Can Korean Calligraphers Write Like Wang Xizhi? The Mujangsa Stele and its Reception in a Sino-Korean Context

Co-sponsored by the Korea Institute and the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies

From the late eighteenth century, Chinese scholars took a keen interest in the steles of early Korea. Some inscriptions on those steles were seen as material evidence of ancient Chinese calligraphy that had vanished from China. One notable case is the Memorial Stele for Enshrining the Amitābha Buddha Statue at Mujang Temple (鍪藏寺阿彌陀佛造成記碑, 801). Weng Fanggang (1733-1818) lauded it for preserving the authentic trace of the “Lanting Preface,” since the original work by the legendary calligrapher Wang Xizhi (ca. 303-ca. 361) no longer existed. Yet Weng’s disciple, Kim Chŏnghŭi (1786-1856), opined that it was the brushwork of a Korean calligrapher. This talk will explore how the same inscription was viewed differently among scholars from the two countries. While current scholarship often romanticizes Sino-Korean antiquarian exchange, I will demonstrate that beneath the transnational friendship lies a reflection of each side’s cultural centrism.