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Calligraphy (from Ancient Greek καλλιγραφία (kalligraphía) 'beautiful writing') is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instruments.: 17 Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious, and skillful manner".: 18
In East Asia and the Islamic world, where more flexibility is allowed in written forms, calligraphy is regarded as a significant art form, and the form it takes may be affected by the meaning of the text or the individual words.
Modern Western calligraphy ranges from functional inscriptions and designs to fine-art pieces where the letters may or may not be readable.[page needed] Classical calligraphy differs from type design and non-classical hand-lettering, though a calligrapher may practice both.
Western calligraphy continues to flourish in the forms of wedding invitations and event invitations, font design and typography, original hand-lettered logo design, religious art, announcements, graphic design and commissioned calligraphic art, cut stone inscriptions, and memorial documents. It is also used for props, moving images for film and television, testimonials, birth and death certificates, maps, and other written works.
Tools
Pens and brushes
The principal tools for a calligrapher are the pen and the brush. The pens used in calligraphy can have nibs that may be flat, round, or pointed. For decorative purposes, multi-nibbed pens (steel brushes) can be used. However, works have also been created with felt-tip and ballpoint pens, although these works do not employ angled lines. There are certain styles of calligraphy, such as Gothic script, that require a stub nib pen.
The examples and perspective in this section deal primarily with Western World and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject.(October 2024) |
Common calligraphy pens and brushes include:
- Quill
- Dip pen
- Ink brush
- Qalam
- Fountain pen
- Chiselled marker
- Reed pen
Inks, papers, and templates
The ink used for writing is usually water-based and is much less viscous than the oil-based ink used in printing. Certain specialty paper with high ink absorption and constant texture enables cleaner lines, although parchment or vellum is often used, as a knife can be used to erase imperfections and a light-box is not needed to allow lines to be visible through it. Normally, light boxes and templates are used to achieve straight lines without pencil markings detracting from the work. Ruled paper, either for a light box or direct use, is most often ruled every quarter or half an inch, although inch spaces are occasionally used. This is the case with Uncial script (hence the name "litterea unciales" ;which roughly translates to 'inch high letters'), and college-ruled paper often acts as a guideline well.
East Asia
Chinese calligraphy is locally called shūfǎ or fǎshū (書法 or 法書 in traditional Chinese, literally "the method or law of writing"); Japanese calligraphy is shodō (書道, literally "the way or principle of writing"); and Korean calligraphy is called seoye (Korean: 서예; Hanja: 書藝; literally "the art of writing"); The calligraphy of East Asian characters continues to form an important and appreciated constituent of contemporary traditional East Asian culture.[examples needed][citation needed]
- On Calligraphy by Mi Fu, Song dynasty (China)
- Japanese calligraphy: Two Chinese characters "平和" meaning "peace" and the signature of Japanese calligrapher Ōura Kanetake (1910). Horizontal writing.
- Calligraphy by one of Korea's most celebrated calligraphists, Kim Jeong-hui (1786–1856)
- Modern Korean calligraphy in Hangul, meaning "Wiktionary"
History
In ancient China, the oldest known Chinese characters are oracle bone script (甲骨文), carved on ox scapulae and tortoise plastrons, as the rulers in the Shang dynasty carved pits on such animals' bones and then baked them to gain auspice of military affairs, agricultural harvest, or even procreation and weather. During the divination ceremony, after the cracks were made[further explanation needed], the characters were written with a brush on the shell or bone to be later carved.[full citation needed] With the development of the bronzeware script (jīn wén) and large seal script (dà zhuàn) "cursive" signs continued[further explanation needed]. Mao Gong Ding is one of the most famous and typical bronzeware scripts in Chinese calligraphic history. It has 500 characters inscribed onto the bronze which is the largest number of bronze inscription we have discovered so far.[clarification needed] Moreover, each archaic kingdom of current China had its own set of characters.
In Imperial China, the graphs on old steles – some dating from 200 BCE, and in the small seal script (小篆 xiǎo zhuàn) style – have been preserved and can be viewed in museums even today.
About 220 BCE, the emperor Qin Shi Huang, the first to conquer the entire Chinese basin, imposed several reforms, among them Li Si's character unification, which created a set of 3300 standardized small seal characters. Despite the fact that the main writing implement of the time was already the brush, few papers survive from this period, and the main examples of this style are on steles.
The clerical script (隸書/隸书) (lì shū) which was more regularized, and in some ways similar to modern text, was also authorised under Qin Shi Huang.
Between clerical script and traditional regular script, there is another transitional type of calligraphic work called . It started during the North and South dynasties (420 to 589 CE) and ended before the Tang dynasty (618–907).
The traditional regular script (kǎi shū), still in use today, and largely finalized by Zhong You (鐘繇, 151–230) and his followers, is even more regularized. Its spread was encouraged by Emperor Mingzong of Later Tang (926–933), who ordered the printing of the classics using new wooden blocks in kaishu[further explanation needed]. Printing technologies here allowed a shape stabilization. The kaishu shape of characters 1000 years ago was mostly similar to that at the end of Imperial China;[citation needed] However, small changes to the characters have been made. For example the shape of 广 has changed from the version in the Kangxi Dictionary of 1716 to the version found in modern books. The Kangxi and current shapes have tiny differences, while stroke order remains the same, according to the old style.
Styles which did not survive include bāfēnshū, a mix of 80% small seal script and 20% clerical script[clarification needed]. Some variant Chinese characters were unorthodox or locally used for centuries. They were generally understood but always rejected in official texts. Some of these unorthodox variants, in addition to some newly created characters, compose the simplified Chinese character set.[citation needed]
Technique
Traditional East Asian writing uses the Four Treasures of the Study – ink brushes known as máobǐ (毛筆/毛笔), Chinese ink, paper, and inkstones – to write Chinese characters. These instruments of writing are also known as the Four Friends of the Study (Korean: 문방사우/文房四友, romanized: Munbang sau) in Korea. Besides the traditional four tools, desk pads and paperweights are also used.
Many different parameters influence the final result of a calligrapher's work. Physical parameters include the shape, size, stretch, and hair type of the ink brush; the color, color density and water density of the ink; as well as the paper's water absorption speed and surface texture. The calligrapher's technique also influences the result, as the look of finished characters are influenced by the quantity of ink and water the calligrapher lets the brush absorb and by the pressure, inclination, and direction of the brush. Changing these variables produces thinner or bolder strokes, and smooth or toothed borders. Eventually, the speed, accelerations and decelerations of a skilled calligrapher's movements aim to give "spirit" to the characters, greatly influencing their final shapes.
Styles
Cursive styles such as xíngshū (行書/行书)(semi-cursive or running script) and cǎoshū (草書/草书)(cursive, rough script, or grass script) are less constrained and faster, where movements made by the writing implement are more visible. These styles' stroke orders vary more, sometimes creating radically different forms. They are descended from the clerical script, in the same time as the regular script (Han dynasty), but xíngshū and cǎoshū were used for personal notes only, and never used as a standard. The cǎoshū style was highly appreciated during Emperor Wu of Han's reign (140–187 CE).[citation needed]
Examples of modern printed styles are Song from the Song dynasty's printing press, and sans-serif. These are not considered traditional styles, and are normally not written.
Influences
Japanese and Korean calligraphy were each greatly influenced by Chinese calligraphy. Calligraphy has influenced most major art styles in East Asia, including ink and wash painting, a style of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean painting based entirely on calligraphy and which uses similar tools and techniques.
The Japanese and Koreans have also developed their own specific sensibilities and styles of calligraphy while incorporating Chinese influences.
Japan
Japanese calligraphy goes out of the set of CJK strokes to also include local alphabets such as hiragana and katakana, with specific problematics such as new curves and moves, and specific materials (Japanese paper, washi 和紙, and Japanese ink).
Korea
The modern Korean alphabet and its use of the circle required the creation of a new technique not used in traditional Chinese calligraphy.
Mongolia
Mongolian calligraphy is also influenced by Chinese calligraphy, from tools to style.[citation needed][further explanation needed]
Tibet
Tibetan calligraphy is central to Tibetan culture. The script is derived from Indic scripts. The nobles of Tibet, such as the High Lamas and inhabitants of the Potala Palace, were often capable calligraphers. Tibet has been a center of Buddhism for several centuries, with said religion placing a high significance on the written word. This does not provide for a large body of secular pieces, although they do exist (but are usually related in some way to Tibetan Buddhism). Almost all high religious writing involved calligraphy, including letters sent by the Dalai Lama and other religious and secular authorities. Calligraphy is particularly evident on their prayer wheels, although this calligraphy was forged rather than scribed, much like Arab and Roman calligraphy is often found on buildings. Although originally done with a reed, Tibetan calligraphers now use chisel tipped pens and markers as well.[citation needed]
Southeast Asia
Philippines
The Philippines has numerous ancient and indigenous scripts collectively called as Suyat scripts. Various ethno-linguistic groups in the Philippines prior to Spanish colonization in the 16th century up to the independence era in the 21st century have used the scripts with various mediums. By the end of colonialism, only four of the suyat scripts had survived and continued to be used by certain communities in everyday life. These four scripts are Hanunó'o/Hanunoo of the Hanuno'o Mangyan people, Buhid/Build of the Buhid Mangyan people, Tagbanwa script of the Tagbanwa people, and Palaw'an/Pala'wan of the Palaw'an people. All four scripts were inscribed in the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme, under the name Philippine Paleographs (Hanunoo, Build, Tagbanua and Pala’wan), in 1999.
Due to dissent from colonialism, many artists and cultural experts have revived the usage of suyat scripts that went extinct due their replacement by the Spanish-introduced Latin alphabet. These scripts being revived include the Kulitan script of the Kapampangan people, the badlit script of various Visayan ethnic groups, the Iniskaya script of the Eskaya people, the Baybayin script of the Tagalog people, and the Kur-itan script of the Ilocano people, among many others. Due to the diversity of suyat scripts, all calligraphy written in suyat scripts are collectively called as Filipino suyat calligraphy, although each are distinct from each other. Calligraphy using the Western alphabet and the Arabic alphabet are also prevalent in the Philippines due to its colonial past, but the Western alphabet and the Arabic alphabet are not considered as suyat, and therefore Western-alphabet and Arabic calligraphy are not considered as suyat calligraphy.
Vietnam
Vietnamese calligraphy is called thư pháp (書法, literally "the way of letters or words") and is based on Chữ Nôm and Chữ Hán, the historical Vietnamese writing system rooted in the impact of Chinese characters and replaced with the Latin alphabet as a result of French colonial influence. However, the calligraphic traditions maintaining the historical employment of Han characters continue to be preserved in modern Vietnamese calligraphy.
South Asia
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Religious texts preservation is the most common purpose for Indian calligraphy. Monastic Buddhist communities had members trained in calligraphy and shared responsibility for duplicating sacred scriptures.Jaina traders incorporated illustrated manuscripts celebrating Jaina saints. These manuscripts were produced using inexpensive material, like palm leave and birch, with fine calligraphy.
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Nepal
Nepalese calligraphy is primarily created using the Ranjana script. The script itself, along with its derivatives (like Lantsa, Phagpa, Kutila) are used in Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, Leh, Mongolia, coastal Japan, and Korea to write "Om mani padme hum" and other sacred Buddhist texts, mainly those derived from Sanskrit and Pali.[citation needed]
Africa
Egypt
Egyptian hieroglyphs were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt. Hieroglyphs combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with a total of some 1,000 distinct characters.
Ethiopia
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Ethiopian (Abyssinian) calligraphy began with the Ge'ez script, which replaced Epigraphic South Arabian in the Kingdom of Aksum, which was developed specifically for Ethiopian Semitic languages. In those languages that use it, such as Amharic and Tigrinya, the script is called Fidäl, which means script or alphabet. The Epigraphic South Arabian letters were used for a few inscriptions into the 8th century, though not in any South Arabian language since Dʿmt.
Early inscriptions in Ge'ez and Ge'ez script are dated to as early as the 5th century BCE, with a sort of proto-Ge'ez written in ESA since the 9th century BCE. Ge'ez literature begins with the Christianization of Ethiopia (and the civilization of Axum) in the 4th century, during the reign of Ezana of Axum.
The Ge'ez script is read from left to right and has been adapted to write other languages, usually ones that are also Semitic. The most widespread use is for Amharic in Ethiopia and Tigrinya in Eritrea and Ethiopia.[citation needed]
Americas
Maya
Maya calligraphy was expressed via Maya glyphs; modern Maya calligraphy is mainly used on seals and monuments in the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. Maya glyphs are rarely used in government offices; however, in Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo, calligraphy in Maya languages is written in Latin script rather than Maya glyphs. Some commercial companies in southern Mexico use Maya glyphs as symbols of their business. Some community associations and modern Maya brotherhoods use Maya glyphs as symbols of their groups.[citation needed]
Most of the archaeological sites in Mexico such as Chichen Itza, Labna, Uxmal, Edzna, Calakmul, etc. have glyphs in their structures. Carved stone monuments known as stele are common sources of ancient Maya calligraphy.[citation needed]
Europe
- Folio 27r from the Lindisfarne Gospels (c. 700) contains the incipit from the Gospel of Matthew.
- Calligraphy in a Latin Bible of 1407 on display in Malmesbury Abbey, England. This Bible was hand-written in Belgium, by Gerard Brils, for reading aloud in a monastery.
- Georgian calligraphy is a centuries-old tradition of an artistic writing of the Georgian language with its three scripts.
- Modern Western calligraphy
Calligraphy in Europe is recognizable in the use of the Latin script in Western Europe, and in the use of the Greek, Armenian, and Georgian, and Cyrillic scripts in Eastern Europe.
Ancient Rome
The Latin alphabet appeared about 600 BCE in ancient Rome, and by the first century CE it had developed into Roman imperial capitals carved on stones, rustic capitals painted on walls, and Roman cursive for daily use. In the second and third centuries the uncial lettering style developed. As writing withdrew to monasteries, uncial script was found more suitable for copying the Bible and other religious texts. It was the monasteries which preserved calligraphic traditions during the fourth and fifth centuries, when the Roman Empire fell and Europe entered the early Middle Ages.
At the height of the Roman Empire, its power reached as far as Great Britain; when the empire fell, its literary influence remained. The Semi-uncial generated the Irish Semi-uncial, the small Anglo-Saxon. Each region developed its own standards following the main monastery of the region (i.e. Merovingian script, Laon script, Luxeuil script, Visigothic script, Beneventan script), which are mostly cursive and hardly readable[opinion][clarification needed].
Western Christendom
Christian churches promoted the development of writing through the prolific copying of the Bible, the Breviary, and other sacred texts. Two distinct styles of writing known as uncial and half-uncial (from the Latin uncia, or "inch") developed from a variety of Roman bookhands. The 7th–9th centuries in northern Europe were the heyday of Celtic illuminated manuscripts, such as the Book of Durrow, Lindisfarne Gospels and the Book of Kells.
Charlemagne's devotion to improved scholarship resulted in the recruiting of "a crowd of scribes", according to Alcuin, the Abbot of York. Alcuin developed the style known as the Caroline or Carolingian minuscule. The first manuscript in this hand was the Godescalc Evangelistary (finished 783) – a Gospel book written by the scribe Godescalc. Carolingian remains the one progenitor hand from which modern booktype descends.
In the eleventh century, the Caroline evolved into the blackletter ("Gothic") script, which was more compact and made it possible to fit more text on a page.: 72 The Gothic calligraphy styles became dominant throughout Europe and, in 1454, when Johannes Gutenberg developed the first printing press in Mainz, Germany, the Gothic style was adopted for its use, making it the first typeface.: 141
In the 15th century, the rediscovery of old Carolingian texts encouraged the creation of the humanist minuscule or littera antiqua. The 17th century saw the Batarde script from France, and the 18th century saw the English script spread across Europe and world through their books.
In the mid-1600s French officials, flooded with documents written in various hands and varied levels of skill, complained that many such documents were beyond their ability to decipher. The Office of the Financier thereupon restricted all legal documents to three hands, namely the Coulee, the Rhonde, (known as Round hand in English) and a Speed Hand sometimes called the Bastarda.
While there were many great French masters at the time, the most influential in proposing these hands was Louis Barbedor, who published Les Ecritures Financière Et Italienne Bastarde Dans Leur Naturel c. 1650.
With the destruction of the Camera Apostolica during the sack of Rome (1527), the capitol for writing masters moved to Southern France. By 1600, the Italic Cursiva began to be replaced by a technological refinement, the Italic Chancery Circumflessa, which in turn fathered the Rhonde and later English Roundhand.
In England, Ayres and Banson popularized the Round Hand while Snell is noted for his reaction to them, and warnings of restraint and proportionality. Still Edward Crocker began publishing his copybooks 40 years before the aforementioned.[clarification needed]
Eastern Europe
Other European styles use the same tools and practices, but differ by character set and stylistic preferences. For Slavonic lettering, the history of the Slavonic and consequently Russian writing systems differs fundamentally from the one of the Latin language, having evolved from the 10th century to today.
Style
Unlike a typeface, handwritten calligraphy is characterised by irregularity in the characters which vary in size, shape, style, and color, producing a distinct aesthetic value, although it may also make the content more difficult to decode for some readers. As with Chinese or Islamic calligraphy, Western calligraphic script employed the use of strict rules and shapes. Quality writing had a rhythm and regularity to the letters, with a "geometrical" order of the lines on the page. Each character had, and often still has, a precise stroke order.
Sacred Western calligraphy has some unique features, such as the illumination of the first letter of each book or chapter in medieval times. A decorative "carpet page" may precede the literature, filled with ornate, geometrical depictions of bold-hued animals. The Lindisfarne Gospels (715–720 CE) are an early example. Many of the themes and variations of today's contemporary Western calligraphy are found in the pages of The Saint John's Bible. A particularly modern example is Timothy Botts' illustrated edition of the Bible, with 360 calligraphic images as well as a calligraphy typeface.
Islamic world
- The phrase Bismillah in an 18th-century Islamic calligraphy from the Ottoman region
- Bowl with Kufic Calligraphy, (Persia) 10th century
- Sample showing Nastaliq proportional rules (Persian and Urdu languages)[citation needed]
Islamic calligraphy has evolved alongside Islam and the Arabic language. As it is based on Arabic letters, some call it "Arabic calligraphy". However the term "Islamic calligraphy" is a more appropriate term as it comprises all works of calligraphy by Muslim calligraphers of different national cultures, such as Persian or Ottoman calligraphy, from Al-Andalus in medieval Spain to China.
Islamic calligraphy is associated with geometric Islamic art (Arabesque) on the walls and ceilings of mosques as well as on the page or other materials. Contemporary artists in the Islamic world may draw on the heritage of calligraphy to create modern calligraphic inscriptions, like corporate logos, or abstractions.
Instead of recalling something related to the spoken word, calligraphy for Muslims is a visible expression of the highest art of all, the art of the spiritual world. Calligraphy has arguably become the most venerated form of Islamic art because it provides a link between the languages of the Muslims with the religion of Islam. The Qur'an has played an important role in the development and evolution of the Arabic language, and by extension, calligraphy in the Arabic alphabet. Proverbs and passages from the Qur'an continue to be sources for Islamic calligraphy.
During the Ottoman civilization, Islamic calligraphy attained special prominence. The city of Istanbul is an open exhibition hall for all kinds and varieties of calligraphy, from inscriptions in mosques to fountains, schools, houses, etc.
Antiquity
It is believed[by whom?] that ancient Persian script was invented by about 600–500 BCE to provide monument inscriptions for the Achaemenid kings.[citation needed] These scripts consisted of horizontal, vertical, and diagonal nail-shape letters, which is why it is called cuneiform script (lit. "script of nails") (khat-e-mikhi) in Persian.[relevant?] Centuries later, other scripts such as "Pahlavi" and "Avestan" scripts were used in ancient Persia. Pahlavi was a middle Persian script developed from the Aramaic script and became the official script of the Sassanian empire (224–651 CE).[citation needed]
Contemporary scripts
The Nasta'liq style is the most popular contemporary style among classical Persian calligraphy scripts;[citation needed] Persian calligraphers call it the "bride of calligraphy scripts." This calligraphy style has been based on such a rigid structure that it has changed very little since Mir Ali Tabrizi had found the optimum composition of the letters and graphical rules.[citation needed][opinion] It has just been fine-tuned during the past seven centuries.[clarification needed] It has very strict rules for graphical shape of the letters and for combination of the letters, words, and composition of the whole calligraphy piece.[citation needed]
Modern calligraphy
Revival
After printing became ubiquitous from the 15th century onward, the production of illuminated manuscripts began to decline.[full citation needed] However, the rise of printing did not mean the end of calligraphy. A clear distinction between handwriting and more elaborate forms of lettering and script began to make its way into manuscripts and books at the beginning of the 16th century.
The modern revival of calligraphy began at the end of the 19th century, influenced by the aesthetics and philosophy of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement. Edward Johnston is regarded as being the father of modern calligraphy. After studying published copies of manuscripts by architect William Harrison Cowlishaw, he was introduced to William Lethaby in 1898, principal of the Central School of Arts and Crafts, who advised him to study manuscripts at the British Museum.
This triggered Johnston's interest in the art of calligraphy with the use of a broad-edged pen. He began a teaching course in calligraphy at the Central School in Southampton Row, London from September 1899, where he influenced the typeface designer and sculptor Eric Gill. He was commissioned by Frank Pick to design a new typeface for London Underground, still used today (with minor modifications).
He has been credited for single-handedly reviving the art of modern penmanship and lettering through his books and teachings[by whom?] – his handbook on the subject, Writing & Illuminating, & Lettering (1906) was particularly influential on a generation of British typographers and calligraphers, including Graily Hewitt, Stanley Morison, Eric Gill, Alfred Fairbank and Anna Simons. Johnston also devised the crafted round calligraphic handwriting style, written with a broad pen, known today as the Foundational hand. Johnston initially taught his students an uncial hand using a flat pen angle, but later taught his hand using a slanted pen angle. He first referred to this hand as "Foundational Hand" in his 1909 publication, Manuscript & Inscription Letters for Schools and Classes and for the Use of Craftsmen.
Subsequent developments
Graily Hewitt taught at the Central School of Arts and Crafts and published together with Johnston throughout the early part of the century. Hewitt was central[citation needed] to the revival of gilding in calligraphy, and his prolific output on type design also appeared between 1915 and 1943. He is attributed with the revival of gilding with gesso and gold leaf on vellum. Hewitt helped found the Society of Scribes & Illuminators (SSI) in 1921, probably the world's foremost calligraphy society.[citation needed]
This article contains wording that promotes the subject in a subjective manner without imparting real information.(October 2024) |
Hewitt is not without both critics[full citation needed] and supporters in his rendering of Cennino Cennini's medieval gesso recipes.Donald Jackson, a British calligrapher, has sourced his gesso recipes from earlier centuries, a number of which are not presently in English translation. Graily Hewitt created the patent announcing the award to Prince Philip of the title of Duke of Edinburgh on November 19, 1947, the day before his marriage to Queen Elizabeth.[clarification needed]
Anna Simons, Johnston's pupil, was instrumental in sparking interest in calligraphy in Germany with her German translation of Writing and Illuminating, and Lettering in 1910. Austrian Rudolf Larisch, a teacher of lettering at the Vienna School of Art, published six lettering books that greatly influenced German-speaking calligraphers. Because German-speaking countries had not abandoned the Gothic hand in printing, Gothic also had a powerful effect on their styles.
Rudolf Koch was a friend and younger contemporary of Larisch. Koch's books, type designs, and teaching made him one of the most influential calligraphers of the 20th century in northern Europe and later in the U.S. Larisch and Koch taught and inspired many European calligraphers, notably Karlgeorg Hoefer and Hermann Zapf.
Contemporary typefaces used by computers, from word processors like Microsoft Word or Apple Pages to professional design software packages like Adobe InDesign, find their roots in the both calligraphy of the past as well as several professional typeface designers.
- Banknote motif: number 5 against a circular panel of lace-like lathe work with a scalloped edge
- Chinese soldier in calligraphy competition
- Edward Johnston, a famous British calligrapher, at work in 1902
See also
- Handwriting script – Style of handwriting
- Asemic writing – Wordless open semantic form of writing
- Bastarda – Blackletter script used in France and Germany
- Blackletter – Historic European script and typeface
- Book hand – Legible handwriting style
- Brāhmī script – Ancient script of Central and South Asia
- Calligraffiti – Calligraphy/typography/graffiti art form
- Chancery hand – Any of several styles of historic handwriting
- Concrete poetry – Genre of poetry with lines arranged as a shape
- Court hand – Style of handwriting used in medieval English law courts
- Cursive – Style of penmanship
- Handstyle – In graffiti culture, the unique handwriting of an artist
- Handwriting – Writing created by a person with a writing implement
- History of writing
- Italic script – Style of handwriting and calligraphy developed in Italy
- Lettering – The art of drawing letters
- List of calligraphers
- Mathematical Alphanumeric Symbols – Unicode block
- Micrography – Art genre using minute Hebrew letters
- Palaeography – Study of handwriting and manuscripts
- Penmanship – Technique of writing with the hand
- Ronde script (calligraphy)
- Rotunda (script) – Medieval blackletter script
- Round hand – Type of handwriting
- Secretary hand – Style of European handwriting
- Siyah mashq – Calligraphic practice sheets
- Sofer – Jewish scribe
- Tag (graffiti) – Form of graffiti
Notes
- Calligraphy in Arabic is khatt ul-yad (خط اليد) and in Persian is Khosh-Nevisi (خوشنویسی.
- Such as the Ramsey Psalter, BL, Harley MS 2904
References
- Mediaville, Claude (1996). Calligraphy: From Calligraphy to Abstract Painting. Belgium: Scirpus-Publications. ISBN 978-90-803325-1-5.
- Pott, G. (2006). Kalligrafie: Intensiv Training [Calligraphy: Intensive Training] (in German). Verlag Hermann Schmidt. ISBN 978-3-87439-700-1.
- Pott, G. (2005). Kalligrafie: Erste Hilfe und Schrift-Training mit Muster-Alphabeten (in German). Verlag Hermann Schmidt. ISBN 978-3-87439-675-2.
- Zapf 2007.
- Zapf, H. (2006). The World of Alphabets: A kaleidoscope of drawings and letterforms. CD-ROM
- Propfe, J. (2005). SchreibKunstRaume: Kalligraphie im Raum Verlag (in German). Munich: Callwey Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7667-1630-9.
- Geddes, A.; Dion, C. (2004). Miracle: a celebration of new life. Auckland: Photogenique Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7407-4696-3.
- Reaves, M.; Schulte, E. (2006). Brush Lettering: An instructional manual in Western brush calligraphy (Revised ed.). New York: Design Books.
- Child, H., ed. (1985). The Calligrapher's Handbook. Taplinger Publishing Co.
- Lamb, C.M., ed. (1976) [1956]. Calligrapher's Handbook. Pentalic.
- "Paper Properties in Arabic calligraphy". calligraphyfonts.info. Archived from the original on 13 March 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2007.
- "uncial, adj. & n.", Oxford English Dictionary (3 ed.), Oxford University Press, 2 March 2023, doi:10.1093/OED/6245926565, retrieved 3 February 2025
- "Calligraphy Islamic website". Calligraphyislamic.com. Archived from the original on 8 June 2012. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
- Sato, Shozo (11 March 2014). Shodo: The Quiet Art of Japanese Zen Calligraphy, Learn the Wisdom of Zen Through Traditional Brush Painting. Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4629-1188-2.
- Nornes, Abé Markus (22 February 2021). Brushed in Light: Calligraphy in East Asian Cinema. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-13255-3.
- Keightley, 1978.
- "Categories of Calligraphy – Seal Script". Retrieved 30 May 2018.
- "The Bell and Cauldron Inscriptions-A Feast of Chinese Characters: The Origin and Development_Mao Gong Ding". Archived from the original on 18 October 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
- Fazzioli, Edoardo (1987). Chinese Calligraphy: From Pictograph to Ideogram: The History Of 214 Essential Chinese/Japanese Characters. Calligraphy by Rebecca Hon Ko. New York: Abbeville Press. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-89659-774-7.
And so the first Chinese dictionary was born, the Sān Chāng, containing 3,300 characters
- Xigui, Qiu (2000). Chinese writing. Society for the study of Early China. p. 103. ISBN 1-55729-071-7. OCLC 470162569.
- Z. "Chinese Calligraphy". Archived from the original on 27 July 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
- 康熙字典 [Kangxi Zidian] (in Chinese). 1716. p. 41.. See, for example, the radicals 卩, 厂, or 广. The 2007 common shape for those characters does not clearly show the stroke order, but old versions, visible on p. 41, clearly allow the stroke order to be determined.
- Li, J., ed. (n.d.). ""Four treasures of Study" tour". Retrieved 30 May 2018.
- Suzuki, Yuuko (2005). An introduction to Japanese calligraphy. Tunbridge Wells: Search. ISBN 978-1-84448-057-9.
- "Philippine Paleographs (Hanunoo, Buid, Tagbanua and Pala'wan) – United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization". www.unesco.org.
- "'Educate first': Filipinos react to Baybayin as national writing system". 27 April 2018.
- "House panel approves Baybayin as national writing system". SunStar. 24 April 2018.
- "5 things to know about PH's pre-Hispanic writing system". ABS-CBN News. 25 April 2018.
- Stanley Baldwin O. See (15 August 2016). "A primer on Baybayin". gmanetwork.com.
- Michael Wilson I. Rosero (26 April 2018). "The Baybayin bill and the never ending search for 'Filipino-ness'". CNN Philippines. Archived from the original on 5 May 2020.
- "10 Perfectly Awesome Calligraphers You Need To Check Out". brideandbreakfast.ph. 12 August 2015.
- Deni Rose M. Afinidad-Bernardo (1 June 2018). "How to ace in script lettering". philstar.com.
- VietnamPlus (9 February 2022). "Vietnamese Traditional Calligraphy During Tet | Festival | Vietnam+ (VietnamPlus)". VietnamPlus. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
- Salomon, Richard (1998). Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195099843.
- Mitter, Partha (2001). Indian Art. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. p. 100. ISBN 9780192842213.
- Sabard, V.; Geneslay, V.; Rébéna, L. (2004). Calligraphie latine: Initiation [Latin calligraphy: Introduction] (in French) (7th ed.). Paris: Fleurus. pp. 8–11. ISBN 978-2-215-02130-8.
- "Insular Manuscripts: Paleography, Section 6: Language on the Page in Insular Manuscripts, Layout and Legibility". Virtual Hill Museum & Manuscript Library. Archived from the original on 19 November 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
- de Hamel 2001a.
- Knight, Stan (1998). Historical scripts: from Classical Times to the Renaissance (2nd, Corrected ed.). New Castle, Del: Oak Knoll Press. pp. 9–10. ISBN 9781884718564.
- Trinity College Library Dublin 2006; Walther & Wolf 2005; Brown & Lovett 1999: 40; Backhouse 1981[full citation needed]
- Jackson 1981: 641[full citation needed]
- Walther & Wolf 2005; de Hamel 1994: 46–481[full citation needed]
- de Hamel 1994: 461[full citation needed]
- Lovett, Patricia (2000). Calligraphy and Illumination: A History and Practical Guide. Harry N. Abrams. ISBN 978-0-8109-4119-9.
- Joyce Irene Whalley (c. 1980). The Art of Calligraphy, Western Europe & America.
- Brown, M.P. (2004). Painted Labyrinth: The World of the Lindisfarne Gospel (Revised ed.). British Library.
- The Bible: New Living Translation. Tyndale House Publishers. 2000.
- "CALLIGRAPHY IN ISTANBUL | History of Istanbul". istanbultarihi.ist. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
- de Hamel 1986
- Gilderdale 1999; Gray 1971[full citation needed]
- "The Legacy of Edward Johnston". The Edward Johnston Foundation.
- Cockerell 1945; Morris 1882
- "Font Designer — Edward Johnston". Linotype GmbH. Retrieved 5 November 2007.
- "The Eric Gill Society: Associates of the Guild: Edward Johnston". Archived from the original on 10 October 2008.
- Gilderdale 1999[full citation needed]
- Baines & Dixon 2003: 81[full citation needed]
- Tresser 2006
- Whitley 2000: 90[full citation needed]
- Herringham 1899[full citation needed]
- Jackson 1981: 81[full citation needed]
- Hewitt 1944–1953[full citation needed]
- Cinamon 2001; Kapr 1991[full citation needed]
- Henning, W.E. (2002). Melzer, P. (ed.). An Elegant Hand: The Golden Age of American Penmanship and Calligraphy. New Castle, Delaware: Oak Knoll Press. ISBN 978-1-58456-067-8.
Works cited
- Benson, John Howard; Carrey, Arthur Graham (1940). The Elements of Lettering. Newport, Rhode Island: John Stevens.
- Benson, John Howard (1955). The First Writing Book: an English translation & fascimile text of Arrighi's Operina, the first Manual of the chancery hand. London: Oxford University Press.
- de Hamel, C. (2001a). The Book: A History of the Bible. Phaidon Press.
- Diringer, David (1968). The Alphabet: A Key to the History of Mankind. Vol. 1 (3rd ed.). London: Hutchinson & Co. p. 441.
- Fairbank, Alfred (1975). Augustino Da Siena, the 1568 edition of his writing book in fascimile. London: The Merrion Press. ISBN 0-87923-128-9.
- Fraser, M.; Kwiatowski, W. (2006). Ink and Gold: Islamic Calligraphy. London: Sam Fogg Ltd.
- Gaze, Tim; Jacobson, Michael, eds. (2013). An Anthology of Asemic Handwriting. Brooklyn, NY: Punctum Books. ISBN 978-90-817091-7-0. OCLC 1100489411.
- Kosack, Wolfgang (2014). Islamische Schriftkunst des Kufischen: geometrisches Kufi in 593 Schriftbeispielen (in German). Basel: Verlag Christoph Brunner. ISBN 978-3-906206-10-3. OCLC 894692503.
- Johnston, E. (1909). "Plate 6". Manuscript & Inscription Letters: For schools and classes and for the use of craftsmen. San Vito Press & Double Elephant Press. 10th Impression
- Marns, F.A (2002). Various, copperplate and form. London.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Shepherd, Margaret (2013). Learn World Calligraphy: Discover African, Arabic, Chinese, Ethiopic, Greek, Hebrew, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Russian, Thai, Tibetan Calligraphy, and Beyond. Crown Publishing Group. p. 192. ISBN 978-0-8230-8230-8.
- Mediavilla, Claude (2006). Histoire de la calligraphie française (in French). Paris: Michel. ISBN 978-2-226-17283-9.
- Ogg, Oscar (1954). Three classics of Italian Calligraphy, an unabridged reissue of the writing books of Arrighi, Giovanni Antonio Tagliente & Palatino, with an introduction. New York, US: Dover Publications.
- Osley, A. S., ed. (1965). Calligraphy and Paleography, Essays presented to Alfred Fairbank on his 70th birthday. New York: October House Inc.
- Schimmel, Annemarie (1984). Calligraphy and Islamic Culture. New York University Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-7830-2.
- Wolpe, Berthold (1959). A Newe Writing Booke of Copies, 1574: A fascimile of a unique Elisabethan Writing book in the Bodleian Library Oxford'. London: Lion and Unicorn Press.
- Zapf, H. (2007). Alphabet Stories: A Chronicle of technical developments. Rochester, NY: Cary Graphic Arts Press. ISBN 978-1-933360-22-5.
External links
- Calligraphy alphabets, a list of major historical scripts (simplified version) at Lettering Daily
- French Renaissance Paleography This is a scholarly maintained site that presents over 100 carefully selected French manuscripts from 1300 to 1700, with tools to decipher and transcribe them.
This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these messages This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia s quality standards The specific problem is There are many grammatical and formatting errors thus hampering the clarity and quality of the article Please help improve this article if you can January 2023 Learn how and when to remove this message This article may be confusing or unclear to readers Please help clarify the article There might be a discussion about this on the talk page January 2023 Learn how and when to remove this message Learn how and when to remove this message Calligraphy from Ancient Greek kalligrafia kalligraphia beautiful writing is a visual art related to writing It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen ink brush or other writing instruments 17 Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as the art of giving form to signs in an expressive harmonious and skillful manner 18 Various examples of calligraphy in different languages and writing systems throughout history In East Asia and the Islamic world where more flexibility is allowed in written forms calligraphy is regarded as a significant art form and the form it takes may be affected by the meaning of the text or the individual words Modern Western calligraphy ranges from functional inscriptions and designs to fine art pieces where the letters may or may not be readable page needed Classical calligraphy differs from type design and non classical hand lettering though a calligrapher may practice both Western calligraphy continues to flourish in the forms of wedding invitations and event invitations font design and typography original hand lettered logo design religious art announcements graphic design and commissioned calligraphic art cut stone inscriptions and memorial documents It is also used for props moving images for film and television testimonials birth and death certificates maps and other written works ToolsPens and brushes DA calligraphic nib with part namesInk brushes of various size and material The principal tools for a calligrapher are the pen and the brush The pens used in calligraphy can have nibs that may be flat round or pointed For decorative purposes multi nibbed pens steel brushes can be used However works have also been created with felt tip and ballpoint pens although these works do not employ angled lines There are certain styles of calligraphy such as Gothic script that require a stub nib pen The examples and perspective in this section deal primarily with Western World and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject You may improve this section discuss the issue on the or create a new section as appropriate October 2024 Learn how and when to remove this message Common calligraphy pens and brushes include Quill Dip pen Ink brush Qalam Fountain pen Chiselled marker Reed penInks papers and templates The ink used for writing is usually water based and is much less viscous than the oil based ink used in printing Certain specialty paper with high ink absorption and constant texture enables cleaner lines although parchment or vellum is often used as a knife can be used to erase imperfections and a light box is not needed to allow lines to be visible through it Normally light boxes and templates are used to achieve straight lines without pencil markings detracting from the work Ruled paper either for a light box or direct use is most often ruled every quarter or half an inch although inch spaces are occasionally used This is the case with Uncial script hence the name litterea unciales which roughly translates to inch high letters and college ruled paper often acts as a guideline well East AsiaChinese calligraphy is locally called shufǎ or fǎshu 書法 or 法書 in traditional Chinese literally the method or law of writing Japanese calligraphy is shodō 書道 literally the way or principle of writing and Korean calligraphy is called seoye Korean 서예 Hanja 書藝 literally the art of writing The calligraphy of East Asian characters continues to form an important and appreciated constituent of contemporary traditional East Asian culture examples needed citation needed Calligraphy samples from East AsiaOn Calligraphy by Mi Fu Song dynasty China Japanese calligraphy Two Chinese characters 平和 meaning peace and the signature of Japanese calligrapher Ōura Kanetake 1910 Horizontal writing Calligraphy by one of Korea s most celebrated calligraphists Kim Jeong hui 1786 1856 Modern Korean calligraphy in Hangul meaning Wiktionary History In ancient China the oldest known Chinese characters are oracle bone script 甲骨文 carved on ox scapulae and tortoise plastrons as the rulers in the Shang dynasty carved pits on such animals bones and then baked them to gain auspice of military affairs agricultural harvest or even procreation and weather During the divination ceremony after the cracks were made further explanation needed the characters were written with a brush on the shell or bone to be later carved full citation needed With the development of the bronzeware script jin wen and large seal script da zhuan cursive signs continued further explanation needed Mao Gong Ding is one of the most famous and typical bronzeware scripts in Chinese calligraphic history It has 500 characters inscribed onto the bronze which is the largest number of bronze inscription we have discovered so far clarification needed Moreover each archaic kingdom of current China had its own set of characters In Imperial China the graphs on old steles some dating from 200 BCE and in the small seal script 小篆 xiǎo zhuan style have been preserved and can be viewed in museums even today About 220 BCE the emperor Qin Shi Huang the first to conquer the entire Chinese basin imposed several reforms among them Li Si s character unification which created a set of 3300 standardized small seal characters Despite the fact that the main writing implement of the time was already the brush few papers survive from this period and the main examples of this style are on steles The clerical script 隸書 隸书 li shu which was more regularized and in some ways similar to modern text was also authorised under Qin Shi Huang Between clerical script and traditional regular script there is another transitional type of calligraphic work called It started during the North and South dynasties 420 to 589 CE and ended before the Tang dynasty 618 907 The traditional regular script kǎi shu still in use today and largely finalized by Zhong You 鐘繇 151 230 and his followers is even more regularized Its spread was encouraged by Emperor Mingzong of Later Tang 926 933 who ordered the printing of the classics using new wooden blocks in kaishu further explanation needed Printing technologies here allowed a shape stabilization The kaishu shape of characters 1000 years ago was mostly similar to that at the end of Imperial China citation needed However small changes to the characters have been made For example the shape of 广 has changed from the version in the Kangxi Dictionary of 1716 to the version found in modern books The Kangxi and current shapes have tiny differences while stroke order remains the same according to the old style Styles which did not survive include bafenshu a mix of 80 small seal script and 20 clerical script clarification needed Some variant Chinese characters were unorthodox or locally used for centuries They were generally understood but always rejected in official texts Some of these unorthodox variants in addition to some newly created characters compose the simplified Chinese character set citation needed Technique Traditional East Asian writing uses the Four Treasures of the Study ink brushes known as maobǐ 毛筆 毛笔 Chinese ink paper and inkstones to write Chinese characters These instruments of writing are also known as the Four Friends of the Study Korean 문방사우 文房四友 romanized Munbang sau in Korea Besides the traditional four tools desk pads and paperweights are also used Many different parameters influence the final result of a calligrapher s work Physical parameters include the shape size stretch and hair type of the ink brush the color color density and water density of the ink as well as the paper s water absorption speed and surface texture The calligrapher s technique also influences the result as the look of finished characters are influenced by the quantity of ink and water the calligrapher lets the brush absorb and by the pressure inclination and direction of the brush Changing these variables produces thinner or bolder strokes and smooth or toothed borders Eventually the speed accelerations and decelerations of a skilled calligrapher s movements aim to give spirit to the characters greatly influencing their final shapes Styles Cursive styles such as xingshu 行書 行书 semi cursive or running script and cǎoshu 草書 草书 cursive rough script or grass script are less constrained and faster where movements made by the writing implement are more visible These styles stroke orders vary more sometimes creating radically different forms They are descended from the clerical script in the same time as the regular script Han dynasty but xingshu and cǎoshu were used for personal notes only and never used as a standard The cǎoshu style was highly appreciated during Emperor Wu of Han s reign 140 187 CE citation needed Examples of modern printed styles are Song from the Song dynasty s printing press and sans serif These are not considered traditional styles and are normally not written Influences Japanese and Korean calligraphy were each greatly influenced by Chinese calligraphy Calligraphy has influenced most major art styles in East Asia including ink and wash painting a style of Chinese Japanese and Korean painting based entirely on calligraphy and which uses similar tools and techniques The Japanese and Koreans have also developed their own specific sensibilities and styles of calligraphy while incorporating Chinese influences Japan Japanese calligraphy goes out of the set of CJK strokes to also include local alphabets such as hiragana and katakana with specific problematics such as new curves and moves and specific materials Japanese paper washi 和紙 and Japanese ink Korea The modern Korean alphabet and its use of the circle required the creation of a new technique not used in traditional Chinese calligraphy Mongolia Mongolian calligraphy is also influenced by Chinese calligraphy from tools to style citation needed further explanation needed Tibet Tibetan calligraphy is central to Tibetan culture The script is derived from Indic scripts The nobles of Tibet such as the High Lamas and inhabitants of the Potala Palace were often capable calligraphers Tibet has been a center of Buddhism for several centuries with said religion placing a high significance on the written word This does not provide for a large body of secular pieces although they do exist but are usually related in some way to Tibetan Buddhism Almost all high religious writing involved calligraphy including letters sent by the Dalai Lama and other religious and secular authorities Calligraphy is particularly evident on their prayer wheels although this calligraphy was forged rather than scribed much like Arab and Roman calligraphy is often found on buildings Although originally done with a reed Tibetan calligraphers now use chisel tipped pens and markers as well citation needed Southeast AsiaPhilippines The Philippines has numerous ancient and indigenous scripts collectively called as Suyat scripts Various ethno linguistic groups in the Philippines prior to Spanish colonization in the 16th century up to the independence era in the 21st century have used the scripts with various mediums By the end of colonialism only four of the suyat scripts had survived and continued to be used by certain communities in everyday life These four scripts are Hanuno o Hanunoo of the Hanuno o Mangyan people Buhid Build of the Buhid Mangyan people Tagbanwa script of the Tagbanwa people and Palaw an Pala wan of the Palaw an people All four scripts were inscribed in the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme under the name Philippine Paleographs Hanunoo Build Tagbanua and Pala wan in 1999 Due to dissent from colonialism many artists and cultural experts have revived the usage of suyat scripts that went extinct due their replacement by the Spanish introduced Latin alphabet These scripts being revived include the Kulitan script of the Kapampangan people the badlit script of various Visayan ethnic groups the Iniskaya script of the Eskaya people the Baybayin script of the Tagalog people and the Kur itan script of the Ilocano people among many others Due to the diversity of suyat scripts all calligraphy written in suyat scripts are collectively called as Filipino suyat calligraphy although each are distinct from each other Calligraphy using the Western alphabet and the Arabic alphabet are also prevalent in the Philippines due to its colonial past but the Western alphabet and the Arabic alphabet are not considered as suyat and therefore Western alphabet and Arabic calligraphy are not considered as suyat calligraphy Vietnam Vietnamese calligraphy is called thư phap 書法 literally the way of letters or words and is based on Chữ Nom and Chữ Han the historical Vietnamese writing system rooted in the impact of Chinese characters and replaced with the Latin alphabet as a result of French colonial influence However the calligraphic traditions maintaining the historical employment of Han characters continue to be preserved in modern Vietnamese calligraphy South AsiaSikh Calligraphy in the Gurmukhi Script Religious texts preservation is the most common purpose for Indian calligraphy Monastic Buddhist communities had members trained in calligraphy and shared responsibility for duplicating sacred scriptures Jaina traders incorporated illustrated manuscripts celebrating Jaina saints These manuscripts were produced using inexpensive material like palm leave and birch with fine calligraphy Budha in Samrup Rachna Calligraphy by Syed Mohammed AnwerNepal Nepalese calligraphy is primarily created using the Ranjana script The script itself along with its derivatives like Lantsa Phagpa Kutila are used in Nepal Tibet Bhutan Leh Mongolia coastal Japan and Korea to write Om mani padme hum and other sacred Buddhist texts mainly those derived from Sanskrit and Pali citation needed AfricaEgypt Egyptian hieroglyphs were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt Hieroglyphs combined logographic syllabic and alphabetic elements with a total of some 1 000 distinct characters Ethiopia A painting of Susenyos I r 1607 1632 on a Ge ez prayer scroll meant to dispel evil spirits Wellcome Collection London Ethiopian Abyssinian calligraphy began with the Ge ez script which replaced Epigraphic South Arabian in the Kingdom of Aksum which was developed specifically for Ethiopian Semitic languages In those languages that use it such as Amharic and Tigrinya the script is called Fidal which means script or alphabet The Epigraphic South Arabian letters were used for a few inscriptions into the 8th century though not in any South Arabian language since Dʿmt Early inscriptions in Ge ez and Ge ez script are dated to as early as the 5th century BCE with a sort of proto Ge ez written in ESA since the 9th century BCE Ge ez literature begins with the Christianization of Ethiopia and the civilization of Axum in the 4th century during the reign of Ezana of Axum The Ge ez script is read from left to right and has been adapted to write other languages usually ones that are also Semitic The most widespread use is for Amharic in Ethiopia and Tigrinya in Eritrea and Ethiopia citation needed AmericasMaya Maya calligraphy was expressed via Maya glyphs modern Maya calligraphy is mainly used on seals and monuments in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico Maya glyphs are rarely used in government offices however in Campeche Yucatan and Quintana Roo calligraphy in Maya languages is written in Latin script rather than Maya glyphs Some commercial companies in southern Mexico use Maya glyphs as symbols of their business Some community associations and modern Maya brotherhoods use Maya glyphs as symbols of their groups citation needed Most of the archaeological sites in Mexico such as Chichen Itza Labna Uxmal Edzna Calakmul etc have glyphs in their structures Carved stone monuments known as stele are common sources of ancient Maya calligraphy citation needed EuropeCalligraphy samples from Europe and near EastFolio 27r from the Lindisfarne Gospels c 700 contains the incipit from the Gospel of Matthew Calligraphy in a Latin Bible of 1407 on display in Malmesbury Abbey England This Bible was hand written in Belgium by Gerard Brils for reading aloud in a monastery Georgian calligraphy is a centuries old tradition of an artistic writing of the Georgian language with its three scripts Modern Western calligraphy Calligraphy in Europe is recognizable in the use of the Latin script in Western Europe and in the use of the Greek Armenian and Georgian and Cyrillic scripts in Eastern Europe Ancient Rome The Latin alphabet appeared about 600 BCE in ancient Rome and by the first century CE it had developed into Roman imperial capitals carved on stones rustic capitals painted on walls and Roman cursive for daily use In the second and third centuries the uncial lettering style developed As writing withdrew to monasteries uncial script was found more suitable for copying the Bible and other religious texts It was the monasteries which preserved calligraphic traditions during the fourth and fifth centuries when the Roman Empire fell and Europe entered the early Middle Ages At the height of the Roman Empire its power reached as far as Great Britain when the empire fell its literary influence remained The Semi uncial generated the Irish Semi uncial the small Anglo Saxon Each region developed its own standards following the main monastery of the region i e Merovingian script Laon script Luxeuil script Visigothic script Beneventan script which are mostly cursive and hardly readable opinion clarification needed Western Christendom Christian churches promoted the development of writing through the prolific copying of the Bible the Breviary and other sacred texts Two distinct styles of writing known as uncial and half uncial from the Latin uncia or inch developed from a variety of Roman bookhands The 7th 9th centuries in northern Europe were the heyday of Celtic illuminated manuscripts such as the Book of Durrow Lindisfarne Gospels and the Book of Kells Charlemagne s devotion to improved scholarship resulted in the recruiting of a crowd of scribes according to Alcuin the Abbot of York Alcuin developed the style known as the Caroline or Carolingian minuscule The first manuscript in this hand was the Godescalc Evangelistary finished 783 a Gospel book written by the scribe Godescalc Carolingian remains the one progenitor hand from which modern booktype descends In the eleventh century the Caroline evolved into the blackletter Gothic script which was more compact and made it possible to fit more text on a page 72 The Gothic calligraphy styles became dominant throughout Europe and in 1454 when Johannes Gutenberg developed the first printing press in Mainz Germany the Gothic style was adopted for its use making it the first typeface 141 In the 15th century the rediscovery of old Carolingian texts encouraged the creation of the humanist minuscule or littera antiqua The 17th century saw the Batarde script from France and the 18th century saw the English script spread across Europe and world through their books In the mid 1600s French officials flooded with documents written in various hands and varied levels of skill complained that many such documents were beyond their ability to decipher The Office of the Financier thereupon restricted all legal documents to three hands namely the Coulee the Rhonde known as Round hand in English and a Speed Hand sometimes called the Bastarda While there were many great French masters at the time the most influential in proposing these hands was Louis Barbedor who published Les Ecritures Financiere Et Italienne Bastarde Dans Leur Naturel c 1650 With the destruction of the Camera Apostolica during the sack of Rome 1527 the capitol for writing masters moved to Southern France By 1600 the Italic Cursiva began to be replaced by a technological refinement the Italic Chancery Circumflessa which in turn fathered the Rhonde and later English Roundhand In England Ayres and Banson popularized the Round Hand while Snell is noted for his reaction to them and warnings of restraint and proportionality Still Edward Crocker began publishing his copybooks 40 years before the aforementioned clarification needed Eastern Europe Other European styles use the same tools and practices but differ by character set and stylistic preferences For Slavonic lettering the history of the Slavonic and consequently Russian writing systems differs fundamentally from the one of the Latin language having evolved from the 10th century to today Style Unlike a typeface handwritten calligraphy is characterised by irregularity in the characters which vary in size shape style and color producing a distinct aesthetic value although it may also make the content more difficult to decode for some readers As with Chinese or Islamic calligraphy Western calligraphic script employed the use of strict rules and shapes Quality writing had a rhythm and regularity to the letters with a geometrical order of the lines on the page Each character had and often still has a precise stroke order Sacred Western calligraphy has some unique features such as the illumination of the first letter of each book or chapter in medieval times A decorative carpet page may precede the literature filled with ornate geometrical depictions of bold hued animals The Lindisfarne Gospels 715 720 CE are an early example Many of the themes and variations of today s contemporary Western calligraphy are found in the pages of The Saint John s Bible A particularly modern example is Timothy Botts illustrated edition of the Bible with 360 calligraphic images as well as a calligraphy typeface Islamic worldSamples of Islamic calligraphy samplesThe phrase Bismillah in an 18th century Islamic calligraphy from the Ottoman region Bowl with Kufic Calligraphy Persia 10th century Sample showing Nastaliq proportional rules Persian and Urdu languages citation needed Islamic calligraphy has evolved alongside Islam and the Arabic language As it is based on Arabic letters some call it Arabic calligraphy However the term Islamic calligraphy is a more appropriate term as it comprises all works of calligraphy by Muslim calligraphers of different national cultures such as Persian or Ottoman calligraphy from Al Andalus in medieval Spain to China Islamic calligraphy is associated with geometric Islamic art Arabesque on the walls and ceilings of mosques as well as on the page or other materials Contemporary artists in the Islamic world may draw on the heritage of calligraphy to create modern calligraphic inscriptions like corporate logos or abstractions Instead of recalling something related to the spoken word calligraphy for Muslims is a visible expression of the highest art of all the art of the spiritual world Calligraphy has arguably become the most venerated form of Islamic art because it provides a link between the languages of the Muslims with the religion of Islam The Qur an has played an important role in the development and evolution of the Arabic language and by extension calligraphy in the Arabic alphabet Proverbs and passages from the Qur an continue to be sources for Islamic calligraphy During the Ottoman civilization Islamic calligraphy attained special prominence The city of Istanbul is an open exhibition hall for all kinds and varieties of calligraphy from inscriptions in mosques to fountains schools houses etc Antiquity It is believed by whom that ancient Persian script was invented by about 600 500 BCE to provide monument inscriptions for the Achaemenid kings citation needed These scripts consisted of horizontal vertical and diagonal nail shape letters which is why it is called cuneiform script lit script of nails khat e mikhi in Persian relevant Centuries later other scripts such as Pahlavi and Avestan scripts were used in ancient Persia Pahlavi was a middle Persian script developed from the Aramaic script and became the official script of the Sassanian empire 224 651 CE citation needed Contemporary scripts The Nasta liq style is the most popular contemporary style among classical Persian calligraphy scripts citation needed Persian calligraphers call it the bride of calligraphy scripts This calligraphy style has been based on such a rigid structure that it has changed very little since Mir Ali Tabrizi had found the optimum composition of the letters and graphical rules citation needed opinion It has just been fine tuned during the past seven centuries clarification needed It has very strict rules for graphical shape of the letters and for combination of the letters words and composition of the whole calligraphy piece citation needed Modern calligraphyRevival After printing became ubiquitous from the 15th century onward the production of illuminated manuscripts began to decline full citation needed However the rise of printing did not mean the end of calligraphy A clear distinction between handwriting and more elaborate forms of lettering and script began to make its way into manuscripts and books at the beginning of the 16th century The modern revival of calligraphy began at the end of the 19th century influenced by the aesthetics and philosophy of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement Edward Johnston is regarded as being the father of modern calligraphy After studying published copies of manuscripts by architect William Harrison Cowlishaw he was introduced to William Lethaby in 1898 principal of the Central School of Arts and Crafts who advised him to study manuscripts at the British Museum This triggered Johnston s interest in the art of calligraphy with the use of a broad edged pen He began a teaching course in calligraphy at the Central School in Southampton Row London from September 1899 where he influenced the typeface designer and sculptor Eric Gill He was commissioned by Frank Pick to design a new typeface for London Underground still used today with minor modifications He has been credited for single handedly reviving the art of modern penmanship and lettering through his books and teachings by whom his handbook on the subject Writing amp Illuminating amp Lettering 1906 was particularly influential on a generation of British typographers and calligraphers including Graily Hewitt Stanley Morison Eric Gill Alfred Fairbank and Anna Simons Johnston also devised the crafted round calligraphic handwriting style written with a broad pen known today as the Foundational hand Johnston initially taught his students an uncial hand using a flat pen angle but later taught his hand using a slanted pen angle He first referred to this hand as Foundational Hand in his 1909 publication Manuscript amp Inscription Letters for Schools and Classes and for the Use of Craftsmen Subsequent developments Graily Hewitt taught at the Central School of Arts and Crafts and published together with Johnston throughout the early part of the century Hewitt was central citation needed to the revival of gilding in calligraphy and his prolific output on type design also appeared between 1915 and 1943 He is attributed with the revival of gilding with gesso and gold leaf on vellum Hewitt helped found the Society of Scribes amp Illuminators SSI in 1921 probably the world s foremost calligraphy society citation needed This article contains wording that promotes the subject in a subjective manner without imparting real information Please remove or replace such wording and instead of making proclamations about a subject s importance use facts and attribution to demonstrate that importance October 2024 Learn how and when to remove this message Hewitt is not without both critics full citation needed and supporters in his rendering of Cennino Cennini s medieval gesso recipes Donald Jackson a British calligrapher has sourced his gesso recipes from earlier centuries a number of which are not presently in English translation Graily Hewitt created the patent announcing the award to Prince Philip of the title of Duke of Edinburgh on November 19 1947 the day before his marriage to Queen Elizabeth clarification needed Anna Simons Johnston s pupil was instrumental in sparking interest in calligraphy in Germany with her German translation of Writing and Illuminating and Lettering in 1910 Austrian Rudolf Larisch a teacher of lettering at the Vienna School of Art published six lettering books that greatly influenced German speaking calligraphers Because German speaking countries had not abandoned the Gothic hand in printing Gothic also had a powerful effect on their styles Rudolf Koch was a friend and younger contemporary of Larisch Koch s books type designs and teaching made him one of the most influential calligraphers of the 20th century in northern Europe and later in the U S Larisch and Koch taught and inspired many European calligraphers notably Karlgeorg Hoefer and Hermann Zapf Contemporary typefaces used by computers from word processors like Microsoft Word or Apple Pages to professional design software packages like Adobe InDesign find their roots in the both calligraphy of the past as well as several professional typeface designers Selected imagesBanknote motif number 5 against a circular panel of lace like lathe work with a scalloped edge Chinese soldier in calligraphy competition Edward Johnston a famous British calligrapher at work in 1902See alsoHandwriting script Style of handwriting Asemic writing Wordless open semantic form of writing Bastarda Blackletter script used in France and Germany Blackletter Historic European script and typeface Book hand Legible handwriting style Brahmi script Ancient script of Central and South Asia Calligraffiti Calligraphy typography graffiti art form Chancery hand Any of several styles of historic handwriting Concrete poetry Genre of poetry with lines arranged as a shape Court hand Style of handwriting used in medieval English law courts Cursive Style of penmanship Handstyle In graffiti culture the unique handwriting of an artist Handwriting Writing created by a person with a writing implement History of writing Italic script Style of handwriting and calligraphy developed in Italy Lettering The art of drawing letters List of calligraphers Mathematical Alphanumeric Symbols Unicode block Micrography Art genre using minute Hebrew letters Palaeography Study of handwriting and manuscripts Penmanship Technique of writing with the hand Ronde script calligraphy Rotunda script Medieval blackletter script Round hand Type of handwriting Secretary hand Style of European handwriting Siyah mashq Calligraphic practice sheets Sofer Jewish scribe Tag graffiti Form of graffitiNotesCalligraphy in Arabic is khatt ul yad خط اليد and in Persian is Khosh Nevisi خوشنویسی Such as the Ramsey Psalter BL Harley MS 2904ReferencesMediaville Claude 1996 Calligraphy From Calligraphy to Abstract Painting Belgium Scirpus Publications ISBN 978 90 803325 1 5 Pott G 2006 Kalligrafie Intensiv Training Calligraphy Intensive Training in German Verlag Hermann Schmidt ISBN 978 3 87439 700 1 Pott G 2005 Kalligrafie Erste Hilfe und Schrift Training mit Muster Alphabeten in German Verlag Hermann Schmidt ISBN 978 3 87439 675 2 Zapf 2007 Zapf H 2006 The World of Alphabets A kaleidoscope of drawings and letterforms CD ROM Propfe J 2005 SchreibKunstRaume Kalligraphie im Raum Verlag in German Munich Callwey Verlag ISBN 978 3 7667 1630 9 Geddes A Dion C 2004 Miracle a celebration of new life Auckland Photogenique Publishers ISBN 978 0 7407 4696 3 Reaves M Schulte E 2006 Brush Lettering An instructional manual in Western brush calligraphy Revised ed New York Design Books Child H ed 1985 The Calligrapher s Handbook Taplinger Publishing Co Lamb C M ed 1976 1956 Calligrapher s Handbook Pentalic Paper Properties in Arabic calligraphy calligraphyfonts info Archived from the original on 13 March 2017 Retrieved 1 June 2007 uncial adj amp n Oxford English Dictionary 3 ed Oxford University Press 2 March 2023 doi 10 1093 OED 6245926565 retrieved 3 February 2025 Calligraphy Islamic website Calligraphyislamic com Archived from the original on 8 June 2012 Retrieved 18 June 2012 Sato Shozo 11 March 2014 Shodo The Quiet Art of Japanese Zen Calligraphy Learn the Wisdom of Zen Through Traditional Brush Painting Tuttle Publishing ISBN 978 1 4629 1188 2 Nornes Abe Markus 22 February 2021 Brushed in Light Calligraphy in East Asian Cinema University of Michigan Press ISBN 978 0 472 13255 3 Keightley 1978 Categories of Calligraphy Seal Script Retrieved 30 May 2018 The Bell and Cauldron Inscriptions A Feast of Chinese Characters The Origin and Development Mao Gong Ding Archived from the original on 18 October 2019 Retrieved 30 May 2018 Fazzioli Edoardo 1987 Chinese Calligraphy From Pictograph to Ideogram The History Of 214 Essential Chinese Japanese Characters Calligraphy by Rebecca Hon Ko New York Abbeville Press p 13 ISBN 978 0 89659 774 7 And so the first Chinese dictionary was born the San Chang containing 3 300 characters Xigui Qiu 2000 Chinese writing Society for the study of Early China p 103 ISBN 1 55729 071 7 OCLC 470162569 Z Chinese Calligraphy Archived from the original on 27 July 2020 Retrieved 30 May 2018 康熙字典 Kangxi Zidian in Chinese 1716 p 41 See for example the radicals 卩 厂 or 广 The 2007 common shape for those characters does not clearly show the stroke order but old versions visible on p 41 clearly allow the stroke order to be determined Li J ed n d Four treasures of Study tour Retrieved 30 May 2018 Suzuki Yuuko 2005 An introduction to Japanese calligraphy Tunbridge Wells Search ISBN 978 1 84448 057 9 Philippine Paleographs Hanunoo Buid Tagbanua and Pala wan United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization www unesco org Educate first Filipinos react to Baybayin as national writing system 27 April 2018 House panel approves Baybayin as national writing system SunStar 24 April 2018 5 things to know about PH s pre Hispanic writing system ABS CBN News 25 April 2018 Stanley Baldwin O See 15 August 2016 A primer on Baybayin gmanetwork com Michael Wilson I Rosero 26 April 2018 The Baybayin bill and the never ending search for Filipino ness CNN Philippines Archived from the original on 5 May 2020 10 Perfectly Awesome Calligraphers You Need To Check Out brideandbreakfast ph 12 August 2015 Deni Rose M Afinidad Bernardo 1 June 2018 How to ace in script lettering philstar com VietnamPlus 9 February 2022 Vietnamese Traditional Calligraphy During Tet Festival Vietnam VietnamPlus VietnamPlus Retrieved 14 May 2022 Salomon Richard 1998 Indian Epigraphy A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit Prakrit and the Other Indo Aryan Languages Oxford New York Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0195099843 Mitter Partha 2001 Indian Art Oxford New York Oxford University Press p 100 ISBN 9780192842213 Sabard V Geneslay V Rebena L 2004 Calligraphie latine Initiation Latin calligraphy Introduction in French 7th ed Paris Fleurus pp 8 11 ISBN 978 2 215 02130 8 Insular Manuscripts Paleography Section 6 Language on the Page in Insular Manuscripts Layout and Legibility Virtual Hill Museum amp Manuscript Library Archived from the original on 19 November 2018 Retrieved 30 May 2018 de Hamel 2001a Knight Stan 1998 Historical scripts from Classical Times to the Renaissance 2nd Corrected ed New Castle Del Oak Knoll Press pp 9 10 ISBN 9781884718564 Trinity College Library Dublin 2006 Walther amp Wolf 2005 Brown amp Lovett 1999 40 Backhouse 1981 full citation needed Jackson 1981 641 full citation needed Walther amp Wolf 2005 de Hamel 1994 46 481 full citation needed de Hamel 1994 461 full citation needed Lovett Patricia 2000 Calligraphy and Illumination A History and Practical Guide Harry N Abrams ISBN 978 0 8109 4119 9 Joyce Irene Whalley c 1980 The Art of Calligraphy Western Europe amp America Brown M P 2004 Painted Labyrinth The World of the Lindisfarne Gospel Revised ed British Library The Bible New Living Translation Tyndale House Publishers 2000 CALLIGRAPHY IN ISTANBUL History of Istanbul istanbultarihi ist Retrieved 25 January 2024 de Hamel 1986 Gilderdale 1999 Gray 1971 full citation needed The Legacy of Edward Johnston The Edward Johnston Foundation Cockerell 1945 Morris 1882 Font Designer Edward Johnston Linotype GmbH Retrieved 5 November 2007 The Eric Gill Society Associates of the Guild Edward Johnston Archived from the original on 10 October 2008 Gilderdale 1999 full citation needed Baines amp Dixon 2003 81 full citation needed Tresser 2006 Whitley 2000 90 full citation needed Herringham 1899 full citation needed Jackson 1981 81 full citation needed Hewitt 1944 1953 full citation needed Cinamon 2001 Kapr 1991 full citation needed Henning W E 2002 Melzer P ed An Elegant Hand The Golden Age of American Penmanship and Calligraphy New Castle Delaware Oak Knoll Press ISBN 978 1 58456 067 8 Works cited Benson John Howard Carrey Arthur Graham 1940 The Elements of Lettering Newport Rhode Island John Stevens Benson John Howard 1955 The First Writing Book an English translation amp fascimile text of Arrighi s Operina the first Manual of the chancery hand London Oxford University Press de Hamel C 2001a The Book A History of the Bible Phaidon Press Diringer David 1968 The Alphabet A Key to the History of Mankind Vol 1 3rd ed London Hutchinson amp Co p 441 Fairbank Alfred 1975 Augustino Da Siena the 1568 edition of his writing book in fascimile London The Merrion Press ISBN 0 87923 128 9 Fraser M Kwiatowski W 2006 Ink and Gold Islamic Calligraphy London Sam Fogg Ltd Gaze Tim Jacobson Michael eds 2013 An Anthology of Asemic Handwriting Brooklyn NY Punctum Books ISBN 978 90 817091 7 0 OCLC 1100489411 Kosack Wolfgang 2014 Islamische Schriftkunst des Kufischen geometrisches Kufi in 593 Schriftbeispielen in German Basel Verlag Christoph Brunner ISBN 978 3 906206 10 3 OCLC 894692503 Johnston E 1909 Plate 6 Manuscript amp Inscription Letters For schools and classes and for the use of craftsmen San Vito Press amp Double Elephant Press 10th Impression Marns F A 2002 Various copperplate and form London a href wiki Template Cite book title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint location missing publisher link Shepherd Margaret 2013 Learn World Calligraphy Discover African Arabic Chinese Ethiopic Greek Hebrew Indian Japanese Korean Mongolian Russian Thai Tibetan Calligraphy and Beyond Crown Publishing Group p 192 ISBN 978 0 8230 8230 8 Mediavilla Claude 2006 Histoire de la calligraphie francaise in French Paris Michel ISBN 978 2 226 17283 9 Ogg Oscar 1954 Three classics of Italian Calligraphy an unabridged reissue of the writing books of Arrighi Giovanni Antonio Tagliente amp Palatino with an introduction New York US Dover Publications Osley A S ed 1965 Calligraphy and Paleography Essays presented to Alfred Fairbank on his 70th birthday New York October House Inc Schimmel Annemarie 1984 Calligraphy and Islamic Culture New York University Press ISBN 978 0 8147 7830 2 Wolpe Berthold 1959 A Newe Writing Booke of Copies 1574 A fascimile of a unique Elisabethan Writing book in the Bodleian Library Oxford London Lion and Unicorn Press Zapf H 2007 Alphabet Stories A Chronicle of technical developments Rochester NY Cary Graphic Arts Press ISBN 978 1 933360 22 5 External linksCalligraphy alphabets a list of major historical scripts simplified version at Lettering Daily French Renaissance Paleography This is a scholarly maintained site that presents over 100 carefully selected French manuscripts from 1300 to 1700 with tools to decipher and transcribe them Portals WritingVisual artsCalligraphy at Wikipedia s sister projects Definitions from WiktionaryMedia from Commons