Artists › Painters and Calligraphers
Ouyang Tong
Tang calligrapher and official, son of Ouyang Xun, who rose to acting chancellor under Empress Wu and was killed in 691 after Lai Junchen framed him
A desk holds an unrolled sheet bearing three bold black ink strokes, with a rack of many brushes above it, a stone ink slab and ink stick, a porcelain bowl, a red lacquer box, a dish of red seal paste and a paperweight; a small seated figure shows through a round window onto bamboo.
Also known as Zi Tongshi · Xiao Ou (the Younger Ouyang)
Ouyang Tong, courtesy name Tongshi, was the son of the calligrapher Ouyang Xun. Orphaned young, he was made by his mother to study his father's hand, and wrote so forcefully that father and son were called the Elder and Younger Ouyang. He rose through the palace library and secretariat to become director of the palace administration, and early in Empress Wu's Tianshou era was made minister of rites and acting head of the chancellery. In 691 he was drawn into the case against the chancellor Cen Changqian, framed for treason by Lai Junchen and executed; he was cleared early in the Shenlong era. His best-known work, the stele for the Dharma Master Daoyin, erected in 663, stands in the Xi'an Beilin Museum.
Life and times
Dates ?–691 CE