If the ancient collection of letters has the dual value of historical preservation and art appreciation, then in today's very convenient means of communication, the collection and appreciation of ancient people's letters has another subtle meaning. The development of modern communication tools has made it possible to transmit communication content to each other at almost zero cost and instantaneously. Therefore, the anxiety, expectation and imagination of the ancient people because of the uncertainty of the messenger and the long distance of the postal route are difficult for us to understand psychologically. The letters of the ancients, the words are golden, as if they always hope to convey the deepest and broadest meaning through the simplest and most provincial words. Reading this, when we read "strong letters frequently read", read "letters are not based, everything is left to him", read "a line of letters a thousand lines of tears, cold to the side of the king's clothes to nothing" and other ancient poems, will have a more cultural affinity to appreciate.
Here's a place for everyone to enjoy
Wen Zhengming wrote two books to his uncle
National Museum Collection | "Wen Zheng Ming Zhi Zhi Zhai ShuZha" twice
The National Museum of China has two passages in the collection of "Wen Zheng Ming Zhi Zhi Zhai Shu Zhi", one of which was written on the tenth day of the first month of a certain year, four pages, and twelve lines. The other was written on the seventh, fourth, and twelve lines of the first month of August of that year. The letter format is complete, on paper, 27 centimeters in length and 10.5 centimeters in width.
Wen Zhengming (1470-1559), formerly known as Bi (or Zuobi), was an outstanding painter, calligrapher and writer of the Ming Dynasty. From the age of forty-two, he used lines of characters to sign Zhong. In the last year of Zhengde's reign, he entered Beijing as a tribute and was given the title of Hanlin To be edicted. In the early years of Jiajing, he participated in the revision of the Records of Emperor Wuzong and read it with him at the feast.
Judging from the contents of the first letter, the old uncle who had previously carried the letter had sent someone to transport fifty stones of rice by boat to receive Ji Wenzhengming. For Wen Zhengming, who is in a difficult situation of livelihood, these fifty stones of rice are like sending charcoal in the snow, and Wen Zhengming's timely help to his uncle is "indescribable". The second call was also to express gratitude for the financial assistance given by the uncle of the executioner and to talk about family affairs. Wen Zhengming's mother Qi Died when he was six years old and was raised in the family of his grandmother in China, which shows that the relationship between him and his uncles, especially his uncles, is very good.
The two correspondence books are written with a smooth and smooth pen, without any lag, the setbacks at the turn are clear and clear, the starting pen is sharp and sharp, and the hidden edge is vigorous and sophisticated. The layout is consistent, the old is stable, there is no jagged staggering of high and low, which makes people look at it with a sense of modesty and elegance, peace and calmness.
【First Pass】
receive
/
Send a ship of fifty stones
Sincerely
Count the collars
Suitable for the lack of pairs
Can't feel it
speech
Mukocho taji
Heavy annoyance of the will
idol
Wang Yin visited
That is, the thanks have been expressed
The left side of the moon is halfway through the moon
Proposed to Kun (Kun)
serve
visit
You have to do whatever you want
I am here to make it
People return to the toilet
Serve this first
sniff
And thanks
【Second Pass】
Elegance
Undeclared
The first to be served by Mington
Uncle of the Fasting
New Positive Ten
day
Rong is still lost
wait
Gu Cheng
Good gifts
Thanks a lot
Pay to the rental silver
Count and close
Because the three ladies are in
Sand Lake Village
Not returned
Skip this
Substitution
Xu Yanming is here
cause
There are minor ailments
There are still a few days to go
not
Yes
Annoying
The third uncle said he knew
Yu is not one by one
Sign Mington head
The history of the old uncle who is in charge of the fast
August 7
seal
stamp
：
﹃
too
granary
land
moistening
it
﹄
︵
cinnabar
wen
long
square
︶
。
Further reading | Ruler knowledge
The original meaning of the ruler is the wooden jane used for writing, which is generally about one foot long. The Later Han Dynasty Book of Beihai Jing Wang Xing Biography records: "And sleeping illness, Emperor Yima Ordered to make ten cursive rulers. Li Xian's note: "Shuowen Yun: 'Mu, the book version is also.' 'The cover is a foot long, because of the name. "The ruler is used to write notes, narrate feelings, and convey messages, so there are many titles such as ruler, ruler letter, ruler carp, ruler note, ruler han, ruler book, etc., of which the ruler is the most used and the earliest, so it has become a synonym for letters. The Biography of the Bian QueCang Gong Lie of the Chronicle of the Chronicle of the Bian Que Cang records: "Ti Qian tong 'ruler', the father has hou Ning." Of course, in ancient times, the titles of letters were also letters, books, and codexes.
In ancient China, writing letters was the most common way of communicating in writing. The Chinese letter culture has a long history. From the physical letter of "knotting the rope and ruling" to the written oracle bone, the "Jane" or "Mu" written on bamboo and wood chips in the Spring and Autumn And Warring States periods, and the "note" written on lightweight paper after the Eastern Han Dynasty can be regarded as the form of letters. From the Jin Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, calligraphy was an important form of expression of calligraphy art, and the handwriting left by calligraphers such as the "Second King" and Yan Zhenqing that we see now is mainly the correspondence they exchanged at that time.
Letters from different historical periods have different formats and styles, and in the process of development, they have gradually formed a conventional writing format, and between granting and receiving, there must be a title, and it varies from person to person. For example, for the elders and superiors, honorifics must be used; for the peers and juniors, there are different procedural requirements for the use of language, heads- and spaces and top boxes. From the Western Han Dynasty to the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the letter format was written on the front of the cover to write the name of the recipient, the inner paper generally did not write the name of the recipient, the front end was first named chen, who presented at a glance, and then wrote the inner text, and finally signed his own money, humble and self-inhibited to show respect. By the Tang and Song dynasties, the format of the letter was changed, the beginning of the letter was still named from Chen, to indicate the main body of the issue, and the end was still signed with self-humility and honorifics such as "Dun Shou", "Knocking on", "Gong Qi", "Re-Worship", etc. The name of the letter writer appeared twice, that is, the double lower paragraph, the end of the letter was usually after the signature, another line (usually the last line), the head up the top grid that is, the name of the recipient was written in the upper paragraph, in order to show prominence, to show respect. By the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the writing format of the letter was usually the theme of the opening paragraph, and the beginning was no longer named from Chen, but at the end of the letter, it was signed with a self-modest paragraph: "So-and-so Dun Shou", and then another line was written on the top of the letter to show respect for the believer. After writing the upper and lower paragraphs, dates, etc., the words "Zuo Yu, Zuo Kong, Chong, Zuo Su, Yu Su" and so on will generally be written in the lower left corner of the letter to indicate that the content of the letter ends here.
Because of its literary value and calligraphy artistic value, celebrity letters have always become the object of collection and appreciation. For example, the Ming Dynasty people paid great attention to the collection, collation and printing of the books of their predecessors, and set up a special category of "rulers" in many famous anthologies. In terms of content, compared with diaries, letters are a better carrier of interpersonal context, with stronger social and historical value. From the perspective of calligraphy art, compared with calligraphy works with aesthetic purposes, xinzha is more private in content, with the purpose of conveying information and feelings, so the words are more true.
The National Museum of China collects the Ming Dynasty Ruler, which contains a complex collection of texts, compared with the main history and poetry collections, the Ruler Text directly expresses emotions, reading its letters as if seeing its people, the sorrows and joys, joys and sorrows, always let the viewer read after reading a singing and sighing, cover their faces and meditate, vividly present the Ming Dynasty literati's social exchanges, food, clothing, housing, poetry, painting and singing, art and literature education and other trivialities of life. In the square inches of the ruler, the nature of the flow of the mind and the unhindered transformation of elegance and customs jumped on the paper, and the cultivation and talent were seen even more. The layout between the lines of the Ming dynasty is sparse, the style and font are relatively free and unrestrained, the articles are not fixed, and the width is different. The author does not speculate on the ugliness, but selects a few of them and examines them slightly for the benefit of the reader.
This article is excerpted from the Collection of the Fa Ti Book Series of the National Museum of China (Series IV) and Ming Ren Zhi Mu (I)