Shen Du (1357 to 1434), the most typical founder of Tiger calligraphy style, was born in Huating, Songjiang, Ming Dynasty (now Songjiang, Shanghai). According to historical records, Shen Du is stocky, with little machinery and knowledge. When Yongle was forty-eight years old (1404), he was called into imperial academy by Zhu Di, the founding emperor of Ming Dynasty, as a bachelor lecturer (imperial academy was in charge of teaching the history of Confucian classics in Ming Dynasty). He is good at official script, running script, especially regular script, elegant and decent, with a temple atmosphere. He was one of the "Er Shen" in the early Ming Dynasty.
Jiang Ligang, the last representative of the Tiger School, was born in Rui 'an, Zhejiang Province, and his date of birth and death is unknown. According to the author's research, only Jiang Ligang's chronological works are pages of two poems written by Zhu Heyong Yi in the 16th year of Ming Chenghua (1480), and the original works are now in Nanjing Museum. Therefore, the author thinks that Jiang Ligang lived in Jingtai to Chenghua in Ming Dynasty. According to historical records, he was very clever since he was a child. He was able to write a book at the age of seven and was appointed as a scholar in imperial academy. Tomorrow, I will be awarded the Chinese Book Sheren, an official and a teenager. Gong is good at calligraphy and painting, good at regular script and running script, especially regular script, and has a family. His works handed down from generation to generation are few. According to the author's investigation, there are only four museums in China.
According to the author's recent investigation of the two-volume Catalogue of Ancient Paintings and Calligraphy in China compiled by the China Ancient Paintings and Calligraphy Appraisal Group, it is very rare to find the representative works of Taige calligraphy by Shen Du and Jiang Ligang.
1. Shen Du's Poems in Regular Script is one of Nie Danian's poems in Regular Script. Paper book, length 22 cm, width 12 cm. The original is now in Jinan Museum.
2. Dong Ming in Regular Script written by Jiang Ligang is a paper book with a length of 28.7 cm and a width of 14.8 cm. The original is now in the Palace Museum in Beijing.
These two regular script works are full of exquisite brushwork, round pen in the middle, vigorous and harmonious, beautiful and neat, criss-crossing, harmonious and dignified distribution. The font is neat, flat and symmetrical. The pen is smooth and round, chic and elegant. The elegant and generous structure embodies the style of Taige calligraphy in Ming Dynasty and is a model of Taige calligraphy. Therefore, the author thinks it should be the masterpiece of Taige calligraphy by two calligraphers. These two calligraphy works provide very important historical materials for us to study Taige's calligraphy creation, and also provide a basis for Shen Shu and Jiang Shu to distinguish forgeries.
Appraised by experts from the ancient calligraphy and painting appraisal group in China, National Cultural Heritage Administration, the above-mentioned two Tiger calligraphy works are original works of Shen Du and Jiang Ligang 1984 and 1988 respectively. Now they are all national second-class cultural relics.