Achievements

He was a talented student who read widely in the classics. He served under the Sui dynasty in 611 as Imperial Doctor. He served under the Tang dynasty as censor and scholar at the Hongwen Academy. There he taught calligraphy. He was a principal contributor to the Yiwen Leiju.

He became the Imperial Calligrapher and inscribed several major imperial steles. He was good at regular script and his most famous work is the Stele in the Jiucheng Palace. He was considered a cultured scholar and a government official. Along with Yu Shinan, Xue Ji, and Chu Suiliang he became known as one of the Four Great Calligraphers of the Early Tang.

He notably wrote the inscription of the Kaiyuan Tongbao cash coin which became one of the most influential coins in Chinese history, this coin also influenced the calligraphic styles of other coinages in Japan, Sogdia, and Vietnam.

The words in the logo of the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun was extracted from Ouyang's work Zongsheng Temple Inscription.

Allusion in Literature

Ouyang was historically known for his legendary monkey-like ugliness and almost supernatural intellect. These attributes were lampooned in an anonymous late 7th-century tale called 「A Supplement to Jiang Zong's Biography of a White Ape」 (Bu Jiang Zong Baiyuan Zhuan, 補江總白猿傳). It tells how the beautiful young wife of General Ouyang He (歐陽紇, 538–570), Ouyang Xun's historical father, is kidnapped by a seemingly invisible force while he is engaged in conquering minority groups of the south lands. The general and his men scour the surrounding area for hundreds of miles before discovering a mountain where she and other women are being kept by a magic white ape (, 白猿). The captives caution that his soldiers are no match for the powerful primate, and so the ladies devise a plan to get him drunk and incapacitate him long enough for a killing blow to be dealt. With their help, the general manages to fall the beast with a well-placed sword strike below the navel, his only weak spot. Before dying, the ape reveals the general's wife is pregnant and begs him not to kill the child. Ouyang subsequently returns to the north with his wife, the other women, and the monster's priceless treasures. The tale ends with the birth of an unnamed son a year later, thus implying Ouyang Xun was the unnatural offspring of the general's wife and the magic white ape.

生平

歐陽詢生于557年（南朝梁梁敬帝太平二年），是陳朝大司空歐陽頠的孫子。13歲那年，任廣州刺史的父親歐陽紇舉兵反陳，失敗被殺，全家為此而受到株連。歐陽詢因年幼而倖免于難，被他父親的舊友中書令江總收養，並督教他經史、書法。歐陽詢聰敏勤學，讀書數行同盡，少年時就博覽古今，精通《史記》、《漢書》和《東觀漢記》三史。後出仕隋太常博士。唐高祖李淵未顯貴時，多次交遊。李淵稱帝後，升遷為給事中。

歐陽詢的書法最初仿效王羲之，但不囿于一家：據說有一次歐陽詢騎馬外出，偶然在道旁看到晉代書法名家索靖所寫的石碑。他騎在馬上仔細觀看了一陣才離開，但剛走幾步又忍不住再返回下馬觀賞，讚嘆多次，而不願離去，便乾脆鋪上氈子坐下反覆揣摩，最後竟在碑旁一連坐臥了3天才離去。歐陽詢篤好書法達到癡迷的程度，由于勤學苦練，故能獨闢蹊徑自成一家。

歐陽詢的形貌很醜陋，一如彌猴，但他的書法卻譽滿天下，人們都爭著想得到他親筆書寫的尺牘文字，一旦得到就視作瑰寶，作為自己習字的範本。唐武德（618－624）年間，高句麗特地派使者來長安求取歐陽詢的書法。唐高祖李淵感嘆地說：「沒想到歐陽詢的名聲竟大到連遠方的夷狄都知道。他們看到歐陽詢的筆跡，一定以為他是位形貌魁梧的人物吧。」

武德七年，歐陽詢奉詔與裴矩、陳叔達修撰《藝文類聚》100卷。書成後，得到賞賜帛二百段。唐太宗貞觀初年，歐陽詢升為太子率更令（因而又被稱為歐陽率更），弘文館學士，封渤海縣男。八十五歲時辭世。

家庭

夫人徐氏，生四子：長卿、肅、倫、通。《唐書》有傳。

• 長子歐陽長卿，因武則天亂逃往嶺南，改名為區愷。

• 四子歐陽通，母徐氏，歐陽通亦是書法名家。

• 女兒

• 小女兒嫁隋尚藥奉御、唐秦王祭酒、中散大夫、尚藥奉御、永安縣開國男吳景達，生子武周承奉郎吳續。

書法作品和藝術

歐陽詢的書法學自王羲之父子，參以隸法，勁險刻厲，于平正中見險絕，自成面目，世稱「歐體」。

唐張彥遠《法書要錄》輯唐張懷瓘所著《書斷》稱：「詢八體盡能，筆力勁險。篆體尤精，飛白冠絕，峻于古人，擾龍蛇戰鬥之象，雲霧輕籠之勢，幾旋雷激，操舉若神。真行之書，出于太令，別成一體，森森焉若武庫矛戟，風神嚴于智永，潤色寡于虞世南。其草書迭蕩流通，視之二王，可為動色；然驚其跳駿，不避危險，傷于清雅之致。」

所創「歐陽詢八訣」書法理論，具有獨到見解。對明代人李淳的八十四法，清代人黃自元結構92法的著述，均有啟示。其「八決」為：（點）如高峰墜石；（橫戈）如長空之新月；（橫）如千里之陣雲；（豎）如萬歲之枯藤；（堅戈）如勁松倒折，落挂石崖；（折）如萬鈞之弩發；（撇）如利劍斷犀象之角牙；（捺）一波常三過筆。

常見歐書碑刻有：

《九成宮醴泉銘》：楷書，是歐陽詢的代表作，學歐書多以此為範本，魏徵撰文，唐太宗貞觀六年。公元632年）立碑。書法嚴謹峭勁，不取姿媚之態。

《虞恭公碑》全稱《唐故特進尚書右僕射上柱國虞恭公溫公碑》，也稱《溫彥博碑》：楷書，書此碑文時，已80高齡。唐大宗貞觀十一年（公元637年）立碑。為唐太宗昭陵諸碑之一，碑文三十六行，每行七十七字，清楚的字約有八百多字。

《皇甫誕碑》全稱《隋柱國左光祿大夫宏議明公皇甫府君之碑》，也稱《皇甫君碑》：楷書，是歐陽詢年輕時的作品，無立碑年月，碑藏于陝西西安。

《化度寺塔銘》全稱《化度寺故僧邕禪師舍利塔銘》：楷書，是歐陽詢得意的作品，唐貞觀五年（公元631年）立。

詩歌作品

《全唐詩》錄歐陽詢詩三首：其一為：

道失

已惑孔貴嬪，又被辭人侮。花箋一何榮，七字誰曾許。不下結綺閣，空迷江令語。雕戈動地來，誤殺陳後主。

第二首：嘲蕭瑀射

急風吹緩箭，弱手馭強弓。欲高翻複下，應西還更東。十回俱著地，兩手並擎空。借問誰為此，乃應是宋公。

據《太平廣記》：「唐宋國公蕭瑀不解射，九月九日賜射，瑀箭俱不著垛，一無所獲。歐陽詢作詩嘲諷。」

第三首，《與歐陽詢互嘲（無忌嘲詢）》，起因是長孫無忌先作詩嘲笑歐陽詢瘦（或醜）：

　 　聳膊成山字，埋肩不出頭。誰家麟閣上，畫此一獼猴。

歐陽詢反唇相譏：《與歐陽詢互嘲（詢嘲無忌）》

　　 索頭連背暖，漫襠畏肚寒。只因心渾渾，所以面團團。

因歐陽詢的「只因心渾渾」攻擊太過，引起唐太宗不悅，制止道：「詢豈不懼皇后聞耶？」

注釋