Yang Ningshi
Chinese calligrapher
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Yang Ningshi (楊凝式) (873 AD – 957 AD) was a Chinese calligrapher who lived and worked in the 9th and 10th centuries. He has been described as the most famous calligrapher of the chaotic Five Dynasties period (906 – 960 AD).[1]
Life
His Chinese name was 楊凝式.[2]
He belonged to the Yang clan of Hongnong. His father Yang She was a well known government official who served as a chancellor during the reigns of Tang's final emperor Emperor Ai.[3]
He was born in 873 AD in Huayin, China during the late Tang dynasty (618 – 907).[4]
Career
Bureaucratic career
He qualified in the imperial examination (jinshi) in 905 AD, when he was around 32 or 33 years old.[6]
He then went on to serve in his country's government as a financial inspector, secretary, and censor.[7]
Calligraphy career
His talent as a skilled calligrapher of the Chinese language was noticed by powerful politicians, including Zhang Quanyi (852 AD – 926 AD) and the then prime minister Zhao Guangyin.[8]
Zhao Guangyin appointed him to the position of Upright Scholar.[9]
Bibliography
Very little of his work survives today. Most of his surviving work varies in scripts used, because of which contemporary experts and historians are unable to gain a complete picture of his work.[10]
His calligraphy style in the Chinese language has been described as being robust and uninhibited.[11]
His Notable Works include:[12][13]
- The Jiuhua tie 韭花帖, or "Scallion Flower Manuscript," or "Leek Flower Post" is a letter written on paper to an unknown recipient, traditionally believed to be the Chinese emperor[14]