Cai XiangZhi (蔡襄尺牍), Early Spring Thesis, 1060, on paper
26.5 cm in length and 29.1 cm in width, in the collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei
【Interpretation】 Xie Lang chunchu generals the great bride and the following. In the following year, Governor Zhu also came to Quanzhou for consultation, and now he took medicine, and he felt tired and tired, and as for personnel, he did not care about it anymore. Dizzy do not make a book, but few guests, save in and out, so the feeling can be known. Not one by one. Send it off. The tenth day of the first month.
Appreciation of Cai Xiang's "Xie Lang Ti"
Wang Xiankun
The establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty ended the division of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and reunited the Central Plains and the vast South. Although the Northern Song Dynasty still confronted the Liao, Western Xia, and Dali states in the southwest, its development was far ahead of the neighboring countries after the painstaking management of the three dynasties of Taizu, Taizong and Zhenzong. The prosperity and stability of the country has reached its peak. This provided a platform for the development of the art of calligraphy. Cai Xiang, one of the "Four Houses of Song", was a leading figure active in this period and sounded the horn for the Song Dynasty book wind of "Shangyi".
Cai Xiang (蔡襄), courtesy name Junmo , was a Fujian Xianyouren ( 殷游人 ) , born in the fifth year of Emperor Zhenzong 's reign , that is , in 1012 , and died in the fourth year of Emperor Yingzong 's reign , in 1067 , at the age of 55. Unlike Su, Huang, and Mi, he had a smooth career, a clean and honest official reputation, was busy with political affairs all his life, and achieved remarkable political achievements, while he himself was loyal, upright, and faithful, so he was respected by his colleagues in the DPRK and China and trusted by Emperor Renzong. This kind of loyalty and integrity in personality, smooth career and relatively relaxed political environment undoubtedly had an impact on the formation of Cai Xiang's style of writing, and it is also an objective reason why he is different from the other three styles of writing.
Cai Xiang's "Xie Lang Ti", which is now stored in the National Palace Museum in Taipei, is also called "Early Spring Thesis", which is a subtle work that embodies Cai's style of writing. This is on paper, 26.5 cm in length and 29.1 cm in width. Appreciating this post, we can not only appreciate Cai Xiang's exquisite calligraphy, but also glimpse the relics of the Jin and Tang Dynasties and the author's admiration of Xuan Light's literary feelings.
"Shelang Thesis" should belong to his prime-age work. Qizha did not fall in the year, but there was a sentence in the letter that "also came to Quanzhou for medical treatment", so it should be written by Cai Xiang during his tenure in Quanzhou. Cai Xiang served in Quanzhou twice, once from the second year of Zhihe to the first year of Jiayou (1055-1056) and the other from the second year of Jiayou to the fifth year of Jiayou (1057-1060), for a total of six years. The Shelang Thesis should have been written during this period.
This is gentle and elegant, thick and dignified. From the post, we know that the owner was physically violated at that time, and there was a disease in his body, "Chief Zhu also came to Quanzhou for diagnosis and waiting, and now he took medicine, and he felt thin and tired every day." Even so, the author is still rigorous in writing letters, and the way he writes is still calm. The lines in the opening line are not exciting, the lines are calm, and the press is measured. With the change of mood, the author's brush strokes gradually entered the line from kai, the lines were also rich and smooth, the line pen began to speed up, the pen was strong, and a trace of anxiety flowed out of the warmth. For example, the second line of "each" and "An" are written quickly, exaggerated in structure, and have a strong sense of movement, which fully shows the author's desire for peace and health. Another example is the fourth line of "medicine" and "thin" words, the strong contrast in structure accurately shows the author's state of mind, the word "medicine" is thick and composed with a pen, and the knot is broad and dynamic, all of which show the author's disappointment that the author hopes that the medicine will be removed from the disease but still "thin and tired" after taking it. The inadvertent shaking change of the two lines of "thin" ("thin" word skimming) naturally reveals the author's helplessness and anxiety. The more the author's mood changes, the more intense the mood changes, the heart moves with the emotion, the pen turns at will, or the line or the grass, the hand is picked up, there is no deliberate habit.
Art is a display of the mind, a perfect unity of the author's state of mind and expressive technique. This is true of Wang Xizhi's "Preface to the Orchid Pavilion", yan Zhenqing's "Manuscript of Sacrifice to the Nephew", and so is Cai Xiang's "Xie Lang Ti". All three have achieved the unity of artistic conception and expression techniques, the difference is that "Xie Lang Ti" and "Orchid Pavilion Preface" are less elegant and handsome, but more gentle and elegant, and less powerful and elegant than "Sacrifice Nephew Manuscript", but more heavy and dignified and rigorous. Therefore, the world commentary Cai Junmo adhered to the legacy of the Jin and Tang Dynasties, and his book "Walking Alone in the World" is not a lie.
"Xie Lang Ti" because it is a family letter, so the author wrote without scruples, the heart moves at will, the layout is natural, deeply admired by the Jin people to advocate the essence of simplicity, to carve ornaments, less flashy, font size is staggered, but also the line is also Kai, wonderful creation of nature. For example, the words "xia", "zhu", "medicine", "jue" and so on in the text not only have the rigor and thickness of the script, but also do not lose the agility of the book; the words "things", "books", and "ke" are light in gesture and quiet in motion. The "Xie Lang Ti" has reached a considerable height in terms of style, weather and technique, and this intentional or unintentional calligraphy chest has undoubtedly laid a good theoretical and practical foundation for the opening of the "Shangyi" Song Dynasty calligraphy style.
"Xie Lang Ti" is comfortable and simple throughout, full of rich Jinren atmosphere, rigorous and thick with pen, with a degree of pressing, meticulous. The knot is born of each other, Gu Pan is interesting, the loose person is dignified and generous, the tight knot is beautiful and beautiful, and everywhere adheres to the strict law of Yan, Liu and Chu. Frankly speaking, it can skillfully integrate the soothing and loose atmosphere of the Jin people with the solemn solemnity of the Tang dynasty and eventually form its own artistic style, looking at the Song Dynasty, only Cai Xiang is the ear.
Since the Song Dynasty lowered the evaluation of the "Four Houses of Song", the only one with the most ambiguity was Cai Xiangyi. Su, huang, and rice seem to be less ambiguous. Of course, there are many reasons for this, such as the influence of his style of writing on future generations. Objectively speaking, in terms of influence on later generations, Cai is naturally inferior to the other three, but it seems unfair to deny Cai's contribution to the "Shangyi" style of the Song Dynasty only. It is also said that Cai's sense of innovation is not enough, and his personal appearance is not as obvious as Su, Huang and Mi, and there is a suspicion of "mastering the ancients". Not really. Cai Xiang is among the "Four Houses of the Song Dynasty" with his grass, and this "Xie Lang Ti" is enough to prove that he has his own unique views on inheriting the ancients and innovating. In the Commentary, Zeng Yunxue's book should be "only good for the divine qi, and if it is like a physical posture, although it is similar to the form but no spirit, it is the ear of the person who does not know the book." Here Cai emphasizes the importance of the inner spiritual meaning of calligraphy with the contrast between divine qi and shape. "Xie Lang Ti" just proves that Cai Xiang is not a slave to the book of "shi gu buhua", he skillfully integrates the spirit of the Jin people's relics and the Tang Shangfa, and then forms his own gentle and elegant, solemn and orderly, peaceful and unobtrusive style of writing, which is precisely in line with his implicit and introverted artistic aesthetic orientation. Although this aesthetic orientation is different from Su's plump ups and downs, Huang's vertical and horizontal wonders and rice's heroic and unrestrained, his personal style characteristics are still distinct and exquisite, and it is not rigorous to simply favor one over the other.
It is true that the understanding and appreciation of art has been the opinion of the benevolent and the wise since ancient times. Although the three families of Su, Huang and Mi have distinct personalities and flaunt their book style, it is undeniable that these three families also have very obvious shortcomings. For example, the Su character is too fat, although naïve and overflowing, but there is still a suspicion of "ink pig"; although the yellow character is longitudinal and horizontal, it often flows in habit; although the rice character is heroic and unrestrained, but because of the use of brush pens, there are too many biases, and the sick pens are frequent, thus losing their rigor. Cai Xiang is not the case, like "Xie Lang Ti" has few regrets from the above families.
Therefore, the objective evaluation of Cai Xiang and his historical status as one of the founders of the "Shangyi" calligraphy of the Song Dynasty still have a certain objective practical significance, after all, we can clearly feel from the "Xie Lang Ti", "Before him, no one in the Northern Song Dynasty could do such a comprehensive and in-depth inheritance of traditional calligraphy, and it can be said that Cai Xiang's efforts ended the chaotic situation of calligraphy chaos and disorder in the Zhao and Song dynasties for a hundred years, so he is undoubtedly a figure of the 'succession to the world'" (Cao Baolin). Based on this alone, Cai Xiang and Su, Huang, and Mi are listed together as the "Four Houses of Song" without exaggeration, and it is obviously not enough to artificially favor one over the other. Because each person has limitations from both the times and himself, as long as he completes the mission entrusted to him by history, it is enough to establish his historical position. This is also a little inspiration we have received in the process of appreciating "Shelang theta".