TA-CHUAN

Pinyin Dazhuan (Chinese: large seal script), in Chinese calligraphy, script evolved from the ancient scripts chia-ku-wen and ku-wen by the 12th century BC and developed during the Chou dynasty (1122221 BC). It is the earliest form of script to be cultivated later into an important related art form, chuan-shu (seal script), so called because long after it had been superseded as a current writing style, it continued to be used for the carving of seals. Originally, ta-chuan must have been written with a brush and ink or lacquer on wood or bamboo tablets or silk. The style is not unlike ku-wen and is characterized by an austere balance of straight and curvilinear lines of uniform thickness ending in blunt stops.