Artists › Painters and Calligraphers
Zheng Daozhao
Northern Wei official from Xingyang whose cliff inscriptions in Shandong include the Stele of Duke Wen of Zheng traditionally credited to his brush
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 Xibo · Hao Zhongyue Xiansheng
Zheng Daozhao, courtesy name Xibo, who called himself Master of the Central Peak, came from Kaifeng in Xingyang commandery and was a son of the secretariat director Zheng Xi; his biography is appended to his father's in chapter 56 of the Book of Wei. He served as assistant in the Palace Library and chancellor of the Directorate of Education before governing Guangzhou and Qingzhou, and died in 516. As governor of Guangzhou he left many cliff inscriptions on Mounts Yunfeng, Tianzhu and Daji; the Stele of Duke Wen of Zheng, cut in 511 for his father, is traditionally attributed to his hand and was held up by Qing epigraphers as a model of Northern Wei script.
Life and times
Dates Birth year unknown; died 516