Vikki Quill studied Japanese calligraphy in Tokyo. She specialised in ichimoji or single characters, working with the Oracle Bone Characters and the Bronze Inscriptions of the Shang and Zhou dynasties. She studied under Koike Suiran before specialising in the ancient Chinese characters with Kato Koho and his group Kikkokai, The Oracle Bone Writing Association. Inky Turtle is based in Sydney, Australia.

The journey to make calligraphy practice relevant to my life in the west continues to bring me back to my initial feeling of wonderment at the dynamic immediacy of this ancient writing system.

Researching a character’s original forms, looking at the English translations of both Chinese and Japanese modern usage and then coming back to the original provides a rich tapestry for a calligrapher to work with.

Connecting with the flow of time through the moving body and the emergence of written language through the ancient characters, I approach the paper as if it was a three-dimensional space and with brush charged, I engage all my senses to bring the word to life.

Vikki Quill

Why the Turtle?

The Oracle Bone Inscriptions form the earliest surviving texts in China. They were inscribed on turtle plastrons and ox scapulae during the Shang Dynasty c.1500 – c.1050 BC.

In the late nineteenth century, villagers near Anyang in the northern Henan province uncovered fragments when ploughing their fields and sold them as ‘dragon bones’ to be used in traditional Chinese medicine. The palaeographer, Wang Yirong subsequently recognised them as ancient writing.

These ‘dragon bones’ became known in English as oracle bones and the script inscribed on them, Oracle Bone Inscriptions or Oracle Bone Characters. The majority of these inscriptions were used for divination, a practice of the Shang ruling house.

The questions asked of the ancestors and spirits covered a range of concerns including illness, childbirth, harvests, rain and drought, military conquests and hunting. Both animal and human sacrifices were performed in order to get a favourable outcome.

The Bronze Inscriptions were characters cast on ritual bronze vessels in the Shang and Zhou dynasties (c.1050-221BC) . The earliest were similar to the oracle bone inscriptions while the later forms were closer to the small seal characters of the Qin Dynasty (221-206BC)

Character Dictionaries:
Shiragawa Shizuka
Kanji Ruihen
Mokujisha 1982

Li Leyi
Tracing the Roots of Chinese Characters: 500 cases.
Evolutionary Illustration of Chinese Characters
Beijing Language and Culture University Press 1993

Kobayashi Sekiju Hen
Kokotsumoji Jiten, Kimbun Jiten
Mokujisha 1989

Other References:
Sarah Allan
The Shape of the Turtle: Myth, Art and Cosmos in Early China.
State University of New York Press 1991

Jessica Rawson
Editor: Mysteries of Ancient China. New Discoveries from the Early Dynasties.
British Museum Press 1996

Tseng Yuho
A History of Chinese Calligraphy
The Chinese University Press 1993

Oracle bone images on About and Contact pages:
Kokotsubun Shu
Nigensha 1988