calligraphy

Table of Contents

Introduction
Early Semitic writing
- Old Hebrew
- Spread of Aramaic to the Middle East and Asia
Arabic calligraphy
Indic calligraphy
Greek handwriting
- Origins to the 8th century ce
  - Ptolemaic period
  - Roman period
  - Byzantine period
- The 8th to 16th century
  - Late uncial, 9th to 12th century
  - Earliest minuscule, 8th to 10th century
  - Formal minuscule, 10th to 14th century
  - Personal hands, 12th to 14th century
  - The Italian Renaissance
Latin-alphabet handwriting
- Ancient Roman styles
  - Rustic capitals
  - Cursive capitals
  - Uncials, half uncials, and cursive minuscule
- The Anglo-Celtic and other “national” styles (5th to 13th century)
- Carolingian reforms in the scriptorium (8th and 9th centuries)
- The black-letter, or Gothic, style (9th to 15th century)
- The scripts of humanism (14th to 16th century)
- Writing manuals and copybooks (16th to 18th century)
- Revival of calligraphy (19th and 20th centuries)

References & Edit History Related Topics

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calligraphy summary

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calligraphy: Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Photos and Videos

calligraphy sample

Exemplaires du Sieur de Beaulieu

Spieghel der Schrijfkonste

Chapter 49 of the Isaiah Scroll

Hebrew Ashkenazic script

Syriac language

Early Kūfic book style

Old Ottoman naskhī script

The rich history of Arabic calligraphy

See All Videos, Images and Interactives →

Topics

lettre financière Byzantine minuscule cursive script half-uncial book hand documentary hand antica corsiva Irish script Italian hand italienne bastarde heraldry pottery interior design metalwork dress furniture printmaking drawing jewelry glassware

Key People

Tower of the Rising Clouds, colour on silk by Mi Fu; in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Mi Fu

Chinese artist

Poggio Bracciolini, Gian Francesco

Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini

Italian scholar

Wu Changshuo

Chinese artist

Dong Qichang

Chinese artist

Huizong

emperor of Song dynasty

Manuscript copy sheet by Edward Johnston

Edward Johnston

British calligrapher

Khwāja ʿAbd-uṣ-Ṣamad

Persian painter

Fraktur fonts

Rudolf Koch

German artist

Ike Taiga

Japanese painter

Huang Tingjian

Chinese poet and calligrapher

Wen Zhengming

Chinese artist

Esther Inglis

Scottish calligrapher

Zhao Mengfu: Twin Pines, Level Distance

Zhao Mengfu

Chinese painter

Ibn al-Bawwāb

Arab calligrapher

W.A. Dwiggins

American artist

Shōkadō Shōjō

Japanese artist

Muẓaffar ʿAlī

Persian artist

Qi Baishi

Chinese painter

Ibn Muqlah

Islamic calligrapher

Kim Chŏng-hui

Korean calligrapher