Xuan ShiBiao：The Masterpiece from Heaven 天下神品《宣示表》

Zhong Yao (151-230) is an important calligrapher in the history of Chinese calligraphy as he has great influence on Wang Xizhi, who is considered to be the sage of Chinese calligraphy. Zhong’s calligraphic works are said to be elegant and yet plain, orderly and artistic. His handwritings definitely improved the transition from clerical script (lishu) to a new look standard script (kaishu), and he was the forerunner of Wang Xizhi’s style of regular script.
However, very few of his authentic works left, and most of the works attributed to him were actually the works of calligraphers of later generations. Among Zhong Yao’s works handed down from ancient times, only two of them are authentic in style. One is the memorial to the throne of Emperor Wendi, which was written in the second year of Wei Wendi in 221. The script is now known as Xuan Shi Biao.
It is said that the calligraphy was collected by Wang Dao at the end of the Western Jin dynasty. In chaos caused by war, he hid the book in his cloths and fled to the south. Later he passed the calligraphic technique to Lady Wei, who passed it to Wang Xizhi, Wang Xianzhi and Yang Xin successively. Zhong’s writing technique thus became the criterion when studying calligraphy.
It had been collected successively by courts and folk connoisseurs of the Tang, Song and Qing dynasties. Unfortunately, the memorial was plundered by a British marine during the invasion the Eight-power Allied Forces; then it was bought back at a very high price by Huo Qiu and Pei Jingfu. But it was stolen unexpectedly later. The thief, afraid of being discovered, buried the work in the ground. Thereafter nobody knows where it has been. The script we see today is a photo-offset copy.
Although it was written in small regular script, the strokes and ways of writing come clearly into view. The calligraphy, with square form and curved turnings, is steady, slightly flat, and well-structured. It is highly valued by late generations as ‘masterpiece from heaven’ or ‘best calligraphy in China’.
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在中国书法史上，钟繇（151-230）是一个重要的书法家。他影响了书圣王羲之。他的书法高雅而简洁，平正而有艺术感；是由隶书过渡到新面貌的楷书的改进，也是王羲之楷体的前身。
钟繇真正的传世作品不多，很多都是后代书家的作品。传世作品中，就风格而言有两部比较可信。其中一部是三国魏黄初二年（221）上表魏文帝的奏章的《宣示表》。
据说此帖在西晋末为王导收藏，在战乱中藏在衣袖中南逃。后来他把所得笔法传给卫夫人，连接传给了王羲之，王献之，羊欣。钟繇的笔法就成为学习书法的规范。
此帖曾先后被唐、宋、清等朝内宫及民间鉴赏家收藏，不幸于八国联军入侵时被一个英国水军掠得，后被霍丘与裴景福以重金购得，不料又被盗去，盗者怕被人发现，将其藏在土中，从此不见了踪迹。现在我们所见到的墨迹，是根据照片影印的。
虽为小楷，但笔画清楚，笔法意态历历在目。其笔法已转化方为圆，八面沉稳，字形略扁，结构严密而出之自然，所以被后人推崇为‘天下神品’，‘天下第一妙迹’。
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