▲ The author is engraving a seal
▲ The author studied at the China Academy of Art
▲ The author's seal engraving works
Seal engraving tools
stone
In China, the history of seal stone is very long, from ancient times to the present, seal stone has been an allegory of the mind and thoughts of the literati, Lu You has a poetry cloud "flowers such as explanation is too eventful, stone can not say the most can have", the seal stone with its unique color, pattern, rhyme, rigidity, softness, shape, wordless transmission of wen da yi, to silent existing sound.
As early as the Warring States to the Western Han Dynasty, talc began to be printed, but the stone was of poor quality and was only used for martyrdom. Later, ancient seals appeared, mostly made of copper and jade with strong and durable quality. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Wang Mian, a famous painter in Zhejiang, carved his own seal with flower milk stone, which can be said to be the beginning of the seal stone to enter the forest of art. In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, Wen Peng unexpectedly obtained four baskets of Qingtian frozen stones used to make women's jewelry in Nanjing, tried to carve seals by himself, and since then the art of seal engraving has arisen among the literati. After several generations, the seal stone material has become increasingly abundant, the carrier is diverse, and the forms are different.
Among the stones selected for the successive dynasties, the most common are Qingtian stone, Shoushan stone, Chang fossil and Inner Mongolian stone. Due to the different origins of various types of stone chapters, their texture, performance and color are also different, and each has its own characteristics. A precious stone seal not only has its own value, but also has a high artistic aesthetic value, so there is no shortage of collectors of precious printing stones.
Qingtian stone is produced in Qingtian County, Zhejiang Province, and hence the name. Qingtian stone is delicate and warm, very easy to use knives, and the knife is rich in expression, which is one of the favorite printing materials used by seal engravers. Qingtian stone has blue, yellow, light red and blue gray and other colors, of which light jelly, white jelly, pine flower jelly is more expensive, the top product seal door green is the most famous.
Shoushan stone is produced in Shoushan, Fujian. Due to the different mouths of the production pits, the texture of various Shoushan stones is not the same, and some even have great differences in character. Shoushan stone is divided into field pits, water pits and mountain pits. In terms of quality, the field pit is the first, the water pit is second, and the mountain pit is second. Shoushan stone has a wide range of categories, common ones are white hibiscus jelly, brain fat rouge jelly and so on. Tian Huangshi, who has the title of "King of Stones", is the best of Shoushan stones, and its surface is transparent and yellow, and its texture is thorough and regular. Among them, "golden yellow" and "orange peel yellow" are the most rare and expensive, loquat yellow, osmanthus yellow', and cooked millet yellow', which are also treasures. For Tian Huangshi, there has always been a saying that "gold is easy to obtain, and Tian Huang is difficult to find". Ordinary Shoushan stone, not as fine as Qingtian stone, the knife has a rough feeling.
Chang fossils are produced in Changhua County, Zhejiang. Its stone is also divided into puddles and dry pits, the stone quality of the puddle is uniform and powdery, and the dry pit stone is rough and stubborn, and often grows with sand nails. But whether it is a puddle or a dry pit, the overall feeling of being knifed is tightly blocked. Chang fossils are red, yellow, gray and other colors, and are often intertwined. Among them, there is a kind of lotus powder jelly (Changhua jelly) that is like cooked lotus powder, and one that condenses like chicken blood in the stone is called chicken blood stone. The better the texture of the stone bottom in the "chicken blood stone", the more blood color, the fresher, the more alive, the more precious. If there are three color blocks of black, white and red on one side of the stone, it is also known as "Liu Guan Zhang" (that is, the metaphor of Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei). If a stone is covered with chicken blood, it has the reputation of "Da Hong Pao", which is the rarest and most precious.
Inner Mongolian stone, also known as Mongolian stone or Bahrain stone, is a new stone species that has been newly practiced in the market in recent years, and is named because it is produced in Inner Mongolia. This stone was originally used as a raw material for stone carvings of arts and crafts, and was later introduced and used and identified by experts as a printing material. Mongolian stone is crystal clear and colorful. The best products in the stone are beyond the reach of the general quality of Qingtian and Shoushan, so they are very popular with Indian carvers.
Graver
The knife used for seal engraving is generally a flat blade, the knife has a certain thickness, and the angle of the knife edge is moderate from 40 degrees to 20 degrees. The engraving knife can be prepared with two or three different sizes, which is convenient for engraving stamps of different sizes. In addition, the length of the knife should also be moderate, too long and too short is not conducive to use. At the end of the knife edge, it can be used as a hard corner to retain the square, so that the printing surface can be tapped at the end and used for damage effect. To prevent slipping, the hand must be wrapped in some rope on the knife shaft to make the hand more powerful when holding the knife. Oblique knife and round mouth knife cannot be used as seal engraving knives.
Indonesian
The ink clay is the "ink color" of the seal carving. Its production is better in Zhangzhou, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Shanghai and other places. Printing clay distinguishes between cinnabar and cinnabar printing clay from the printing color, as well as dark brown antique printing mud and other colors of printing mud. A good printing clay must not be exudate, but has thickness and strong coverage. Printing clay should be placed in the porcelain printing clay cylinder, and the tooth or plastic printing ribs should be often stirred.
Carved White, Zhu Wen
Seal carving knife, is the ink manuscript into a seal, from the perspective of seal carving art, that is, with a knife instead of writing, can show the penmanship of calligraphy on the stone, but also reflect the traces of the knife and the taste of stone, so that the pen meaning through the knife stone taste performance, knife and pen combination to express the unique "golden stone taste" in the seal carving art and the author's artistic personality. The engraving of Zhu Wen or Bai Wen is the embodiment of a knife. In seal engraving, as far as the lines of the text are concerned, they are only divided into these two categories.
Engraved in white text
The so-called white text, the text line is concave, so it is also called yin text. In the printing, the line itself can not be stained with mud, and the printing surface is stained with red mud, after the stamp, from the effect, on the red bottom (the term is "leaving red") appears the text of the white line (paper is generally white).
The white text is to engrave the strokes of the printed text, and the white lines can be expressed by single knife method or double knife method.
The white text single knife method is to engrave a line at a time. In the process of single knife punching and cutting, the knife should be centered and steady, and the operation of the knife trace should be controlled.
The white text double knife method is to carve a concave line twice in the past. The first knife is carved from right to left, according to the inner side of the seal line to carve off one side of the line, and then the printing stone is turned at 180 degrees, and then from right to left along the inner side of the line, the second knife is carved. If the white text to be engraved is thicker, the middle of the double knife engraving remains in the printing surface, which can be eradicated by the knife angle, and the junction of the two ends of the line should be left with room, too square, and the line will appear thin.
The double knife method should be biased, which is conducive to the handover between the double knives and can achieve a dignified and thick printing effect. The thick white text carved by the double knife method is called "full white text". The printed text is neatly printed in white, and it has a vermilion background color, which is particularly gorgeous.
Engrave Zhu Wen
Zhu Wen, also known as Yang Wen. The so-called Zhu Wen, the line of the text is raised, in the plutonium printing, the line of the text is red (the printing mud is mostly red). "Yang" is relative to "Yin".
Zhu Wen left the ink strokes behind, and the other parts were engraved. The Zhuwen line is based on the two sides of the indian line, and the reciprocal two times are completed.
The Zhu Wen engraving method has similarities with the double knife white writing method, both are carved by double knives, but the engraving white text is played in the direction of the line, and the engraving of Zhu Wen is played in the opposite direction of the line. When carving a Zhuwen line, first carve the first knife from right to left along the upper outer side of the line, then make a 180-degree turn of the printing stone, and then carve the second knife from right to left along the other outer side of the line, and finally engrave the two ends of the line. When carving Zhu Wen lines, it is often necessary to encounter crossed strokes, at this time, the carving knife should be lifted, crossed the intersection point, and dropped the knife again.
Zhu Wen lines cannot be carved out with one knife, and the complete Zhu Wen lines must be completed by double knives.
Artistic characteristics of Hanyin
The basic characteristics of the Han seal are determined from its external morphological characteristics, which can be summarized as smooth and dignified, changing rules, and simple and natural.
Flat and dignified
Because the facsimile shape of the Chinese seal is square, the configuration of the knot and brushwork of the characters inside the printing surface is determined to be square or rectangular or flat; the strokes are generally horizontal and vertical, well-arranged, and neatly arranged. In terms of appearance, the whole print looks flat and dignified, stable and generous.
1) Square shape
The shape and font structure of the Chinese seal are mostly square, but within the square printing surface, due to the number of characters and the complexity and simplicity of the strokes, there are also slight changes. If the number of horizontal and vertical strokes is not equal, it may have a combination of squares such as positive, flat and long at the same time, so that it can be unified and coordinated. Each word in the seal has a different square shape, forming a whole square.
2) The strokes are more horizontal and straight
The flat and dignified shape of the Chinese seal determines that the strokes in the characters should be adapted to it, which is mostly the characteristics of horizontal and vertical. To this end, the oblique pen in the word can be changed to a horizontal and vertical stroke, and occasionally a small number of unalterable oblique strokes can be retained, so that it can remain naturally varied, but not too long, so as not to destroy the overall unity and coordination.
3) The stroke thickness is basically the same
The vast majority of indian strokes in Chinese and Indian are basically equal or similar. That is, occasionally there are individual words with few strokes, and their strokes can be slightly thicker, and words with more strokes can also be slightly thinner, otherwise there will be incongruity between the stroke thickness between several words.
4) The stroke spacing is basically uniform
Regardless of whether the strokes are thick or thin, the distance between the strokes remains basically equal. Occasionally, there are fewer strokes, which are slightly thicker and slightly wider in spacing, but there is no sense of incongruity. In short, make the all-print stroke arrangement feel comfortable and natural.
Rules change
The shape of the Chinese seal and the body and stroke of the text in the print, although it is square and flat, it seems very regular, but it is not flat. The reason for this is that within the scope of the rules, under the premise of leveling, there are often many small changes, not only do not destroy the overall unified rules, but appear vivid and changeable.
1) Oblique in the middle
In the boxy knot, on the horizontal and vertical stroke tone, there is a slight oblique brush, which looks vibrant and natural. Some horizontal paintings are slightly uneven, vertical paintings are not straight, some oblique pens are more than 45 degree angles, and some are symmetrical to each other, which appears to be mixed in the regular horizontal and vertical changes.
2) Straight and curved
In the horizontal and vertical stroke knots, there are sometimes one or two slightly shorter or slightly curved strokes, which increase the lively atmosphere in the plate, like ripples on the calm water.
3) There are circles in the square
Although each word in the Chinese seal is square, the strokes are mostly square, and the beginning and end are also square, but there is often a phenomenon of the outer edge of the circle and the inner corner at the corner, which just constitutes the relationship between the contrast and coordination of the inner circle of the outer circle, not only does not destroy the overall square, but increases the change of the brush and the charm of art.
4) There is a sparseness in the secret
The lines in Chinese printing are generally thicker, especially the casting prints are more obvious, so the spacing between the lines is very tight, and sometimes there is a sense of impermeability. But often in a dense layout, there are small empty bottoms formed by the intersection of lines, showing a breathable space. Although this space is small, but with the dense line spacing, it produces a dense contrast relationship, increases the sense of flexibility generated by breathability, and also enhances the interest of the art of the whole India, on the contrary, if the whole Print is closely arranged everywhere, it is easy to appear rigid and lifeless.
It's natural
Because the Han seal is more cast, so the lines are thick and strong, and the knot body is horizontal and vertical, it appears stable, thick, simple and unpretentious, and its production and engraving means, whether it is casting, chiseling, milling, grinding, knife technique, penmanship are all integrated, vivid and natural.
1) Thick lines
The lines in the Han casting seal are generally white, and due to the reason of recasting, they are mostly thick and strong.
2) Simple and simple
Because the thickness of the Chinese seal line is basically the same, in the general casting or engraving, the beginning and end of the line and the middle section of the operation do not have more decoration and lifting and pressing the transition, so it appears relatively simple and simple.
3) Knife and pen combination
Regardless of the means of production, The Chinese-Indian script is cast, chiseled or milled, and its expression is different in form, but the meaning of the combination of knife and pen in its lines is more harmonious. For example, casting prints, although the lines are thick and heavy, the square angles modified by the starting and stopping knife are obvious; the chisel marks are clear, and the upper part of the lower tip can also be a metaphor for the pen meaning; the jade seal, mostly used, its lines are smooth, or the ends are flat, or the two ends are slightly pointed, and the pen meaning can also be seen. Because the combination of knife and pen is appropriate, the performance has both pen meaning and knife meaning, so the overall feeling is simple and natural. If you only pay attention to the neatness of the knife, it is easy to appear dull; if you only pay attention to the penmanship, you lack the interest of gold and stone carving.
4) Close unity
In Chinese and Indian, due to the thickness of the lines, the distance between the lines is extremely small, and the line spacing between the numbers in the printing is also clear and tight, so it seems to have a sense of intimate reunion as a whole.
The development of seal engraving
The text used in the seal is based on the seal characters. In the process of seal development, the indian script is influenced by the evolution of the text and book style, and is constantly improved and developed. From the large number of ancient seals handed down over the past two thousand years, we can see the various styles of printing in different styles
Sealed text during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period
The seal of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period is the actual seal of the date that we have accurately examined now. During the Warring States period, due to the division of the princes and their own politics, which affected the cultural aspect, there was no unified norm for the writing, and there was no standard for the newly created script. The situation of "seven countries is different", reflected in the seal of the seal, is often written in many ways, which appears to be chaotic and mixed. Therefore, many of the seals of the Warring States are still difficult to recognize.
The text used in the Warring States Seal is basically the inscription on the bronze ware at that time, that is, the Zhong Ding script and the box text called the Great Seal. Most of the official seals are in white, and the indian text reflects the charm of the bronze chisel style of the penmanship is rounded and natural, and the knots are staggered and stretched.
Zhu Baiwen private seal, in the processing of printing, but also the use of the characteristics of different countries in the language, pay attention to the printing surface space of the dense effect, the text strokes to move, transfer, merge, some words have been later denied, but some of the text processing is surprisingly successful, some private prints and the combination of various forms of geometric graphic printing surface, so that the seal more shows the strange and beautiful artistic characteristics.
Qin and Han seal text
1) Qin Seal
After Qin Shi Huang unified the six kingdoms, while unifying currency and weights and measures, he implemented "books and words" to unify the writing. Because it originated in the Qin Dynasty, the small seal is also called the Qin seal. Its production has replaced the difficult and complex Six Kingdoms script, so that the glyphs and strokes of the characters tend to be unified and standardized. Because the Qin Dynasty vigorously promoted and disseminated the new font, most of the official private printed characters of the Qin Dynasty used Qin seals. The official seal has more than four characters plus tian character grid frame bar, rectangular print has a Japanese character grid sidebar (also known as semi-through seal), and the indian text is either such as the carved stone square in the circle, or such as the edict version of gu jin xiuyi.
2) Imitation seal
At the end of the Qin Dynasty, the Lishu arose, and the round and evenly curved strokes of the seal book became square and straight. The square and upright knot of the book is more conducive to the layout of the seal than the seal book. To this end, a kind of book style of "the curved one is straight, the oblique one is positive, the round one is square, the uneven one is even, its seal is not subordinate, its body is subordinate to the seal instead of the seal, its strokes are subordinate to the seal, and the hun Mu duan is condensed" - the imitation seal came into being and became the special text of the seal.
The production and use of the seal played a great role in promoting the prosperity of the seal of the Han Dynasty. The official private seals of the Han Dynasty have various forms such as casting, chiseling, and polishing in the production, and the use of imitation seals as seals is seen in the flow of seal rules, simple and natural.
3) Miao Seal
Miao Seal is a kind of seal text that appears in the private seals of the Han Dynasty. His strokes are like silk winding, flexing and tactful, which are derived from the changes of the Forehead Seal characters and Wadang characters of the Han Tablets, and the use of Miao Seal as the seal is limited to private printing. Its glyph is different from the Glyph Seal, similar to the Bird and Bug Seal, but it does not have the shape of the Bird Worm Seal Bird Head Worm Fish, which is a font between the G Seal and the Bird Worm Seal.
4) Bird and insect seals
Bird and insect seals first appeared on bronze inscriptions from the Spring and Autumn And Warring States periods, and were listed as one of the Six Books of Han in the Han Dynasty. The bird and insect seal is based on the glyph of the seal book, the stroke is bent and coiled, and processed into the shape of birds, insects, fish, etc., which is used for the seal to be unique. This font is limited to private printing and Jiyu printing.
5) Letter of Affiliation
The Lishu was produced at the end of the Qin Dynasty and gradually matured in the Han Dynasty. Therefore, it was found that the Jin Dynasty began to have an attempt to use the Lishu as a seal, which was an indiscriminate reinforcement for the eight-point book of later generations.
Sealed text after the Sui Dynasty
Since the Sui and Tang dynasties, due to the large number of paper used, the seal has abandoned the original method of "sealing mud" on the mud block, and dipped the printing color directly on the paper to reflect its effectiveness. Therefore, the Sui and Tang Dynasty official seals, on the one hand, began to change from concave white text to protruding Zhu wen, so that the printing of a bell on the paper more eye-catching; on the other hand, the size of the printing surface increased, and the size of the official position and grade was used to distinguish the dignity and inferiority of the official position and grade. Changes in the form and system affected the division of the printed text, coupled with the rise of calligraphy and writing at that time, the words into India also underwent greater changes.
1) Tang Seal
The Tang seal here refers to the seal book used by the tang and Song officials. Due to the increase in the printing surface of the official seal, the Zhu script was changed to Zhu Wen, resulting in more vacancies in the printing surface, so the small seal strokes were turned back to make up for the gap in the printing surface.
2) Nine stacks of seals
After the Sui and Tang dynasties, the area of official seals became larger and larger, and the strokes of the seal strokes were evenly curved, and the folded layout of the seal was evenly arranged. The name of the nine fold seals is named after the folding of this font, and the end of the nine is numbered. Mr. Sha Menghai said, "At the end of the nine, there are many words and many overlapping numbers, which are mostly increased or lost due to the number of printed words." ”
3) Ba Si Ba Wen, Xi Xia Wen
The Bashiba script and the Western Xia script are the characters used by the official seals of ethnic minorities in the Mongolian area of the Song Dynasty, and it is not difficult to see from the form that this script is based on the Chinese character seal book, and the layout of the indian script is also in accordance with the form of the Central Plains printing - square and upright, bent and filled.
4) Manchu
Manchu seals appeared in the official seals of the Qing Dynasty, some of which were half Chinese seal books and half Manchu seals; some of which were half Chinese seal books and half of which were Manchu nine-fold seals; and there were seals with seals, Manchus, and seals in three fonts.
5) Pledge word
Also known as the flower seal, it is a seal that changes the name flower into a symbol similar to a pattern as a private seal. The character for押 was printed in the Song Dynasty and was very popular in the Yuan Dynasty, so it was also known as "Yuan". Its form, there is a single oshiki, there is also an engraved surname, the lower end is a flower oshi, and there are auspicious and various animal shapes of the oshi seal.
6) Letters
Judging from the inheritance of seals, since the fifth generation, it has used calligraphy as an example of printing, and many seal engravers have also tried to use it as a seal in the future.
Although the seals since the Sui and Tang dynasties still follow the shape of the ancient seal and exert their utility as a symbol of rights and interests, the seals used are gradually drifting away from the six books of Chinese characters, but are a pure and practical object.
Although since the Tang Dynasty, the use of the seal has been expanded, but during this period, very little private seal has been handed down, and judging from the excavated seals, the seals used basically follow the norms of the Qin and Han seals. Until the Yuan Dynasty Zhao Mengqi, literati participated in the production of seals, followed by a number of seal engravers who tried a variety of fonts into printing and made valuable achievements, and the traditional art of seal engraving thus appeared a new situation.
Introduction
Chen Haifeng, from 1981 to 1993, worked as a senior art editor at Ma'anshan Daily, and published thousands of inscriptions, illustrations, mastheads, sketches and cartoons for more than a decade.
From 1994 to 2021, he was the chairman and secretary of Anhui Ocean Wind Culture Media Co., Ltd., a first-class advertising enterprise and a listed company on the New Third Board, the president of Ma'anshan Advertising Association, the vice president of Anhui Advertising Association, and the executive director of China Advertising Association.
He is currently studying in the Advanced Research Class of China Academy of Art.