Qin and Han · Calligrapher

Zhang Zhi 張芝

Attested AD 168 - AD 192

Passages: 3
Chapters: 1
Histories: 1

Overview

Zhang Zhi was a Calligrapher.

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Courtesy name	Bo Ying	伯英	Bo Ying

Life and dates

Attested activity

AD 168 to AD 192 東漢末
Directly stated · Book of Jin 80, passages 147-148, 150

Learning and skills

Skill cursive calligraphy 草 · Level master
Directly stated · Book of Jin 80, passages 147-148

Events and relationships

Practiced until pond turned black
Scholarly · Student
Directly stated · Book of Jin 80, passage 148

References in the histories

Book of Jin, Chapter 80Volume 80 Biographies 50: Wang Xizhi · 3 passages

比張芝草，猶當雁行也」。 set it beside Zhang Zhi's cursive, and I may still walk in the same rank."

曾與人書云：「張芝臨池學書，池水盡黑，使人耽之若是，未必後之也。」 In a letter he wrote: "Zhang Zhi practiced so hard by the pond that the water turned black. Devote yourself like that and you need not rank behind him."

嘗以章草答庾亮，而翼深歎伏，因與羲之書云：「吾昔有伯英章草十紙，過江顛狽，遂乃亡失，常歎妙跡永絕。 He once replied to Yu Liang in draft cursive; Yu Yi was awestruck and wrote to him: "I once owned ten sheets of Zhang Zhi's draft cursive, but lost them in the chaos of crossing the Yangzi. I thought such masterpieces were gone forever.