Cai Xiang's "Chengxintang Paper Calligraphy" ruler and tablet, paper, 1063, regular script, 24.7 x 27.1cm
Explanation: A piece of Chengxintang paper is of the same size, width, thickness, and solidity, so it is the best. Workers don’t want to do it, but they are afraid that they won’t be able to do it. Trying to find it thick and straight, but can't get it? Seeing that it is thin and thick, it seems that it can be done. I just want a hundred pictures. On the Double Ninth Day of Guimao, Xiang Shu.
This piece of ruler slip written by Cai Xiang is also known as "Chengxintang Tie". The scholar-bureaucrats in the Song Dynasty paid great attention to their taste in life, and they were especially particular about their study utensils. Cai Xiang wrote this letter to entrust others to make it or to search for the famous "Chengxintang" paper. "Chengxintang" paper originated from the Southern Tang Dynasty in the Five Dynasties. It is said that its "skin is like an egg membrane, as hard and clean as jade, thin and smooth". It was already a very precious and hard-to-find famous paper in the Northern Song Dynasty. The paper of this calligraphy is meticulous and smooth, and it is likely that Cai Xiang used it as a sample of the "Chengxintang" paper.
The exquisite paper and Cai Xiang's elegant and solemn ink strokes make this "Chengxintang" post particularly beautiful and moving. The whole text is written in regular regular script. The structure is straight and slightly flat, with appropriate spacing between words and between lines. Each stroke is full of body, workmanship and grace. The letter is signed with the date "Guimao" (1063). Cai Xiang was fifty-two years old at that time. It is a representative work of his advocating dignified calligraphy style in his later years.
