SCA Workshops in Medieval European Batarde Calligraphy and Ancient Chinese Clerical Calligraphy
BATARDE
The Batarde script is a generic term for a calligraphic style of mixed heritage, combining the curved forms of Carolingian letters and the angularity of Textura. Batarde, in turn, gave rise to the more rounded flowing letters of French Civilite and the more angular letters of the German Fraktur.
As a broad category Blackletter styles of this type proliferated from the 9th to 16th centuries, with the style strictly known as Batarde being popular in the 12th to 16th Centuries.
There was a great deal of variety in these scripts, geographically and temporally, which offers the contemporary calligrapher license to be playful and creative. It is instructive to look at old manuscripts to appreciate the skill of the scribes, but also to note how different our standards are today. With the advent of printing, we expect texts to be precise in terms of the angles of letters, spacing and justified margins. We are no longer used to the idea that a letter might be written differently each time it occurs (or that words will be spelled consistently throughout a document). In other words, we expect standardization, even when it comes to hand work.
Skill and precision in craft are wonderful, but I invite you to be embrace some of the playful creativity that we see in the Medieval European manuscripts.
Batarde Calligraphy Workshop Handout | Click to Download
The best source for calligraphy supplies, including pens, nibs, inks, papers, etc. is John Neal Books. Don’t be confused by the name. They sell books, but so much more!
CLERICAL SCRIPT
曹全碑
Chinese characters have been used in recognizable form for over 3000 years. The original characters are called “Oracle Bone” script because the texts were often questions inscribed for divination purposes. The Oracle Bone characters developed into what we call “Seal Script.” These characters were engraved into bone, stone, wood or bamboo slats. Carbon powder was then rubbed into the incised lines. The introduction of brush and ink c. 300 BCE changed the way that Chinese characters were written. The brush allowed for variation in stroke width. To write more quickly with a brush, the curved shapes of Chinese characters were gradually replaced with straight lines.
Clerical script is the result of using the brush to write on silk, and later paper (105 CE), and was the predominant writing style from the Qin Dynasty (221 BCE) and on into the 7th century CE. It was during the Qin Dynasty that the characters were standardized into the forms that we use today.
Chinese Clerical Script Handout | Click to Download
Sources for Chinese art materials:
Blue Heron Arts
https://blueheronarts.com/
or https://chineseartsupplies.com
Oriental Art Supply
https://orientalartsupply.com/
Online Chinese Dictionary: Yellowbridge.com
Additional Resource Links for Chinese Clerical Script
How to Get Started with Chinese Calligraphy
Evolution of Chinese Calligraphy throughout History
Text and Interpretation of the poem “Deer Park” or “Deer Enclosure” by Wang Wei: https://eastasiastudent.net/china/classical/wang-wei-deer-enclosure/
