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Seal engraving art gives people a sense of mystery, because it has a long history, many genres, famous artists, its form is very unique, the tools are more complex, the text used is not very familiar with the ancient script, a party of excellent seal engraving art in the end what is good? From what aspects should we appreciate and learn? That's the first thing we should consider.
In fact, whether it is the ancient seal, or the Ming and Qing dynasties of seal carving, although the style is diverse, but specific to each party of the work, we can decompose it into three basic elements of seal law, chapter law, knife method, when appreciating seal carving works, you can analyze from these three aspects, understand the content and relationship between these three elements, you will quickly grasp some of the basic laws of seal carving art.
First, the seal law is the foundation
Seal engraving art is mainly based on the seal book as a text carrier for creation, the seal book is characterized by strong plasticity, stroke thickness and uniformity, can be flexibly bent and changed and arranged at will on the square printing surface. Cheng Mingshi wrote in the "Preface to the Printing Merchants": "The difficulty of the seal is not difficult to carve, but it is difficult to seal." The "seal" here actually refers to the seal law. The seal law also contains three aspects:
1, recognize the seal
The fundamental purpose of the seal is to ensure that there will be no typos in the seal. Ancient seals were mainly practical, and the basic function of "relying on faith" was correct and incorrect. The art of seal engraving emphasizes artistry, but it has never got rid of the function of "relying on faith", and the correctness and error of words have always been the first emphasis of this traditional literati art. Knowing the seal requires the author to have a high foundation in philology, be familiar with the "Shuowen" and the "Six Books", and master the evolution law of the shape of the seal book, be able to identify the various periods and different types of seal books in history, such as jinwen, ancient text, small seal, miao seal and even ancient li, familiar with their styles, changes, and understand their development and evolution. In addition, due to the requirements of the seal engraving art of "seeking printing outside india", mirror inscriptions, pottery texts, brick and tile characters, And Han stele seals have all been introduced into the field of seal engraving, and the scope of printed characters has expanded dramatically, so that the author also needs to have the cultivation of epigraphy.
2． Write the seal
Writing seals requires the author to have a high level of seal writing, to be able to deeply understand the changes in the structure and pen of the seal book, as well as the gestures and meaning of the seal book, only if they are understood first, it is possible to express it with a knife. A good seal engraving work should not only have the fun of the knife, but also have the feeling of pen and ink, which is that Zhao Zhiqian's cloud seal engraving should be "especially ink with pen". Since Deng Shiru's practice of "printing from books" has been recognized by people, "a calligrapher is not necessarily a seal engraver, but a seal engraver must be a calligrapher, especially a seal calligrapher", which has gradually become the consensus of everyone. From the perspective of the history of seal carving, the seal book of everyone in seal carving and the style and standard of seal carving are unified.
The purpose of writing seals is to taste and master the symmetrical, balanced and unified and changing modeling laws of seal books through the author's practice of seals, and to enhance the "deformation ability" of seal books when arranging chapters, such as the writing of the seal book, where it is long, short, flat and round.
3． Seal
Matching seal is the process of selecting and cooperating with the seal book when designing the chapter. There are two main requirements for the seal: one is the coordination between the seal and the seal form, and the other is the harmony and unity between the seal.
(1) Coordination between the seal and the seal form. Before we seal, we must first choose the form of the seal according to the content of the seal, the use, the likes and dislikes of the recipient, etc., and then choose the seal style that is compatible with this form to match it. The style of ancient seals is composed of a specific form and seal style, and this style of seal is the product of a specific historical environment, and many styles of seals constitute a colorful history of seal art. A certain relationship between a certain style of seal and its form has gradually become an aesthetic accumulation, deeply imprinted in the impression of posterity, if we can accurately and perfectly combine the two in the process of sealing, in addition to giving people a quaint beauty, it will also make people feel the author's profound cultivation of printing. Mr. Ma Heng of the Jinshi family once said in "Talking about Engraving Seals" that "the evolution and change of ancient seals have been understood, and only then can we proceed to engrave seals", which is what it means. For example, we want to choose the form of Qin semi-tongyin to govern the seal, its form is best in line with the Qin Dynasty semi-through seal with Japanese character grid, stroke chiseling, printing text such as the Qin Zhao version of the small seal characteristics, such as these two sides of the "white field" seal, Figure 1.3-2 printing is more in line with the characteristics of Qin and Han, appear lively, elegant, making people feel elegant and generous and have a history. On the contrary, if Yin Wen chooses the Han Dynasty Fangzheng Miao Seal, as shown in Figure 1.3-3, it is slightly dull and lacks vitality.
(2) Harmony and unity between Indian characters. This involves the issue of "mixing large and small seals" that is often debated in the Ming and Qing dynasties. It is certain that in a certain historical period, it is impossible for a party seal to appear in different eras of seals, so many predecessors have demanded that the seal law be "pure", such as the Ming Dynasty Ganyan said that "the seal of each dynasty, the body of the dynasty, should not be mixed with its text, in order to change its seal", against mixing the two seals. This still has its positive effect on beginners, because beginners have not yet possessed the ability to skillfully deform seal books, and it is difficult to achieve "proper" and "seamless" in terms of chapter arrangement and style coordination, so the era identity of one party's Indian and Chinese characters should be guaranteed. Of course, after being able to skillfully control the seal book, you can also break the restrictions and shackles of the two seals that cannot be used together, but the mixed use at this time is by no means a reduction in the requirements for the use of words, but a higher level of pursuit, which requires a deep understanding and understanding of the characteristics and interrelationships of various seal books such as oracle bone, gold text, big seal, small seal, miao seal, etc., and master their various writing methods and shape changes, so as to adapt to the arrangement of the chapter and ensure that the printing language is integrated, harmonious and unified, as Wu Changshuo said: "It is not difficult to engrave the printed version. It is difficult to be the pure one of the fonts, the dense configuration, the distribution of vermilion and white, and the differences between the square circles. For example, the two sides of the "Xi'an" seal, Figure 1.3-4 printed a word with Western Zhou characters, a word with Miao seal, the two words are far from the age difference, the style of one side and a circle, placed in a special conflict with a seal. Figure 1.3-5 uses all the words Miao Seal, which is more harmonious.
Seal can best reflect the author's printing cultivation and artistic talent, it needs to understand the development and evolution of ancient seal and seal font law, a wide range of knowledge, the processing of the seal is not only "the source of the word", but also in line with the law of the beauty of the seal book and take into account the arrangement of the chapter, the form of printing, the coordination of the seal and other factors, which requires a long period of study and effort. Second, the chapter method is the key chapter, also known as the division of Zhu Bubai, is the selection of seal forms and the arrangement of seals, the conception and management of the (Ming) Ganjie: "Seal Collection", "Selected Papers on Printing in Past Dynasties", p. 93.
journey. Chapter law and seal law have an inseparable relationship, the process of chapter law arrangement is also the process of using the seal law, the Qing dynasty Yuan Sanjun said that the chapter law "such as the camp room lu, the hall court division, its own position, about the pitch opposite, look at one breath, then feel the look forward to the posture, gentle circulation also", a good seal law is like high-quality building components, and a successful building must not only use good building materials, but also have excellent and reasonable architectural design.
The Ming Dynasty xu Shangda once said that "the chapter of music competition, the title of literary style, is the chapter of the law, saying that its whole seal is brilliant", one side's excellent seal engraving works should be as fascinating as a moving movement, a wonderful article, and to achieve "full India is brilliant", the seal should be "like a family, a common faction, a mutual affection, no square circle is incompatible, and there are considerable ranks." In short, no matter the size of the print, the number of words printed, the vermilion white of the text, and the sparseness of the painting, it is necessary to make the printed text "dependent on each other and affectionate, and consistent and not contradictory."
Chapter law is the key, it should occupy a position in the conception of seal carving creation, seal law, knife law must be subject to the restriction of chapter law. The famous modern seal engraver Lai Chusheng once said that "the success of one seal is a seven-point seal and a three-point seal", and the "seal" here refers to the chapter law. Mr. Deng Sanmu has summarized 14 categories in the book "Seal Engraving", such as denseness, weight, flexion and extension, diversion, bearing, clumsiness, change, discrepancy, clutching and other specific techniques, and some people have analyzed the rules to more than 20 kinds, but here is not much to talk about the specific "law", because the "law" summarized from the ever-changing printing phenomenon is too complicated. In fact, "the law has no definite law", we should think more about the aesthetic laws and principles of seal engraving art, that is, the "reason", which requires that the rules and regulations have both changes and unity, virtual reality, balance and harmony. On the one hand, in India, the complicated and simple, dense, square, thick, and jagged techniques of strokes are used to create contradictions, and on the other hand, it is necessary to use methods such as increasing losses, echoing, diversion, and clutching to alleviate and balance these contradictions. As Tang Sun guoting said in the "Book Genealogy" of Tang Sun Guoting, "violation without offense, harmony but difference", the moderate handling of the contradiction between the two will make the Indian language both harmonious and energetic in an organic whole, giving people a sense of beauty. "Do as you please without going beyond the distance" is the highest state of the rule.
Third, the knife method is the core
Seal engraving art is a combination of calligraphy and engraving of the comprehensive art, do not know the seal law, chapter law is not enough to discuss the magic of the seal, but not skilled knife method is not enough to complete the magic of the seal, engraving because the seal method is vivid, the layout is chaotic and divine, the seal is also enhanced by the exquisite knife method.
For example, Zhou Gongjin, who was the "originator" of seal engraving, proposed seven knife methods in his "Seal Theory": compound knife, cover knife, reverse knife, flying knife, (Qing) Yuan Sanjun: "Thirteen Sketches of Seal Engraving", Selected Papers on Printing in Past Dynasties, p. 181. Xu Shangda: "The Same As the Printing law", "Chapters and Laws", Selected Papers on Printing in Past Dynasties, p. 137.
Slash knives, bayonets, mend knives. At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, there were more names for the use of knives, Xu Rong's "Saying Seal" listed 13 kinds of knife methods, and later generations such as Yao Yan's "Thirty-five Moves Again" written during the Jiaqing period increased to 19 kinds, such as the astringent knife method, the late knife method, the knife retention method, the light knife method, the dancing knife method, and there were also positive people, side people, single knives, compound knives, etc. These names are inevitably trivial, some are indeed the author's experience, and some are mysterious. In fact, the knife method of seal engraving mainly has two categories: punching knife and cutting knife, which we will elaborate in detail in the relevant chapters. To learn seal engraving, you should immerse yourself in the techniques of using knives, analyze the differences in knives used in various schools, and enhance the control of engraving knives, the so-called "stable, accurate, and fierce". It is said that the knife method is the core because no matter how good the seal method and intention are, it needs to be reflected by the knife method. In terms of difficulty, the sword method is more difficult than the chapter method, because "the chapter law, the form also; the sword law, the god also." The shape can be copied, the god cannot be copied", the chapter method belongs to the superficial form, which can be imitated immediately, while the sword method focuses on conveying the gods, and the kung fu in the hand is not enough, and it is impossible to achieve immediate results.
We should also understand that the so-called sword methods are all explorations made by Ming and Qing seal carvers when they studied the ancient seals of the Qin and Han Dynasties. In fact, the Qin and Han seals are mostly copper seals, printing or casting or engraving, and the method of engraving on the stone is very different, and the beauty embodied in the eyes of everyone is also different, Wu Changshuo master Fa Han Yin GaoHun all the way, and absorb the characteristics of the ancient sealing mud, the seal is mottled with ancient clumsy victory, with blunt knives out of the front, cut in the middle of the cutting, cutting in the punch, it is said that after engraving, it is often held on the defeated leather to deliberately rub, conceal the blade, or deliberately break to get the ancient clumsy and "golden stone qi"; Huang MuFuzhi seal with a smooth and beautiful victory, with a thin blade to punch the knife, The pursuit of the original face of Hanyin's sharp and strong, the flow of the flat and the middle, the strength of the elegant. Wu and Huang are both figures with far-reaching influence in the history of seal carving, and although the knife methods they use are very different, they have the same destination, representing the highest realm of sword techniques.
Fourth, the connotation of seal engraving art
The above three elements are the "internal skills" that must be possessed to learn the art of seal engraving. In addition, the study of seal engraving art should also have considerable "external skills". The art of seal engraving takes the seal book as the main creative carrier, which naturally requires the author to have a deeper cultivation related to the "seal", such as epigraphy, primary school and philology, etc., involving a wide range of knowledge. Historically, the deepening of academic development in this regard has enriched and deepened various styles of seal engraving art, expanded the scope of seal engraving art to obtain funds, stimulated the theory of "seeking printing outside India", and had a profound impact on the aesthetics and innovation of seal engraving, the knowledge structure of Indians, the writings of seal theory and even the standard of using words, etc., and also laid the foundation for the diversification of seal engraving art styles and the sustainable development of seal engraving art.
Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, "poetry, calligraphy, painting and printing" have gradually become an indispensable cultivation for literati artists, and some great artists such as Zhao Zhiqian, Wu Changshuo, Qi Baishi, etc. (Qing) Xu Jian: "The Theory of Printing", "Selected Papers on Printing in Past Dynasties", p. 348.
Seal engraving research is not all four, the seal theorists, Indians consciously or unconsciously borrowed from the relevant expositions of literary and art theory, painting theory, book theory, the art quality of poetry, books, paintings into the seal carving creation, mutual penetration, mutual nourishment, greatly enriched the expressiveness of seal engraving art. For example, Wu Changshuo's poem "Engraving" emphasizes that "poetry and calligraphy have true meaning, and you can study deeply to seek its understanding", and this idea of "poetry, calligraphy, painting and printing, its rationality is also one" runs through the entire history of the development of seal engraving art, and also makes seal engraving art form its own set of systems from practice to theory.
Emphasizing the "external skills" of seal engraving art is to make us understand that learning the art of seal engraving should not only be careful about the gains and losses of the knife method, but also make serious efforts to increase learning, the so-called "belly has poetry and bookish self-glorification", only in this way can we truly appreciate the infinite charm contained in the art of seal engraving.
Regarding the content of seal engraving art and the relationship between "internal power" and "external power", we use the following schematic diagram around the printing stone (Figure 1.3-6): the core is the three elements of seal engraving art represented by the printing surface; the second layer of the core is the printing button, the edge section, the printing stone and the study of the printing spectrum. The above two cores are necessary for learning the art of seal engraving, and then the expansion on this basis, the expansion of the inner layer is the most relevant field with the art of seal engraving, including calligraphy, philology, epigraphy, etc., and the outermost extension is painting, poetry and related sinology. It can be seen that the art of seal engraving contains an extremely wide range of contents, and it is necessary to have a deep traditional cultural cultivation, which is not just a simple sword and a stone. As a true seal engraver, you should not only work on the sword and stone, but also strive to enrich yourself in cultivation.
Seal engraving as an art originated in the Yuan Dynasty and flourished in the Ming and Qing dynasties, but its source is the ancient seal, that is to say, the ancient seal is the "source", the seal engraving art is the "flow", and the seal engraving art is born from the ancient seal. The so-called "Yinzong Qin Han", the ancient seal was once regarded as the source of creation by the Ming and Qing Indians, so this article first describes the ancient seal and explores its origin, development and style evolution in depth.
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