<blockquote>
<p>What is the script type of the large main text?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>it’s bronze script. you may compare the text with the <a href="http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">漢語多功能字庫</a></p>
<p><a href="http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E9%AB%98" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=高</a></p>
<p><a href="http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E6%98%8E" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=明</a></p>
<p><a href="http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E9%85%8D" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=配</a></p>
<p><a href="http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E5%A4%A9" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=天</a></p>
<p>as droooze indicated, the bigger characters are “高明配天”, a verse originated from 中庸; one of the english translation is:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>so high and brilliant, it makes him the co-equal of heaven</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=gb&amp;id=10286#s10099606" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=gb&amp;id=10286#s10099606</a></p>
<p>this interpretation is adequate for most :)</p>
<p>the smaller characters on the left are:</p>
<p>seven (七) years [old] (齡) boy (童) jeung [surname, romanisation in sydney lau scheme] (張) ging bik (敬璧) learning (學) calligraphy (書 —-&gt; 書法)</p>
<p>the seal is “敬璧” (read from right to left), in seal script (with certain level of deviation)</p>
<p><a href="http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E6%95%AC" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=敬</a></p>
<p><a href="http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E7%92%A7" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=璧</a></p>
<p>have fun </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-02T09:25:38.843Z
Thanks @水巷孑蠻. Why Jeung and not Zhang? Or are they equivalent? Not overly familiar with the Sydney (Sidney?) Lau scheme...
moss
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-02T09:30:51.183Z
@moss 水巷孑蠻 is a Cantonese speaker, and "Jeung" is the Cantonese pronunciation. In general, a name written in Chinese characters may not actually be in Mandarin, so until we know the background of the artist, any Chinese language can be used to describe the name. "Zhang" is Mandarin, and that's what's more commonly seen for obvious reasons, but you may see Hokkien, Hakka or even Korean and Vietnamese pronunciations floating around in various places.
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-02T12:57:16.910Z
@moss, well, it’s according to the scheme. actually, the common, standard romanisation of “張” in hong kong is “cheung”. the main reason that i do not use pinyin is: there’re numerous romanisation schemes, it’s a “trendy” matter. **don’t’ fixate** to any particular one, otherwise, one would have problem to read materials dated from 17th century.
水巷孑蠻
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-01T14:51:34.970Z
2020-07-01T14:51:34.970Z
水巷孑蠻
<ul>
<li>The large calligraphy says <strong>髙（高）明⿰酉卩（配）天</strong></li>
<li>The seal says <strong>（敬）璧</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>「高明配天」 is a short segment from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctrine_of_the_Mean" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>Doctrine of the Mean</em></a>. The entire line that this segment is found in is</p>
<blockquote>
<p>...博厚配地，高明配天，悠久無疆...
<br><br>
<em>...one's learning as expansive as the land on this earth, one's achievements as noble and lofty as the blue sky, lasting through to eternity...</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>The seal 「敬璧」 is part of the name of the artist (as given on the smaller calligraphy on the left).</p>
<p>Generally, if you find something that kind of looks like seal script but feels somewhat off (e.g. you can't identify some components), you can assume that it's some kind of pre-<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_dynasty" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Qin</a> writing style. I would classify the large calligraphy as being inspired by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_bone_script" rel="nofollow noreferrer">oracle bone script</a> and the seal as being inspired by inscriptions from around the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_and_Autumn_period" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Spring and Autumn period</a>.</p>
<p>We can have a go at explaining the character shapes below...</p>
<hr />
<h3>高</h3>
<p>The closest shape to the first character in the large calligraphy is 「髙」, which we normally write nowadays as 「高」. 「高」 (<em>high/lofty/tall</em>) is made up of semantic <a href="http://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=733" rel="nofollow noreferrer">「京」 (<em>picture of a tall watchtower/pavilion</em>)</a> and a <em>distinguishing mark</em> 「口」 whose function is to distinguish the word represented by 「高」 from the word represented by 「京」.</p>
<p><kbd><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shang_dynasty" rel="nofollow noreferrer">商</a><br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_bone_script" rel="nofollow noreferrer">甲</a><br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/TgAcn.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/TgAcn.png" alt="高" /></a><br><a href="http://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian/Reference/JiaguwenReference" rel="nofollow noreferrer">前</a>1.34.5<br><a href="http://www.guoxuedashi.com/jgwhj/?bhfl=1&amp;bh=2359&amp;jgwfl=" rel="nofollow noreferrer">合集2359</a></kbd><kbd><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Zhou" rel="nofollow noreferrer">西周</a><br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_bronze_inscriptions" rel="nofollow noreferrer">金</a><br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/vzn1I.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/vzn1I.png" alt="高" /></a><br>不簋蓋<br><a href="http://www.guoxuedashi.com/yzjwjc/?bh=4329&amp;jgwfl=" rel="nofollow noreferrer">集成4329</a></kbd><kbd><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_dynasty" rel="nofollow noreferrer">秦</a><br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamboo_and_wooden_slips" rel="nofollow noreferrer">簡</a><br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/KvNKU.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/KvNKU.png" alt="高" /></a><br><a href="http://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian/Reference/QinwenziReference" rel="nofollow noreferrer">秦</a>195<br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuihudi_Qin_bamboo_texts" rel="nofollow noreferrer">睡虎地秦簡</a></kbd><kbd>今<br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_script" rel="nofollow noreferrer">楷</a><br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/0TXT6.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/0TXT6.png" alt="高" /></a><br><br>　</kbd></p>
<hr />
<h3>配</h3>
<p>The third character in the large calligraphy <a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E9%9A%B6%E5%AE%9A" rel="nofollow noreferrer">transcribed</a> into <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_script" rel="nofollow noreferrer">regular script</a> is</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/h7HW5.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/h7HW5.png" alt="⿰酉卩" /></a></p>
<p>which was originally made up of a <a href="http://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=21830" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>kneeling person</em> 「卩」</a> next to an <a href="http://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=718" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>alcohol vessel</em> 「酉」</a>. The original meaning was an abstraction of <em>people jointly kneeling or prostrating at a ritual</em> (and wine was often an offering in these rituals), and the <em>joint ritual</em> meaning was semantically extended to <em>join, pair, match</em>.</p>
<p><kbd>商<br>甲<br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/yQExK.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/yQExK.png" alt="⿰酉卩" /></a><br><a href="http://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian/Reference/JiaguwenReference" rel="nofollow noreferrer">存</a>2244<br><a href="http://www.guoxuedashi.com/jgwhj/?bhfl=1&amp;bh=31841&amp;jgwfl=" rel="nofollow noreferrer">合集31841</a></kbd><kbd>西周<br>金<br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/Ajo2c.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/Ajo2c.png" alt="⿰酉卩" /></a><br>㝬鐘<br><a href="http://www.guoxuedashi.com/yzjwjc/?bh=260&amp;jgwfl=" rel="nofollow noreferrer">集成260</a></kbd><kbd><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_and_Autumn_period" rel="nofollow noreferrer">春秋</a><br>金<br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/ZLUl2.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/ZLUl2.png" alt="⿰酉卩" /></a><br>蔡侯盤<br><a href="http://www.guoxuedashi.com/yzjwjc/?bh=10171&amp;jgwfl=" rel="nofollow noreferrer">集成10171</a></kbd></p>
<p>「卩」 was then corrupted into 「己」.</p>
<p><kbd>春秋<br>金<br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/k6UnU.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/k6UnU.png" alt="配" /></a><br>拍敦<br><a href="http://www.guoxuedashi.com/yzjwjc/?bh=4644&amp;jgwfl=" rel="nofollow noreferrer">集成4644</a></kbd><kbd><br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_seal_script" rel="nofollow noreferrer">篆</a><br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/SrOxL.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/SrOxL.png" alt="配" /></a><br><a href="https://ctext.org/library.pl?if=gb&amp;file=77392&amp;page=104" rel="nofollow noreferrer">酉部</a><br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuowen_Jiezi" rel="nofollow noreferrer">說文解字</a></kbd><kbd>今<br>楷<br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/yDS2P.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/yDS2P.png" alt="配" /></a><br><br>　</kbd></p>
<hr />
<h3>敬</h3>
<p>The closest shape to the first character in the seal is 「」, and this is normally written nowadays as 「敬」. The character 「敬」 (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstructions_of_Old_Chinese#Zhengzhang_(1981%E2%80%931995)" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Zhengzhang OC</a>: <strong>/*kreŋs/</strong>, <em>respect</em>) comes from semantic 「攵・攴」 (<em>hand holding a hitting weapon</em>) and phonetic 「茍」 (<strong>/*kɯɡ/</strong>). The shape in the seal comes from a corruption of the</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/FdWJd.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/FdWJd.png" alt="⿱卝勹" /></a></p>
<p>part of <a href="http://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=6188" rel="nofollow noreferrer">「茍」</a> into <a href="http://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=1047" rel="nofollow noreferrer">「羌」</a>, and this corruption is not inherited in the modern form 「敬」.</p>
<p><kbd>西周<br>金<br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/fESfc.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/fESfc.png" alt="敬" /></a><br>叔䟒父卣<br><a href="http://www.guoxuedashi.com/yzjwjc/?bh=5428&amp;jgwfl=" rel="nofollow noreferrer">集成5428</a></kbd><kbd>西周<br>金<br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/NfdQz.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/NfdQz.png" alt="" /></a><br>大克鼎<br><a href="http://www.guoxuedashi.com/yzjwjc/?bh=2836&amp;jgwfl=" rel="nofollow noreferrer">集成2836</a></kbd><kbd>春秋<br>金<br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/AEzkV.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/AEzkV.png" alt="" /></a><br>王子午鼎<br><a href="http://www.guoxuedashi.com/yzjwjc/?bh=2811&amp;jgwfl=" rel="nofollow noreferrer">集成2811</a></kbd><kbd><br><a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E9%9A%B6%E5%AE%9A" rel="nofollow noreferrer">隸定</a><br><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/pv1Jl.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/pv1Jl.png" alt="" /></a><br><br>　</kbd></p>
<p>Note: the proportions have been distorted slightly in the seal.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/PqLd7.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/PqLd7.png" alt="components of  in the seal" /></a></p>
<hr />
<h3>璧</h3>
<p>This should be recognisable from the small calligraphy on the left, if not for the distorted proportions.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/GHtgi.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/GHtgi.png" alt="components of 璧 in the seal" /></a></p>
<hr />
<p><strong>References:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>《漢語大詞典》</li>
<li>季旭昇《說文新證》</li>
<li>董蓮池《說文解字考正》</li>
<li>黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》</li>
<li><a href="http://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">小學堂</a></li>
<li><a href="https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">漢語多功能字庫</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.guoxuedashi.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">國學大師</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.guoxuedashi.com/jgwhj/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">郭沫若《甲骨文合集》</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.guoxuedashi.com/yzjwjc/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">中國社會科學院考古研究所《殷周金文集成》</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="https://ctext.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">中國哲學書電子化計劃</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://ctext.org/library.pl?if=gb&amp;res=77351" rel="nofollow noreferrer">宋・徐鉉等奉敕校定　漢・許慎《說文解字》</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-02T03:52:39.937Z
I'm amazed by your professional use of the `kbd` tag in the answer! Really an excellent practice to follow.
Stan
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-02T08:41:47.267Z
@Stan thanks! But I think people from StackOverflow would cringe instead. Anyway, this whole thing grew out of a desire to draft up glyph evolution tables, but StackExchange networks didn't support tables before. That's apparently about to change soon though.
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-01T14:57:52.517Z
2020-07-01T14:57:52.517Z
dROOOze
<p>What is the translation of the text and seal on this scroll?</p>
<p>What is the script type of the large main text? Initially I thought it was seal script since the characters looked quite similar to those on the Shuowen Jiezi radicals list but then didn't have much success translating them using <a href="http://www.guoxuedashi.com/zidian/xz/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.guoxuedashi.com/zidian/xz/</a></p>
<p>Thought the second character might be some variant of 明 - <a href="http://shufa.guoxuedashi.com/660E/5/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://shufa.guoxuedashi.com/660E/5/</a>
The last character seemed to be 天 - <a href="http://www.guoxuedashi.com/zidian/5929.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.guoxuedashi.com/zidian/5929.html</a></p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/cftso.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/cftso.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a>
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/W5PPS.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/W5PPS.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>

<translation><character-identification><seal><calligraphy>
Translation and script type of Chinese calligraphy scroll (Characters identified: 高明配天 敬璧)
# Translation and script type of Chinese calligraphy scroll (Characters identified: 高明配天 敬璧)

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-07-01)

What is the translation of the text and seal on this scroll?

What is the script type of the large main text? Initially I thought it was seal script since the characters looked quite similar to those on the Shuowen Jiezi radicals list but then didn't have much success translating them using <http://www.guoxuedashi.com/zidian/xz/>

Thought the second character might be some variant of 明 - <http://shufa.guoxuedashi.com/660E/5/>
The last character seemed to be 天 - <http://www.guoxuedashi.com/zidian/5929.html>

Thanks

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/cftso.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/cftso.jpg)
[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/W5PPS.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/W5PPS.jpg)

**Tags:** translation, character-identification, seal, calligraphy

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2020-07-01. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

* The large calligraphy says **髙（高）明⿰酉卩（配）天**
* The seal says **（敬）璧**

「高明配天」 is a short segment from the [*Doctrine of the Mean*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctrine_of_the_Mean). The entire line that this segment is found in is

> ...博厚配地，高明配天，悠久無疆...
>   
>   
> *...one's learning as expansive as the land on this earth, one's achievements as noble and lofty as the blue sky, lasting through to eternity...*

The seal 「敬璧」 is part of the name of the artist (as given on the smaller calligraphy on the left).

Generally, if you find something that kind of looks like seal script but feels somewhat off (e.g. you can't identify some components), you can assume that it's some kind of pre-[Qin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_dynasty) writing style. I would classify the large calligraphy as being inspired by [oracle bone script](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_bone_script) and the seal as being inspired by inscriptions from around the [Spring and Autumn period](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_and_Autumn_period).

We can have a go at explaining the character shapes below...

---

### 高

The closest shape to the first character in the large calligraphy is 「髙」, which we normally write nowadays as 「高」. 「高」 (*high/lofty/tall*) is made up of semantic [「京」 (*picture of a tall watchtower/pavilion*)](http://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=733) and a *distinguishing mark* 「口」 whose function is to distinguish the word represented by 「高」 from the word represented by 「京」.

`商  
甲  
![高](https://i.sstatic.net/TgAcn.png)  
前1.34.5  
合集2359``西周  
金  
![高](https://i.sstatic.net/vzn1I.png)  
不簋蓋  
集成4329``秦  
簡  
![高](https://i.sstatic.net/KvNKU.png)  
秦195  
睡虎地秦簡``今  
楷  
![高](https://i.sstatic.net/0TXT6.png)`

---

### 配

The third character in the large calligraphy [transcribed](https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/%E9%9A%B6%E5%AE%9A) into [regular script](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_script) is

[![⿰酉卩](https://i.sstatic.net/h7HW5.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/h7HW5.png)

which was originally made up of a [*kneeling person* 「卩」](http://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=21830) next to an [*alcohol vessel* 「酉」](http://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=718). The original meaning was an abstraction of *people jointly kneeling or prostrating at a ritual* (and wine was often an offering in these rituals), and the *joint ritual* meaning was semantically extended to *join, pair, match*.

`商  
甲  
![⿰酉卩](https://i.sstatic.net/yQExK.png)  
存2244  
合集31841``西周  
金  
![⿰酉卩](https://i.sstatic.net/Ajo2c.png)  
㝬鐘  
集成260``春秋  
金  
![⿰酉卩](https://i.sstatic.net/ZLUl2.png)  
蔡侯盤  
集成10171`

「卩」 was then corrupted into 「己」.

`春秋  
金  
![配](https://i.sstatic.net/k6UnU.png)  
拍敦  
集成4644` `篆  
![配](https://i.sstatic.net/SrOxL.png)  
酉部  
說文解字``今  
楷  
![配](https://i.sstatic.net/yDS2P.png)`

---

### 敬

The closest shape to the first character in the seal is 「」, and this is normally written nowadays as 「敬」. The character 「敬」 ([Zhengzhang OC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstructions_of_Old_Chinese#Zhengzhang_(1981%E2%80%931995)): **/\*kreŋs/**, *respect*) comes from semantic 「攵・攴」 (*hand holding a hitting weapon*) and phonetic 「茍」 (**/\*kɯɡ/**). The shape in the seal comes from a corruption of the

[![⿱卝勹](https://i.sstatic.net/FdWJd.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/FdWJd.png)

part of [「茍」](http://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=6188) into [「羌」](http://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/yanbian?kaiOrder=1047), and this corruption is not inherited in the modern form 「敬」.

`西周  
金  
![敬](https://i.sstatic.net/fESfc.png)  
叔䟒父卣  
集成5428``西周  
金  
![](https://i.sstatic.net/NfdQz.png)  
大克鼎  
集成2836``春秋  
金  
![](https://i.sstatic.net/AEzkV.png)  
王子午鼎  
集成2811` `隸定  
![](https://i.sstatic.net/pv1Jl.png)`

Note: the proportions have been distorted slightly in the seal.

[![components of  in the seal](https://i.sstatic.net/PqLd7.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/PqLd7.png)

---

### 璧

This should be recognisable from the small calligraphy on the left, if not for the distorted proportions.

[![components of 璧 in the seal](https://i.sstatic.net/GHtgi.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/GHtgi.png)

---

**References:**

* 《漢語大詞典》
* 季旭昇《說文新證》
* 董蓮池《說文解字考正》
* 黃德寬《古文字譜系疏證》
* [小學堂](http://xiaoxue.iis.sinica.edu.tw/)
* [漢語多功能字庫](https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/)
* [國學大師](http://www.guoxuedashi.com/)
  + [郭沫若《甲骨文合集》](http://www.guoxuedashi.com/jgwhj/)
  + [中國社會科學院考古研究所《殷周金文集成》](http://www.guoxuedashi.com/yzjwjc/)
* [中國哲學書電子化計劃](https://ctext.org/)
  + [宋・徐鉉等奉敕校定　漢・許慎《說文解字》](https://ctext.org/library.pl?if=gb&res=77351)

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: I'm amazed by your professional use of the `kbd` tag in the answer! Really an excellent practice to follow.  
> **username_2**: @Stan thanks! But I think people from StackOverflow would cringe instead. Anyway, this whole thing grew out of a desire to draft up glyph evolution tables, but StackExchange networks didn't support tables before. That's apparently about to change soon though.  

---

### Answer by username_1 on 2020-07-01. Score: 2

> What is the script type of the large main text?

it’s bronze script. you may compare the text with the [漢語多功能字庫](http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/)

[http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=高](http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E9%AB%98)

[http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=明](http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E6%98%8E)

[http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=配](http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E9%85%8D)

[http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=天](http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E5%A4%A9)

as droooze indicated, the bigger characters are “高明配天”, a verse originated from 中庸; one of the english translation is:

> so high and brilliant, it makes him the co-equal of heaven

<https://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=gb&id=10286#s10099606>

this interpretation is adequate for most :)

the smaller characters on the left are:

seven (七) years [old] (齡) boy (童) jeung [surname, romanisation in sydney lau scheme] (張) ging bik (敬璧) learning (學) calligraphy (書 —-> 書法)

the seal is “敬璧” (read from right to left), in seal script (with certain level of deviation)

[http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=敬](http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E6%95%AC)

[http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=璧](http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E7%92%A7)

have fun

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks @水巷孑蠻. Why Jeung and not Zhang? Or are they equivalent? Not overly familiar with the Sydney (Sidney?) Lau scheme...  
> **username_2**: @moss 水巷孑蠻 is a Cantonese speaker, and "Jeung" is the Cantonese pronunciation. In general, a name written in Chinese characters may not actually be in Mandarin, so until we know the background of the artist, any Chinese language can be used to describe the name. "Zhang" is Mandarin, and that's what's more commonly seen for obvious reasons, but you may see Hokkien, Hakka or even Korean and Vietnamese pronunciations floating around in various places.  
> **username_1**: @moss, well, it’s according to the scheme. actually, the common, standard romanisation of “張” in hong kong is “cheung”. the main reason that i do not use pinyin is: there’re numerous romanisation schemes, it’s a “trendy” matter. **don’t’ fixate** to any particular one, otherwise, one would have problem to read materials dated from 17th century.  

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