Then read Mr. Deng Sanmu's "Seal Engraving" and talk about "printing materials".
In ancient times, copper was used for printing materials, and jade was used for those who were particularly refined, or those who used gold and silver to distinguish between noble grades and low ears. And the Yuan Dynasty King's Crown YuanZhang began to use flower milk stone as a seal, and for a time the literati competed to adopt it because of its susceptibility to knives, so the stone seal began to flourish in the world. The stone selection is hereby prefaced, and its miscellaneous materials are appended below:
After familiar with the history of seal engraving, we know that the earliest seals are made of what printing materials, regardless of the printing material, after qin shi huang unified the world, jade became the special printing material of the emperor (empress), and in the Han Dynasty, jade, gold, silver, copper and other printing materials were strictly regulated in the field of official printing. In the Song Dynasty, the literati began to enter the creation of seals, and the literati artists had limited wrist tools, so they set out to find printing materials that were easier to engrave.
(Wen Peng)
According to liu ji's "Fei Xue Lu" of the Ming Dynasty, Wang Mian was the first literati artist to use flower milk stone to enter the print, but Wang Guan's promotion power was limited, and it was Wen Peng who really promoted the stone seal to a wider range. Wen Peng's advantage lies in his identity, he is not only a seal engraving artist himself, but also, he is the son of Wen Zhengming, with great influence and strong promotion, since then, stone printing materials have widely entered the literati seal carving.
For stone, the following is a detailed description of each category:
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="6" >, Aotaishi</h1>
Qingtian stone is produced in Qingtian County, Chuzhou, Zhejiang, in the southeast of the county, mountain pass, book mountain, Square Mountain rock ridge, white ridge, Fengmen Mountain, etc., more stubborn stones, rare large pieces, delicate stone, warm and easy to carve, there are yellow, white, green and other colors, all of which are precious to freeze (the so-called freeze, that is, its stone is delicate and transparent). Its categories are as follows:
(Category of Qingtian stone)
The classification of Qingtian stone has different divisions in different stone merchants, and there are even more name categories, which are listed here, but only Mr. Deng's original book (the same below), of which "Fengmen Qing" is often said to be "Sealed Door Qing" in the seal carving circles.
(Qingtian Light Frozen Stone)
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="11" >2, Shoushan stone</h1>
Shoushan Stone, a pagoda stone, comes from Shoushan and Yuexi Erxiang Township in the northeast of Minhou County, Fujian Province. The stone quality is stronger than that of Qingtian (pronounced zhì, that is, zhi), and there are field pits, water pits, and mountain pits. Tiankeng produces Yamada, which has no roots and is the first product of Shoushan. The puddle produces the curved cliff sinus, which is the second product. The pit is the third product. The stone pits include Shoushan Mountain, Jiaoshan Mountain, Jiucha Mountain, Yuewei Creek, Turin Pit, Kengtou Cave, Crystal Cave and so on. Today's sub-description is as follows:
(Category of Shoushan stone)
Tian Huangshi is more expensive than gold because it is scarce and not easy to obtain. Other stone materials also have their own characteristics, some are named according to the characteristics of the stone, some are named according to the specific place of origin, Mr. Deng's description is more comprehensive, but the identification of stone materials, unspeakable, therefore, we do not have to list the same, only left as information, for later investigation.
(Shoushantian Huangshi Stone)
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="16" >3, Chang fossils</h1>
Changhua fossil production in Zhejiang Changhua County Twelve Capitals of kangshan jade mine, its land Jieli Banqiaotou Erzhuang, there is a difference between the puddle and the dry pit, the quality of the puddle is delicate, the dry pit is boring and stubborn and more sand nails, the nail is stronger than iron, can not be knifed, so Changhua to the puddle as expensive. The height of its product is in the blood of the ground, the ground is on the mutton fat jelly, white as jade translucent; black frozen is second, dark gray translucent, the blood of black frozen is more ochre, with bright red as the most expensive; yellow jelly is second, brownish yellow is slightly transparent; gray is second, light gray, slightly transparent or opaque, commonly known as cow horn jelly; blue land green is the lowest.
The blood is all-for-one, followed by red on all sides, followed by red on the opposite side, and red on one side and red on the top of the foot and red on the local red. Its sheep fat land and full red on all sides, the price is over the field yellow, Yu to kill the second time. Chicken blood is immature, Shi Jia every time it is fried with oil to make its blood dew, every time the buyer is deceived by it, Shi Jia knows that its drawbacks have become known to the world, or leave the facet not fried, or covered with thick wax, then the buyer is not easy to detect although he uses a knife to cut it, and even those who use white hair soil and magenta are even more unshakeed.
The most expensive of the Chang fossils is the blood stone, such as Mr. Han Tianheng who circulated on the Internet some time ago to make a seal for Ma Yun, that is, to use the Changhua chicken blood stone as the printing material. It is said that the two sides of the seal stone, each side is worth 500,000 yuan.
(Han Tianheng's seal engraved on Ma Yun)
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="20" >4</h1>
In addition, the popular famous stone, there is also Bahrain stone, which is called China's "four famous stones" together with Qingtian stone, Shoushan stone and Chang fossil. Bahrain stone belongs to a kind of pyrophyllite, which is produced in The Right Banner of Bahrain in Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia, hence the name. The hardness of Bahrain stone is 2-4 degrees of Mohs, which is not only high in transparency, but also delicate in texture, moderate in soft and hard, suitable for seal engraving.
(Bahrain Stone)
In addition, Mr. Deng also listed a series of miscellaneous stones, as shown in the figure:
(Category of Miscellaneous Stones)
No matter what kind of stone is produced, it is better to use the old pit. The stone contains water, excavated for a long time, the water gradually disappears, and the firmness of the stone is also enhanced, so the seal carver loves it more; that is, the luster is also better than the old pit, then it has been in the world for a long time, through countless people's Mozi play, the essence is introverted, and Si Yinghua is also outward. The new pit is soft and tender, easy to corrode, carved into not many years, that is, more damaged, Zhu Wen is thinner, white text is thicker, knife method, penmanship is both distorted. Although old pits are also easy to damage, they are more durable. If the new pit is soaked in wax after the new pit, in order to seek its beauty, it is not particularly pretentious, it laughs at the knower, and deliberately suffocates its water, so as not to let it go, or it is even more detrimental to the essence of the stone.
The old pit is better than the new pit. The principle is simple, and Mr. Deng explains it quite clearly.
Regarding the seal of the stone seal, Mr. Deng's view is:
Lithography should not have buttons, the best of the buttons are vulnerable, the inferior are disgusting, the disgusting is not as good as none, and the damage is preferable, so the best of the seals can only be used as a good thing to collect and play, and should not be engraved. Sincerely make a good work of the new, but also will be dismal management, or the natural path, the ingenuity, or the magic work, no success, painstaking effort, carved occasionally a careless, or damage or fold, it is a pity.
Simple, true seal engravers, it is best to use a plain seal (that is, no new seal), because "new jia is fragile, and the bad button is disgusting".
(Zhao Zhiqian's Qingtian Stone Seal)
For beginners, practice seal carving, then practice as much as possible, practice on different stones, and find a stone that suits your knife habits, for example, Qi Baishi started with Chu Shi, and finally the printing style is most suitable for Qingtian stone. Zhao Zhiqian had a lifelong penchant for Qingtian stone.
([Perusing the "Seal Engraving"] No. 61, some of the pictures originate from the Internet, and the copyright belongs to the original copyright owner)