Artists › Painters and Calligraphers
Lu Jianzhi
Early Tang calligrapher from Suzhou, nephew of Yu Shinan and grandfather of Zhang Xu, whose running-script Rhapsody on Literature survives
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 Lu Jianzhi of Wu commandery
Lu Jianzhi came from Wu county in Wu commandery (Suzhou) and was a calligrapher of the early Tang. He learned from his uncle Yu Shinan and then from the Wangs, father and son, and held the ranks of grand master for closing court, deputy counsellor to the heir apparent and calligraphy academician of the Chongwen Institute. His son Lu Yanyuan handed his method on to his own nephew Zhang Xu, so Lu was Zhang's maternal grandfather. His running-script copy of Lu Ji's Rhapsody on Literature, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is one of the few early Tang autographs to survive.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; active in the early Tang (7th century)