2939) "Calligraphy", China: The Fifth issue of Gold and Silver Proof Coins highlight this Ancient Art: Coins issued by the People's Bank of China for the People's Republic of China: Date/Year of Coin issue: 2023:
The Header/Banner showcases the Reverses of the three 10 Yuan Coins, the Reverse of the Silver 50 Yuan Coin and the Reverse and Obverse of Gold 100 Yuan Coin against a background representation of calligraphic writing with the inscription - "The Art of Chinese Calligraphy".
The People’s Bank of China (PBC) has issued its fifth set of Gold and Silver Coins featuring designs highlighting the traditional art of Chinese calligraphy.
Steeped in tradition and carried on for centuries, the art of calligraphy is considered one of Asia’s oldest forms of communicative art.
The manuscripts themselves essentially tell a story or record history by adding to the element with images of symbols representing words or expressions.
Many calligraphers have become as well known and admired as artists who created masterpieces and whose work has become sought after.
The fifth series fhighlights the style and era of the Bronze inscriptions, prominent characters and calligraphy of the Zhou Dynasty, especially the Western Zhou Dynasty.
Calligraphy is the art of beautiful handwriting:
The term derives from the Greek words for “beauty” ("kallos") and “to write” ("graphein").
Calligraphy (from Greek καλλιγραφία (kalligraphía) 'beautiful writing') is a visual art related to writing and is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument.
It implies a sure knowledge of the correct form of letters, i.e., the conventional signs by which language can be communicated, and the skill to make them with such ordering of the various parts and harmony of proportions that the experienced, knowledgeable eye will recognise such composition as a work of art.
Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious, and skillful manner".
Modern calligraphy ranges from functional inscriptions and designs to fine-art pieces where the letters may or may not be readable.
Classical calligraphy differs from type design and non-classical hand-lettering, though a calligrapher may practice both.
Calligraphy continues to flourish in the forms of wedding invitations and event invitations, font design and typography, original hand-lettered logo design, religious art, announcements, graphic design and commissioned calligraphic art, cut stone inscriptions, and memorial documents.
It is also used for props, moving images for film and television, testimonials, birth and death certificates, maps, and other written works.
The principal tools for a calligrapher are the pen and the brush.
The pens used in calligraphy can have nibs that may be flat, round, or pointed.
For some decorative purposes, multi-nibbed pens (steel brushes) can be used. However, works have also been created with felt-tip and ballpoint pens, although these works do not employ angled lines. There are some styles of calligraphy, such as Gothic script, that require a stub nib pen.
Common calligraphy pens and brushes are - Quill, Dip pen, Ink brush, Qalam, Fountain pen, Chiselled marker, Inks, papers, and templates.
The ink used for writing is usually water-based and is much less viscous than the oil-based inks used in printing.
Certain specialty paper with high ink absorption and constant texture enables cleaner lines, although parchment or vellum is often used, as a knife can be used to erase imperfections and a lightbox is not needed to allow lines to pass through it.
Normally, light boxes and templates are used to achieve straight lines without pencil markings detracting from the work.
Ruled paper, either for a light box or direct use, is most often ruled every quarter or half inch, although inch spaces are occasionally used.
Chinese calligraphy is locally called "shūfǎ or fǎshū" (書法 or 法書 in traditional Chinese, literally "the method or law of writing").
Japanese calligraphy is "shodō" (書道, literally "the way or principle of writing").
Korean calligraphy is called "seoye" (Korean: 서예/書藝, literally "the art of writing").
The calligraphy of East Asian characters continues to form an important and appreciated constituent of contemporary traditional East Asian culture.
Calligraphic work, as art, need not be legible in the usual sense of the word.
In the Middle East and East Asia, Calligraphy by long and exacting tradition is considered a major art, equal to sculpture or painting.
Printing and handwriting influence each other - for example, modern advertising continues to incorporate calligraphy, and many calligraphers have through the years designed typefaces for printing.
In ancient China - Evolution of the art of Calligraphy:
In ancient China, the oldest known Chinese characters are oracle bone script (甲骨文), carved on ox scapulae and tortoise plastrons, because the rulers in the Shang dynasty carved pits on such animals' bones and then baked them to gain auspice of military affairs, agricultural harvest, or even procreating and weather.
During the divination ceremony, after the cracks were made, the characters were written with a brush on the shell or bone to be later carved.
With the development of the bronzeware script (jīn wén) and large seal script (dà zhuàn) "cursive" signs continued.
Mao Gong Ding is one of the most famous and typical bronzeware scripts in Chinese calligraphic history.
It has 500 characters on the bronze which is the largest number of bronze inscriptions discovered so far. Moreover, each archaic kingdom of current China had its own set of characters.
In Imperial China, the graphs on old steles – some dating from 200 BCE, and in the small seal script (小篆 xiǎo zhuàn) style – have been preserved and can be seen even present day.
About 220 BCE, the emperor Qin Shi Huang, the first to conquer the entire Chinese basin, imposed several reforms, among them Li Si's character unification, which created a set of 3300 standardised small seal characters.
Despite the fact that the main writing implement of the time was already the brush, few papers survive from this period, and the main examples of this style are on steles.
The clerical script (隸書/隸书) (lì shū) which is more regularised, and in some ways similar to modern text, were also authorised under Qin Shi Huang.
Between clerical script and traditional regular script, there is another transitional type of calligraphic work called "Wei Bei".
It started during the North and South dynasties (420 to 589 CE) and ended before the Tang dynasty (618–907).
The traditional regular script (kǎi shū), still in use today, and attributed to Wang Xizhi (王羲之, 303–361) and his followers, is even more regularised.
Its spread was encouraged by Emperor Mingzong of Later Tang (926–933), who ordered the printing of the classics using new wooden blocks in kaishu.
The Commemorative Coins:
This set of Gold and Silver Commemorative Coins has been minted by The Shenzhen Guobao Mint Company, Ltd. on behalf of the People’s Bank of China.
The silver 10-yuan and 50-yuan coins include a simulated vertical panel of parchment paper as a background, which the calligraphy is applied to in black colour.
The first Reverse design features a 10 Yuan Silver Coin:
The design highlights a combination of the partial text in “Shupu” written by Sun Guo Ting during the Tang Dynasty.
The words “Han Yi Shen Fei” and “Sun Guoting Shupu” are written in a vertical direction along with the decorative traditional seal denoting “Chinese Calligraphy Art.”
The denomination 10元 (“10 Yuan”) is placed to the lower right.
The second Reverse design features a 10 Yuan Silver Coin: and includes a combination of the partial text of “Four Posts of Ancient Poems” written by Zhang Xu during the Tang Dynasty.
The words “Sage Tang·Zhang Xu” are written in a vertical direction along with the decorative traditional seal denoting “Chinese Calligraphy Art.”
The denomination 10元 (“10 Yuan”) is placed to the lower right.
The third Reverse design features a 10 Yuan Silver Coin: Featured is the partial text of “Zhu shang zuo tie,” written by Huang Ting Jian during the era of the Northern Song Dynasty.
The words “Zhu shang zuo·Huang Tingjian · All Your Highness Posts” are written in a vertical direction along with the decorative traditional seal denoting “Chinese Calligraphy Art.”
The denomination 10元 (“10 Yuan”) is placed to the lower right.
A 50 Yuan Silver Coin:
The Reverse design on this rectangular coin features a combination of a partial text of Huai Su’s “Self-Reporting Notes” written during the Tang Dynasty.
The words “Spirit and Spirit” and a plantain plant, along with the denomination 50元 (“50 Yuan”), complete the design.
“Tang·Huai su·Self-narrative post” are written in a vertical direction along with the decorative traditional seal denoting “Chinese Calligraphy Art.”
A 100 Yuan Gold Coin:
The Gold Coin’s Reverse design features a combination of the partial text of Wang Xizhi’s ‘Seventeen Tie’ written during the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
The word ‘Yuan’ along with a decorative pattern behind the denomination 100元 (100 Yuan) completes the design. Written in a vertical direction is the text “Wang Xizhi·’Seventeen Posts’,” along with the decorative traditional seal denoting “Chinese Calligraphy Art.”
All coins in the calligraphy range share the same Obverse Design.
The motif centres on the stylised calligraphy word “China,” which is shown in the style of the bronze inscription, along with decorative additions on either side of the inscription.
The country’s name in contemporary Chinese characters "中 华 人 民 共 和 国" (“People’s Republic of China”) is placed above, and the year of issue - "2023", is placed below.
i) The specifications of the three 10 Yuan Coins are:
Country of issue: People's Republic of Communist China; Date/Year: 2023; Coin Theme: "Calligraphy"; Denomination/Face Value: 10 Yuan (x 3 Coins); Metal Composition: .999 Fineness Silver (Ag); Weight: 30.00 grams; Diameter/Size: 40.00 mm; Coin Quality: Proof (P); Minted By: The Shenzhen Guobao Mint Company, Ltd. on behalf of the People’s Bank of China; Mintage: 10,000 pieces (x 3 Coins each); Designer: Wang An, Li Jiye, and Hao Wangshu.
ii) The specifications of the 50 Yuan Silver Coin is:
Country of issue: People's Republic of Communist China; Date/Year: 2023; Coin Theme: "Calligraphy"; Denomination/Face Value: 50 Yuan ; Metal Composition: .999 Fineness Silver (Ag); Weight: 150.00 grams; Diameter/Size: 80.00 mm x 50 mm; Coin Quality: Proof (P); Minted By: The Shenzhen Guobao Mint Company, Ltd. on behalf of the People’s Bank of China; Mintage: 5,000 pieces; Designer: Wang An, Li Jiye, and Hao Wangshu.
iii) The specifications of the 100 Yuan Gold Coins are:
Country of issue: People's Republic of Communist China; Date/Year: 2023; Coin Theme: "Calligraphy"; Denomination/Face Value: 100 Yuan; Metal Composition: .999 Fineness Gold (Au); Weight: 22.00 grams; Diameter/Size: 40.00 mm; Coin Quality: Proof (P); Minted By: The Shenzhen Guobao Mint Company, Ltd. on behalf of the People’s Bank of China; Mintage: 5,000 pieces (x 3 Coins); Designer: Wang An, Li Jiye, and Hao Wangshu.
- Each silver and gold coin is available as an individual purchase and is distributed by China Gold Coin Corporation.
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