About 50 years after Cheng Yi, there was a famous seal engraver in Putian, Fujian Province, called Lin Gao, who was the undertaker of the Gongwen Printing Wind, because his Printing Wind undertook Wang Guan at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and then opened zhao Shuru, Wang Fu'an, and Chen Julai at the end of the Qing Dynasty. In the "Seal Engraving" edited by Li Gangtian, his position in the history of seal engraving is shown in the figure:
(Ming and Qing schools in Li Gangtian's "Seal Engraving")
You see, the location of Lin Gao is between Wang Guan and Zhao Shuru and Wang Fu'an, the modern Chinese printing altar, Zhao Shuru, Wang Fu'an, Chen Julai all the way to the steady printing style prevails, based on this printing style in line with the aesthetics of the vast majority of people, it is quiet, clear but not fancy, and with a strong craft, decorative attributes, and it is mostly Based on Zhu Wen, suitable for jianzang printing (including tibetan book printing), Zhaiguan printing (because it will not deface books and collections). Since it is a popular printing style, it is the choice of the market, then, as a seal engraving learner, this printing style must be studied in depth, so in the early Qing Dynasty, we must take the seal of Lin Gao to read it carefully, such as this side of the "green mountains and green waters are neighbors":
(Lin Gao and his "green mountains and green waters are neighbors")
Lin Gao (1657-1726 later) seal engraver in the early Qing Dynasty, the character Hetian, the word Crane, and later more characters to learn to rest, originally From Putian, Fujian, later migrated to Changshu, its printing style was influenced by Wang Guan and Shen Shihe. In fact, his masterpiece is "Apricot Blossom Spring Rain Jiangnan", as shown in the picture:
(Lin Gao and his "Apricot Blossom Spring Rain Jiangnan")
Interested friends can also take the copy, but we believe that although the "apricot blossom spring rain Jiangnan" square seal is very famous, its wonderful degree is far less than "green mountains and green waters are neighbors", and let us elaborate:
This is a party "fine Zhu Wen Seal", which is very accurate, if it is said to be "Yuan Zhu Wen" or "Yuan Zhu Wen" is not accurate, because although this square seal is a fine Zhu Xiao Seal, its chapter method is a mixture of the Chinese seal, without any word any stroke "edge" (this is one of the characteristics of the Yuan Zhu Wen Seal), the stability of the printed text depends on the horizontal and vertical lines of the text itself, completely relying on the help of the border.
Strictly speaking, the border of this square seal only plays a role in enclosing the seal and the reunion seal, and increases the seal attribute of the printing surface, which is different from the chapter of "Yuan Zhu Wen (or Yuan Zhu Wen)".
Not on the edges, but each word stands firmly, relying on what?
1. Horizontal and vertical lines of text. We can pick out these "coordinate lines" and make its extension lines, in fact, these horizontal and vertical lines provide "mesh coordinates" for the stability of the text, as shown in the figure:
(Precise vertical and horizontal coordinate lines)
We see that what becomes the vertical coordinates is the middle vertical of the "sheng" part of the upper part of the "qing" character, the middle vertical of the middle part of the "mountain" character, the middle vertical of the edge word "ito" part, the two verticals of the head of the right "彖" and the bottom vertical, the "for" character in the center of a short vertical, the "neighbor" word "fire" in the middle of the vertical, the lower part of the "Yi" part of the short vertical... That is to say, as long as you encounter a vertical line that needs to be completely vertical, even if it is a short vertical, it is completely vertical, straight up and down, completely parallel to the vertical border, and completely perpendicular to the horizontal border; in the same way, all horizontal lines that can be completely horizontal, even if it is a short horizontal (such as the middle horizontal of the "Dan" part of the lower part of the "Qing" word), it is also completely horizontal, completely parallel to the horizontal border, and completely perpendicular to the vertical border. In fact, this is a "coordinate network". In this web of coordinates, every stroke is precise and correct, and there is nothing wrong with it.
(Cover of "Chen Julaizhi's Ink Manuscript")
When Mr. Chen Julai of later generations designed the printing draft (see "Chen Julaizhi Printing Ink Manuscript : Preface"), these coordinate lines were realized by folding the creases of the printing paper, and some beginners, who were new to printing draft design, even used coordinate paper to draft, which was the reason. "Work stability" is neat and stable, and its basic requirement is precise position! Otherwise, there will be no "stability" and no way to talk about "work."
2. Rely on the bite between the internal parts of the text, and rely on the concession between the words. The stability and center of gravity of the printed text are reunited and stable, and also come from the bite of the internal components of the text, and also from the concession relationship between the words. For example, the upper and lower parts of the "Qing" character are connected together with the lower "Dan", the upper part of the "Qing" character is connected together, the upper and lower parts of the "Gong" character are also connected together, the left and right of the "Edge" word are connected together; the upper and lower parts of the word "for" are "bite", and the left and right parts of the "neighbor" word are also "bite"; when the word is a single character, it is mutually conceded with other words, such as the head of the "mountain" character is topped with a gap at the bottom of the "Qing" word, and the "water" and the upper "edge" are also "bite"; when the word is a single character, it is mutually conceded with other words, such as the head of the "mountain" character is topped to the bottom of the "qing" word, and the "water" and the upper "edge" The lower "Gong" is also interspersed with each other and conceded. Even the horizontal elongation of the word "water", the word "edge" also has parts that extend to the left and right, and they are interspersed with the adjacent characters on the left and right, so that the three columns of characters on the printing surface are tightly reunited into one.
(Details of the connection and occlusal interspersed with the concession)
This is a multi-word seal (most of the word prints are multi-word prints), multi-word prints should pay attention to the rules, and the above-mentioned bites, concessions, and interspersions are necessary means.
There is another point to note in this print, that is, it makes full use of the pictographic factor of the text. That is, the "mountain" bone towering and the "water" vein flowing. The origin of Chinese characters, the earliest derived from pictograms and meaning, pictograms are "painted into its shape, with the body to cross", so, "mountain" is a towering three hills connected together, "water" word is like the ripples of the water surface, small seal although the text transformation, pictographic meaning is greatly lost, but many characters still retain traces of pictograms, in the creation of seal engraving works, this is the aesthetic material that can be used, such as the "mountain" and "water" in this square seal, in fact, completely retain its pictographic meaning. The word "mountain" is like a mountain, and the word "water" is like flowing water, which is also the meaning of the printed word "green mountains and green waters are neighbors".
Lin Gao's brilliance lies in the fact that he arranged the word "water" horizontally and became the water of the horizontal stream, which not only connected the printed text, but also formed the image association of "water flow", he raised the word "mountain" upwards, leaving a large area of blank space in the lower right part of the printing surface, so that the printing surface was dense and contrasting, and also formed the image association of "mountain".
The "craftsmanship decoration" of this square seal is actually very important, and we will specifically say it again when we read Chen Julai's seal in the future, this square seal will only say so much for the time being.
([Pudding Reading] No. 89, some pictures from the Internet)