The lines of Weibei calligraphy Fang Jun (hereinafter referred to as "square pen") are an important feature of Weibei calligraphy. However, whether the square pen of the Wei monument was written by the scholar with a pen or carved by the engraver with a knife, the understanding is not clear.
Because the so-called Tang Kai pen method of hiding the head and protecting the tail cannot write the square pen of the Wei monument, many people think that the square pen of the Wei monument is not written with a pen, but carved with a knife. Under the influence of this understanding, many people have studied Wei Bei for more than a hundred years, but not many can show wei bei Fang Jun's strong style. Therefore, a correct understanding of the emergence of the Weibei square pen is of great significance for understanding the historical evolution of the brushwork and for learning and developing the Calligraphy of the Weibei. The author does not humble and shallow, a little bit of chen guan, in order to teach at home and abroad Fang family.
The Wei Stele is a stele of the Northern Dynasty during the Guide Dynasty period, and it includes epitaphs, tombstones, statues, cliffs, and so on. The number of Wei stele works that have been handed down to this day is large, the styles are diverse, and the situation of books and engravings is also more complicated (the level of the booker and the engraver, the first book is carved or directly chiseled, etc.), if the general discussion of whether the square pen of the Wei stele is written or carved, it will be caught in endless debate. Therefore, here is only to talk about the problem of the square writing and engraving of the "Record of the Statue of Shiping Gong".
The full title of the "Statue of Shiping Gong" is "Bhikkhu Hui Became the Monument of the Late Father of Luozhou Thorn History Shiping Gong Statue", which was carved in September of the 22nd year (489) of the Northern Wei Dynasty taihe in Luoyang Longmen Mountain. The "Statue of Shiping Gong" has a particularly important position in the Wei Monument, and it is worth paying attention to at least three points: First, its owner is the Luozhou Thorn History. Second, there are the signatures of those who wrote and wrote about them. Third, the text and boundary are all yang-style convex carvings.
Luozhou thorn history is highly respected, so this inscription should be carefully written. Since the author Meng Da and the scholar Zhu Yizhang signed their names, they should have been people with a certain reputation at that time, and they would not be sloppy in writing articles and writing for the high-ranking and respected Luozhou Thorn History. Although the engraver is not signed, it is not mediocre. In particular, the convex engraving of the entire Yang text can make us see clearly the relationship between writing and carving.
The "Record of the Statue of Shiping Gong" is the crown of the Weibei square pen, but this square pen is mainly written by Zhu Yizhang with a brush, or is it carved by the engraver with a carving knife? If three or seven is open, is it seven minutes to write three minutes, or three minutes to write seven minutes?
I think that the angular square pen of the "Record of the Statue of Shiping Gong" was written by Zhu Yizhang with a pen, and the engraver only faithfully reproduced Zhu Yizhang's calligraphy. There are three pieces of evidence:
First, the "Record of the Statue of Shiping Gong" not only has square pens, but also has many round pens. For example, the lower side of the "flat" apostrophe, the left point of the "gong", the two sides of the "like" curved hook and the pinch, the right side of the "lower" point, the "big" apostrophe, the vertical hook of the "then", etc., are all rounded forms. This rounded line was written by Zhu Yizhang with a pen, which is probably not different. So far, no one has ever thought that the round pen of weibei was carved by carving. '
Second, the edge of the square pen in the "Portrait of Shiping Gong" is not flat and straight, but there is a circle in the square. For example, the left side of the "one" starting pen, the upper side of the "then" vertical hook pen, the two ends of the "lower" horizontal painting, the upper right side of the "hill" skimming pen, the upper right side of the "beginning" apostrophe pen, etc., although the edges are clear, but there are often concave arcs and subtle undulations. This concave arc and subtle undulations are the result of writing. Because the knife is flat, if a knife completes one side of the line, one side of the line is straight. Such as the beginning of the "Zhi" and "Cai" skimming, the horizontal fold of the "A" and "Tian" parts, the horizontal folds of the "Things" and "Yan" parts, and the lower side of the hook, etc., the straight lines that have not changed at all. Here we can clearly see the traces of the knife. If it is not a knife to complete one side of the line, but to use several knives to cut out little by little, then what is the knife according to the engraving? It can only be based on the shape of the line written. In addition, it is difficult for us to imagine that the round pen of "The Portrait of Shiping Gong" was written by Zhu Yizhang with a pen, but the square pen was carved by carving.
Third, the lines of the "Portrait of Shiping Gong" are Yangwen convex carvings. In terms of the restrictive effect of Shudan on engraving or the influence of the engraving knife on the line, the Yang wen convex carving is different from the Yin Wen concave carving. Yin text concave engraving, engraving is the line of the text, the text line has less restrictive effect on the engraving knife, and the engraving knife has a greater impact on the line. If the engraver writes with a knife and creates a second creation, the lines written by the writer will be deformed to varying degrees. Even if it is not free to play, if you do not pay attention to the carving, the carved lines will be different from the writing.
For example, the above mentioned "Zhi" and "Cai" skimming pen, the "A" and "Tian" part of the horizontal fold, the "Thing" and "Yan" part of the horizontal fold and the lower side of the hook are like this. However, the convex engraving is the part other than the line, at this time, the line of the text has a greater restrictive effect on the engraving knife, and the free play of the engraving is small, and it is impossible to use the knife to replace the secondary creation. Although we can also see the traces of the knife in the "Portrait of Shiping Gong", such as the upper right end of the "like" horizontal apostrophe and the stiff polyline at the lower right end of the word "one" is carved with the knife. However, this situation is rare in the "Portrait of Shiping Gong".
To sum up, I think that not only the round pen of the "Record of the Statue of Shiping Gong" was written by Zhu Yizhang with a pen, but also the angular square pen was also written by Zhu Yizhang with a pen, and the engraver only faithfully reproduced Zhu Yizhang's calligraphy.
It is confirmed that the angular square pen of the "Portrait of Shiping Gong" is mainly written with a brush, which is of great significance for correctly understanding the historical evolution of WeiBei's penmanship and penmanship.
First of all, it fully proves that the Weibei square pen is an objective existential brushwork. If we abandon the stereotype that "the Square Pen of WeiBei is carved with a knife", and then further analyze the major sects of Weibei calligraphy- epitaphs, especially the epitaphs of the Yuan nobles whose inscriptions are very exquisite, we will find that this square brushwork is not individual, but a universal brushwork that deserves in-depth study.
Secondly, it helps us to further understand the historical evolution of brushwork, understand the characteristics of Weibei's penmanship, and understand the misunderstandings in the teaching of calligraphy.
The appearance of the Weibei square pen has its specific historical reasons. This kind of brushwork is consistent with the opening of the Wei Monument, the posture of Jundao, and the strong and thick style, and is the result of the aesthetic orientation determined by the brave, strong, ferocious, and fierce national character of the Xianbei people and the integration of Han folk scholars.
Wei Bei square pen is a relatively simple brushwork, according to Mr. Sun Boxiang's research and creation, we can understand that the biggest difference between this kind of penmanship and popular calligraphy is: the starting pen does not hide the front, and the flanking cuts in; the emphasis in the pen operation process is to press the pen to lay the millimeter, and the conversion of the pen edge from the flank to the center has no obvious pen lift, so the middle section of the line is thick.
This kind of penmanship can also be seen in the early Tang Dynasty Ouyang Inquiry's letterbook, after Yan Zhenqing and Liu Gongquan, the "∽" type penmanship that emphasizes both ends of the Tibetan head and tail protection has been circulated, and due to the influence of Zhao Mengfu's "it is not easy to use the pen for thousands of years", this "∽" type penmanship after the Ming Dynasty has become a golden rule and has become the only criterion for measuring the correctness and error of the penmanship. There was no substantial breakthrough in the brushwork of the Qing Dynasty epigraphy, and the reason is precisely here, people have repeatedly said that "the square pen of the Wei stele is carved", and the reason is also here. The existence of Wei Bei's square pen tells us that the penmanship is not immutable throughout the ages, and the penmanship of a certain historical period cannot be used as a standard for measuring the correctness and error of the penmanship.
Finally, it should be noted that we say that the square pen of the "Record of the Statue of Shiping Gong" was written by Zhu Yizhang with a pen, not that the square pen of the Wei Monument was all written with a pen, nor did it completely negate the role of the engraver, in the "Record of the Statue of Shi Ping", the role of the engraver is mainly to reproduce Zhu Yizhang's calligraphy more faithfully. As for the square pen in other Wei tablets, it can only be a specific analysis of specific problems.