"Li Yu's Epitaph" Seal forehead epitaph cover
In 2014, Ouyang Xun's stone-engraved "Li Yu's Epitaph" in small regular script that had been circulated among the people was unearthed. Its full name is "The Epitaph of Li Gong, the Duke of Guangzhou, Guodeguang County in the Tang Dynasty." The stone carving was engraved in the 15th year of Zhenguan (AD 641) and is square in shape, 58.5 cm x 58.5 cm. The 12 zodiac signs are engraved on the surrounding walls. There are 36 lines of inscriptions, each line has 36 characters, and there are 1249 characters of the actual inscription.
The width of the characters is about 1 cm, the single characters are extremely small, elegant and moving, and they belong to small regular script. It was established in the 15th year of Zhenguan, the same year Ouyang Xun died. This is the last epitaph written by Ouyang Xun. This regular script is Ouyang Xun's masterpiece in his later years. On the basis of fully displaying the characteristics of Ouyang regular script, it appears more elegant and has the chic style of "two kings".
Ouyang Xun (AD 557-641), also known as Xinben, was born in Hengyang, Hunan in 557 AD. His ancestral home is Changsha, Hunan. The official position is Prince Lingeng Ling. Ouyang Xun's regular calligraphy is rigorous and unrivaled in the world, and he is known as the best regular calligrapher in the Tang Dynasty. Both he and Yu Shinan were famous for their calligraphy in the early Tang Dynasty. Later generations were known as the "European style" because of their book's ability to "find danger in the ordinary".
The following shows Ouyang Xun's "Li Yu's Epitaph" in small regular script in reverse and enlarged format for readers' enjoyment:
The first sentence of the epitaph is "Gong Bayu, whose name is Anyuan", so the epitaph is called "Li Yu's Epitaph" or "Li Anyuan's Epitaph". The owner of the epitaph is Li Yu, and he and Qiu Shi were both famous officials who founded the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, it is logical and not surprising that their epitaphs were written by Ouyang Xun Gong.
Compared with Mr. Ouyang's most famous "Jiucheng Palace", this calligraphy, as Ouyang Xun's pinnacle masterpiece in his later years, is more open, flexible, vivid, and more sophisticated.
If "Jiucheng Palace" is full of low-key rationality, then "Li Yu's Epitaph" has more emotional elements of Ouyang Xun's interpretation of his personal style. The wanton and graceful small characters are full of danger, elegance and vigor. .
When writing this epitaph, Ouyang Xun was already an old man. When writing an epitaph for others at this moment, you should feel a lot of emotion in your heart.
He held the brush with his shoulders hunched back like this and wrote this wonderful calligraphy with vigorous force. Not long after writing, this famous calligrapher, who was known as "the best in regular script" by later generations, also passed away at the age of 84.
