This is the sixth article in our series on how calligraphy and paintings are printed, and we will talk about "idle chapters".
Strictly speaking, "idle chapters" do not include place name seals, collective seals, Jiyu seals, Xiao shape seals, etc., but in order to reduce the length of our series of articles, we have put these classified chapters into the category of "idle chapters" to discuss.
"Idle Chapter" should have originated from the Warring States Ancient Seal at the earliest, because in the existing Warring States Ancient Seal, we can see a large number of "Jiyu seals", such as "Qianqiu", "Long Live", "Go to Disease", "Fushou", etc.; we can also see a large number of "Aphorism Seals", such as "Honorific Things", "Zhongjing Outer Sincerity", "Can Be Correct", etc. In fact, these so-called "Idiom Seals" belong to "Idle Seals". As shown in the figure:
(Idle Chapter in the Warring States Ancient Seal)
In the Qin and Han seal stage, the famous seals such as "Giant Cai Ten Million" and "Gaotang Eighty Million" should actually be classified as "Idle Chapter". As shown in the figure:
(Idle Chapter in HanYin)
But the "idle chapter" we are discussing here mainly refers to the "idle chapter" engraved by the literati, that is, the "idle chapter" with the attribute of "literati" after the "Huijia Landscape" idle chapter (the earliest recorded literati idle chapter) of the Yuan Dynasty, such as Wen Peng's "QinQiao Leaning on the Pine Playing Crane" and "The Depths of the Seventy-Two Peaks"...
(Wen Peng's "QinQiao Leaning On the Pine Playing Crane")
And how to shake the "laughter and talk between the breath and neon", "the mountain high moon small water falling out of the stone", "the white crane in the clouds" and so on...
(He Zhen's Idle Chapter)
These all have an obvious "literati flavor", that is, they generally have a profound humanistic connotation, or reflect the master's life ideals, or express the master's life pursuit, or reflect the owner's humanistic character and artistic interests, in short, with a strong cultural atmosphere. According to the content of its printing surface, it is roughly divided into the following six categories:
(Classification of idle chapters)
1. Artistic insights or artistic pursuits. For example: "to divide into subordinates", "with dry Fangrun", "intention and ancient meeting", "to take the ancient as an apprentice", "to create a teacher", "to paint a slave", "to portray the subject of gold and stone", "not to thin the present people love the ancients" and so on...
(Deng Shiru "Yi and Ancient Meeting")
2. Express the owner's emotions and express interest. For example, "the clear window looks several times a day", "the road of poverty and happiness", "the thoughts of folding fangs and sweethearts" and so on...
(Liang Yuan and Deng Shiru's "Chu Ci" print)
3. Express good wishes, auspicious language. For example, "Beauty and Italy Prolong Life", "Spend a Good Moon Life", "Life Expectancy like a Golden Stone", "Long-term Profit", "Longevity of People" and so on...
(Qi Baishi "Human Longevity")
4. Motto, self-encouragement. For example, "self-improvement", "enjoy it tirelessly", "hate not reading for ten years", "learning is a blessing", "perseverance", "painting plum beggar rice" and so on...
(Qian Song "hates not reading for ten years")
5. Describe life and hobbies. For example, "The People of the Last Skill", "Three Hundred Stone Seal Rich Man", "Guangxu Twenty-one Years Of Soldiers", "Home in Yangzhou Twenty-Four Bridges", "January Andong Ling" and so on...
(Huang Mufu "The Last Skilled Food Eater")
6. Philosophy. For example, "there are not many flowers", "thick accumulation", "illegal is not illegal", "indispensable", "grass and trees may not be ruthless", "sea viewers are difficult to water" and so on...
(Wu Rangzhi's "illegal and non-illegal")
There are also some artists, they use the idle seal, often have additional special meanings, such as Qian Junzao once carved a party "hate its copper smell" of the idle seal, the reason is very simple, he surnamed "money" all his life, but is not a person who loves "money". The Qing Dynasty artist Gao Fenghan once carved a "left hand" idle chapter in several squares, because after Ding Weinian (1737), his right hand was crippled for some reason, and all subsequent works were completed with his left hand. Like what:
(Gao Fenghan's "Lotus", completed with left hand)
In his later years, Deng Sanmu, due to illness, called himself "one foot", and carved a party "one foot" seal, recording his life situation with allusions and ridiculing himself; the great painter Fu Baoshi's own paintings often had one side "less than one" idle seal, according to the report, this is his self-humble painting is not as good as the landscape he saw"; the great seal carver Qi Baishi carved a party "do not know that there is a Han" idle seal, the allusion comes from Tao Yuanming's "Peach Blossom Origin", which was originally described as a long-term departure from reality. Ignorance of the social situation, especially the new things, also means that he is accustomed to a self-sufficient life and ignores the conflicts of interests in the world, but the purpose of his engraving of this chapter is to counter the critics who criticize his seal engraving "not to teach the ancient law", because the theory of the seal engraving tradition is "Yinzong Qinhan".
(Qi Baishi's "I don't know if there is a Han")
There are also "place name seals" in the chapter, such as "Nanyang" by Jing Hengyi, "Taiyuan" by Lai Chusheng, "Liangxi Sanliqiao People" by Qian Skinny Iron, "Yannan People" carved by Zhu Lesan, "Xiangtan People in Changsha, China" carved by Qi Baishi, and so on. In addition, there are "collective seals", such as Qi Baishi's engraving of "Shen Xiajun, a female Taoist priest in former Shengxian County", "veteran Qi Baishi", Lai Chusheng's engravings of "Wu County's Yizhai Zhang Yongkai Seal", "The Seventy Years after the First Ascension Year", and the painter Tao Yiqing's "One Qing Ancient Rare Years Later Works", etc. "Collective seal" is because there are more "key" contents contained in one seal, so it is called "collective seal".
(Tao Yiqing painting)
Obviously, this painting has not been paid, and the "joint seal" that is large enough on this side indicates both the author and the time period of the author's painting, which seems to be only a "corner chapter" on one side, which actually plays a great role.
It is worth mentioning that the "idle seal" at the literati level also includes the "Xiao Shape Seal", "Xiao Shape Seal" begins with the ancient seal, there is no text on the printing surface, only pictures, or a certain form of animal, or some kind of graphic with special meaning, can be used as "Xiao Shape Seal", and even in modern times, there are many Indians who concentrate on attacking the "Xiao Shape Seal", such as Lai Chu Sheng. "Xiao Shaped Seal" also often appears in modern and contemporary literati calligraphy and painting works, becoming a type of "idle chapter" that cannot be ignored.
(Warring States Period Portrait Seal)
The reason why "Idle Chapter" is called "Idle Chapter" is because it is free from the "right" type seal (surname seal, name seal, character seal, zhai number seal), the content it expresses is "idle things", its content is more the author's belief in the maxim, or the author's aesthetic views, or expresses his own personal pursuits, therefore, the idle chapter rarely follows the "famous seal" stamp, it appears more in the "introduction chapter" (also called "opening chapter") position, "corner seal" (also called "abduction footprint" "painting corner seal") position, "blocking the edge seal" (also called "edge printing") location. Let's take an example of the use of The Idle Chapter: First look at this painting by Qian Songyan:
(Qian Songyan, "A Corner of Qingdao Lu Xun Park")
The upper right of this painting is written: "A corner of Lu Xun Park in Qingdao, made by Qian Songyan on the way to Lulu." "Zhu Wenyin on the side of "Qian" (surname Yin), Bai Wenyin on the other side of "Songyan" (name seal). The left and right are uneven, so the slightly larger white text "Great River And Mountain" in the lower left corner is used to "press the angle".
Another example is Dong Shouping's "Ink bamboo map":
(Dong Shouping's "Ink Bamboo Diagram")
The lower tribal section on the right side of this painting: "Dong Shouping Written by dong Shouping in the month of B ugly midsummer", "Dong Shouping" (name seal) in the white text, the upper left corner of the plutonium Zhu Wen "Master Created" idle chapter to balance the chapter, and the left side is also the Zhu Wen ancient seal printing style seal "Shouping Eighty Years Later" idle chapter (also a party "collectively called the seal"), used to block the edge (that is, the side chapter), the picture is unstable, and in the lower left corner is supplemented with the white text idle chapter "Danqing does not know the old general" pressure angle. A painting, using three idle chapters, each has its own use, each doing its best.
([How to print calligraphy and painting works] No. 6, some of the pictures come from the Internet, and the copyright belongs to the original copyright owner)