Wang Xizhi is one of the great calligraphers in Chinese history and influenced the mainstream development direction of Chinese calligraphy. There are many opinions about his contribution to the history of books, but one thing is undeniable, Wang Xizhi changed the style of writing from ancient to new, and his calligraphy, calligraphy, and cursive had a great influence on later generations and became the source of theology. Unfortunately, Wang Xizhi did not have a genuine handwriting, and we cannot peek into the true face of his calligraphy, which has become a major regret in the history of calligraphy.
In the existing book history, most of the formation of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy style of calligraphy style is attributed to the study of the previous generation of famous masters, thus ignoring the influence of the folk or ordinary scholars on their calligraphy, even if there is a design, it is limited to the relevance of some Wei and Jin Jianshu remnants unearthed in modern times to their calligraphy, and rarely can trace its origin. With the excavation of Dunhuang calligraphy, the development context of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy has become unprecedentedly clear, and we have gradually seen some "clues" from it, and now combined with the Han Jian and suicide notes unearthed in Dunhuang, the relationship between Wang Xizhi and Dunhuang calligraphy has been systematically sorted out.
I: The origin of Dunhuang Hanjian and Wang Xi's calligraphy
In 1907, the famous British archaeologist Stein found 708 Han Dynasty Jian Mu in the Han Dynasty Beacon Site north of Dunhuang. Since then, a large number of Janes have been unearthed. The veil of Dunhuang Hanjian was lifted, and a treasure house of Chinese calligraphy was also presented. People were surprised to find that the contents recorded in the history of previous books, such as the emergence and development of calligraphy such as xingshu, chapter grass, and calligraphy, were examined according to the jianmu and suicide notes unearthed in Dunhuang, and all the errors and deviations were made. However, with the excavation of a large number of jianmu fragments of paper in the northwest, these ancient assertions were gradually overturned, and thus the history of Chinese calligraphy ushered in a new era.
When talking about the history of Chinese calligraphy, Wang Xizhi is a topic that can never be avoided. In the past, when talking about wang Xizhi's calligraphy mastership relationship, most of the calligraphy was dominated by mainstream calligraphy, taking Zhu Tianshu's "History of Chinese Calligraphy" as an example: "Wang Xizhi's cursive writing is an important turning point in the development of cursive in the history of calligraphy. His works use many chapter grass pens in the posture of Imakusa, the glyphs tend to be horizontal, the turns are mostly used in the turning pen, the center and the flank are used at the same time, and the simplicity and beauty coexist.
This kind of cursive writing had an important impact on Wang Xianzhi's book, zhang xu and Huai Su's wild grass in the Tang Dynasty. This kind of exposition can easily give people the illusion that Wang Xizhi created cursive writing, and he has learned from the process of changing from Zhangcao to Jincao, and few people have explored it in detail. Even if the Wei and Jin calligraphy such as the Li Bai Documents and other Wei and Jin calligraphy and Wang Xi's travels were in the same vein, they did not fundamentally explore the origin of Wang Xi's calligraphy. With the advent of Dunhuang calligraphy, the inheritance relationship of Wang Xi's calligraphy style has gradually become clear.
Let's start with cursive. According to the history of books, Wang Xizhi's cursive learning of Zhang Zhi in his early years was greatly influenced by Zhang Zhi, and Sun Guoting recorded in the "Book Genealogy": "The value of my book is Zhong Zhang, Zhong Dang resists, or it is said that Zhang Cao is a goose." It can be seen that Wang Xizhi believes that Zhang Zhi's cursive writing is above him. Before the Dunhuang Hanjian was discovered, no one disputed Zhang Zhi's cursive writing, taking the formation of his cursive style as a matter of course, however, in the face of the excavation of Dunhuang Jianmu, we had to re-examine the inheritance relationship between Wang Xizhi and Zhang Zhi to Dunhuang Hanjian. According to the history of the book, Imakusa was developed from Zhangcao.
"Zhang Cao" is first seen in Zhang Huaihuan's "Book Break": "The taste of the white father cloud of the offering: the ancient chapter grass, the failure to be grand, the real body, the principle of poverty and hypocrisy, the trace of the extreme grass, not between the lines, in the past law, the adult should change the body." ”
Regarding the production of Zhang cao, there are three main theories in the literature: one is that the Western Han Dynasty Yuan Emperor Shi Shi You Zuo Zhang Cao, "Han Yuan Emperor Shi Shi Shi You Zuo "Urgent Chapter", disbanded Li Shu, and also wrote it, Han customs are simple and lazy, and gradually do it. "One is the Eastern Han Dynasty Zhang Emperor as a chapter grass; the other is said to be Du Du as a chapter grass.
The above documents have led the calligraphy community to believe that Zhangcao was formed at the end of the Western Han Dynasty and matured in the Eastern Han Dynasty. However, with the excavations of The Northwest Han Dynasty such as Dunhuang, this concept was completely changed. Let's look at the books of the Han Dynasty and the Western Han Dynasty xuandi period in Dunhuang Maquan Bay, the book manuscripts of the Shu Mu and the Wang Mang period, these Jian Mu calligraphy has long been a mature chapter grass. At the same time, in these JianMu, some of the Jianshu are disbanded Lishu, and the rapid and simple Grass Lishu proves that the maturity of Zhangcao should undoubtedly be in the middle of the Western Han Dynasty. These Hexi Jianmu, centered on Dunhuang, specifically show the development process from grass to chapter grass.
In these calligraphy relics, we can clearly see the shadow of Zhang Zhi's cursive writing, which is produced earlier than Zhang Zhi, from which it can be inferred that Zhang Zhi, who is also a Dunhuang native, must have formed his own cursive appearance under the influence of local calligraphy style, through the collation and change of law.
He did not create it alone in Canga, but had a broad folk base. If we look at the remnants of the Wei and Jin dynasties unearthed in Loulan, it is not difficult to find that these Zhao calligraphy styles are in the same line as the cursive writing of Dunhuang Jianmu, and they belong to the northwest region, and the influence of regional calligraphy makes them walk in the beginning. Wang Xizhi's cursive writing was gradually formed in the study and inheritance of the previous generation of famous artists and these folk calligraphy.
Some people may ask whether Wang Xi's residence in Jiangzuo may have been to the northwest. However, we can see from reading the historical data that during the two Han Dynasties, Wei and Jin Dynasties, Dunhuang occupied an important position in the capital of the country and had close ties with the interior, which promoted the exchange of calligraphy to a certain extent. We can't find exact historical materials to prove that Wang Xizhi learned Dunhuang Hanjian and Wei Jin residual paper calligraphy, but one thing is certain, in the era in which Wang Xizhi lived, this style of writing conformed to the trend of history in the folk, sorted it out and studied, and then formed his own Yanmei style of writing.
In the Northwest Han Dynasty, centered on Dunhuang, the figure of early xingshu was also found. For example, in the Dunhuang Maquan Bay Wooden Mu, you can see the penmanship of the xingshu, which proves that as early as the middle of the Western Han Dynasty, the writing of the xingshu pen has appeared. Looking at the fragments of the Wei and Jin dynasties unearthed in the northwest region, such as the "Li Bai Documents" and the "Codex of September 11", the writing period of these fragments of paper is almost the same age as Wang Xizhi, and the style of Wang Xizhi's writing is very similar, and these residual papers are unearthed in the northwest, and the complete development of Dunhuang Hanjian to Wei jin remnants of paper to Wang Xizhi's travel book.
The above examples fully prove that the calligraphy of the Northwest Han Dynasty, centered on Dunhuang, is the source of Wang Xi's style of calligraphy.
Next, we turn our perspective to the script. Regarding the production of the Kaishu, there has been such a record in history, And Kang Youwei quoted Wang Youwei as saying: "Wang Cizhong used the ancient book Fang Guang Shao Boshi, and in the Jianchu (Han Zhangdi Era) used Licao as the Kai method, and the characters were eight points. ”
In 1991, Gansu Dunhuang Han Dynasty hanging spring site unearthed a large number of Jian Mu, of which, there are four pieces of hemp paper with ink writing, named "hanging spring hemp paper ink", we analyzed with the largest piece of paper residue, some of the words are already authentic calligraphy, if the "hanging spring hemp paper ink" and Zhong Xuan's "Recommended Season Straight Table" for comparison, you can clearly see its consistent pen and body. The pen method of this inkblot has been different from the general Lishu pen of the Han Dynasty, although it still retains the form of Lishu, but it is already the appearance of the early Calligraphy.
Through the analysis of a large number of Dunhuang Janes, we can boldly put forward an inference: in the northwest region centered on Dunhuang in the Han Dynasty, it was the birthplace of kai, xing, and cursive writing. While the official orthodox script was still slowly progressing, it was already full of life, and different calligraphy styles were brewing and producing, which then spread through exchanges with the mainland, and even the Wei and Jin Dynasties, under the action of various historical factors, promoted the formation of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy style and influenced the process of Chinese calligraphy history.
Second: The influence of Wang Xi's calligraphy on the Dunhuang Testament
Regarding the Dunhuang Testament, Mr. Zheng Ruzhong elaborated in the article "Dunhuang Calligraphy Management": "The content of the Dunhuang Testament is very extensive, because from the monasteries, the vast majority of them are Buddhist scriptures and monastic documents, or socio-economic documents centered on monasteries. There are also other religions, such as The Taoist Scriptures and Interpretations. Non-Buddhist scriptures account for about 15% of the volumes, but the historical value is extremely high. The overall classification can be divided into: religious classics, Confucian holy scriptures, literary materials, historical materials, language and writing materials, social and folklore materials, social and economic materials and scientific and technological materials. In terms of social documents, including the official documents and archives of the official office, especially the Guiyi period, etc., they are all-encompassing and versatile, resembling the collection of a library. ”
In these suicide notes, there are three kinds of Wang Xizhi calligraphy linben, which are extremely precious in the case that Wang Xi's authentic handwriting has not been circulated, they are the fragments of Si.3753 and Bo.4642 Wang Xizhi's "Seventeen Theses" (Tang Ren Linben), Bo.2555 "Wang Xizhi Book Declaration Table" Linben, and Bo .2544 "Lanting Preface" Linben. The excavation of these linbens fully proves the important position of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy in history and the influence on the Dunhuang Testament, and it is not an exaggeration to call Dunhuang "Sanxitang Fa Ti".
Fragments of Si.3753 and Bo.4642 Wang Xizhi's Seventeen Theses found in Dunhuang are fragments of the 3rd and 716th Posts in the SeventeenThirties. Through comparison, we can see that the three posts use the same pen, the structure is similar, the style is unified, the calligraphy is the same, and the paper is light blue, so we deduce that these works may be from the same person, and the level of the suicide note is comparable to that of the Tang Dynasty Linben, which shows the great influence of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy in Zhihuang. Bo.2555 includes two kinds of Dharma thesis, one of which is the "Declaration Table of the Book of Wang Xi", and we can see from the Dunhuang literature that Dunhuang calligraphy was also influenced by Wang Xizhi's "Declaration Table" to a certain extent.
The opening part of this table, "Shang Shu" to "Ah Is", is the same as the "Declaration Table" passed down, and a paragraph is missing below. The last fourteen words are not on the "Declaration Table" of the legend, "Gang (罔) duoxincuo, but what is not, no, Xi Zhibai", which is exactly the tone of Wang Xi's Codex.
It is clear that the author of the post was quite familiar with Wang Xizhi's Fa Ti, which once again proves that the Dunhuang Testament received the influence of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy. Bo. 2544 is a pro-text of the Orchid Pavilion Preface. We know that Wang Xizhi's calligraphy status reached its peak in the Tang Dynasty, and Tang Taizong personally established a biography for him, and pushed Wang Xizhi's calligraphy to "examine the ancient and modern in detail, study the fine seals, and be perfect."
If the authorities are so respected, the people will inevitably follow suit. Among Wang Xizhi's inkblots, the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion had the greatest influence on later generations. In the Dunhuang Testament, in addition to Bo.2544, Bo.2622, Bo.4764, and Si.1601 are also worth mentioning.
On the back of some of the suicide notes, there is a passage of "Lanting Preface" xizi content, although it does not look very flexible, but the dot painting is thick, the starting pen and the turning point are calm and powerful, which may be a facsimile of Chu Suiliang; Bo.4764 is sandwiched in the middle, and there is a paragraph of "Lanting Preface", only the beginning part, such as taking the Fa Feng Chengsu Linben; and Si.1601, Mr. Wo Xinghua said in the book "Dunhuang Calligraphy Art": "Si.1601 is a work of students copying the "Lanting Preface", and the first character of each line is written by the teacher. As an example, it is particularly neat, the words are correct, and the slightly cursive 'if' and 'pro' on the original post have also been changed to line letters. Students write two lines per word, meticulously. These linbens once again confirm the extensive influence of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy in the Tang Dynasty.
In the Dunhuang Testament, there are many calligraphy works like the above under the influence of Wang Xi's calligraphy style, and the copy of Wang Xi's Fa Ti preserved in the Dunhuang Testament also proves the process of learning by these scholars. These examples fully show that the calligraphy style of Dunhuang Testament was influenced to a certain extent by Wang Xizhi's calligraphy style in the process of formation.
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