〈麻姑仙壇記〉為顏真卿(七O九-七八五)傳世楷書精品之一,略記傳說中麻姑仙人得道的故事。通常有大字本、小字本流傳,世人對於大字本多無疑議,至於小字本,則見仁見智看法懸殊。宋人以為小字本未避唐太宗名諱,懷疑並非顏氏所書,如第七行「民間」、第十五行「世所無有」,皆可為證。由於小字本書法結體寛綽,用筆也見顏體中鋒厚實的特質,世人依然給予佳評。(20110913)&*石渠寶笈續編&*This is one of the finest surviving examples of regular script by Yan Zhenqing, in which he briefly recorded the story behind the legend of the immortal Magu achieving the Tao. Generally when large- and small-character versions of Yan Zhenqing’s calligraphy exist, people usually accept the large ones without question. As for small-character versions, there tend to be widely varying opinions. In the Song dynasty, it was thought that the name taboo for Emperor Taizong of the Tang was not observed in small-character examples of Yan’s calligraphy, making them suspect in having been done by him. Examples as testimony from this work include the characters for “minjian 民間” in line seven from the right and “shisuo wuyou 世所無有” in line fifteen. Since the forms in small-character calligraphy are looser, the brushwork reveals the heavy and solid centered strokes of Yan Zhenqing’s style, which critics through the ages have held in high regard.(20110913)