何绍基撰书《刘牧庵神道碑》考略

A Brief Study of He Shaoji’s Compilation of Liu Mu’an’s Inscriptions on Gravestones

清朝湘军名将刘岳昭之父刘象谦有《刘牧庵神道碑》流传至今,碑文为清代著名书法家何绍基撰文并书丹,落款时间为同治六年(1867年)。全碑共计975字,全篇楷书,以唐楷为基,兼容北碑风格并见篆隶笔意,秀逸灵动中见方峻险劲,尤其是其字法、章法极为精妙,同时碑文涉及刘氏祖孙三代郡望、职官、德行、功勋,为研究和取法何绍基晚年小楷书创新性特征以及澄清清代湘军的最初发源地提供了新的史料,有补史和证史的史学价值。

Liu Xiangqian,the father of Liu Yuezhao,a famous general of the Xiang army in the Qing Dynasty,has been known for his work Liu Mu’an’s Inscriptions on Gravestones.The inscription on the stele is written by He Shaoji,a famous calligrapher of the Qing Dynasty,and was inscribed in the sixth year of the Tongzhi reign(1867).The entire stele consists of nine hundred and seventy-five characters,with the entire regular script based on the Tang Dynasty,incorporating the style of the Northern Dynasties and embodying the meaning of seal script and official script.It is elegant and dynamic,with a strong sense of rigor and danger,es-pecially in terms of its exquisite handwriting and organization.At the same time,the inscriptions on the stele involve the three gener-ations of Liu’s ancestors and grandchildren,including their hopes for counties,official positions,virtues,and achievements.This provides new historical materials for studying and learning from the innovative features of He Shaoji’s later small regular script,as well as clarifying the original source of the Qing Dynasty’s Xiang army.It has historical value in supplementing and verifying the history.