Epitaph of Mu Yurong, Yuan Ting's wife

Epitaph of Mu Yurong, Yuan Ting's wife

Northern Wei Dynasty

519 C.E.

Stone Rubbing on Paper

40 cm

102D Commemorative Inscription: Life Journey of the Ancients
Mu Yurong was born into an imperially honored noble family of the Xianbei race, which was the northern minority group that ruled the Northern Wei dynasty. Mu's husband was a military grand commandant, who was also of royal descent. Now in the Xi'an Beilin Museum, this epitaph was unearthed near Nanchen village in Luoyang, Henan province in 1922. It originally belonged to a private collection in a set of "Seven Epitaphs of Yuan Yang," which are epitaphs of husband and wife. Northern Wei calligraphy, also known as Wei Bei script, continues the early form of regular script developed since the end of Han dynasty (3rd century), but adds a slanting shape and angular turning strokes to the characters to create a strong and classical style. This epitaph inscription adds to the basic Wei Bei style a square structure, yet still presents variety in the brushworks. It marks the stylistic transition of Wei bei from the strong and free-spirited brushworks of its early period to a gentle and elegant formative style.
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