Dynasty

Abstract:Some of the correspondences written on wooden strips unearthed in 1974 in the area that was named as Juyan during the Han Dynasty are written in Cao Shu (草书, cursive style). Among them, two volumes that were manuscripts related to judicial cases composed in early Eastern Han Dynasty bear their major characteristics. A detailed comparison of the two volumes and discussion of the relationship between the characters and things they were concerned will help understand the nature of the two volumes as well as the background and process of the document writing at that time, which in turn will facilitate the comprehension of the evolution and the teaching and application of the cursive scripts in the Han Dynasty. The font and handwriting style of the two cursive works, along with their outstanding calligraphy performance, are enough to show the calligraphers'accomplish-ments in Cao Shu. A comprehensive study of these two volumes and other works unearthed from the same area and composed at the same era may lead to a revision of the altitude to which the cursive works in the early Eastern Han Dynasty had reached, thus providing us with precious historical materials related to the study of the character and calligraphy of the Han Dynasty. In addition to the analysis of the calligraphic performance, this paper also attaches importance to the exploration of the background for the application of Cao Shu into the document writing at that time. It is then about to figure out the nature of the documents and their calligraphers by analyzing the relationship between the content of the scripts and the place where they were unearthed. With the analysis on the cursive scripts of the Han Dynasty in historical books as additional evidence, this paper looks forward to helping explain the development of the cursive scripts in Western Han Dynasty as well.

Key words:Han Dynasty; Juyan Han-Jian; Cao Shu; Chinese character; calligraphy