Artists › Painters and Calligraphers
Lu Xiuyan
Tang official and calligrapher who wrote out the text of the Nestorian Stele of 781 while holding the rank of Gentleman for Court Discussion
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 Xiuyan, former Administrator of Public Works of Taizhou
Lu Xiuyan was a Tang official and calligrapher. The stele recording the spread of the Luminous Religion, erected at the Daqin Monastery in Chang'an in 781, ends with the line that it was written by Lu Xiuyan, Gentleman for Court Discussion and former Administrator of Public Works of Taizhou. He thus wrote out in regular script the text composed by the cleric Jingjing, which shares the stone with Syriac inscriptions; the stele is now in the Forest of Steles in Xi'an. Beyond this signature nothing is known of his origin, career or dates.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; active c. 781