Epitaph of Yuan Qin
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Our summer Northern Wei epitaph training this year is nearing its end. During the nine-day training, we mainly selected the more representative northern Wei epitaph stone carvings in the "Elite of The Epitaphs of the Six Dynasties" (Part I) and the "Elite of the Epitaphs of the Six Dynasties" and the "Elite of the Six Dynasties Epitaphs".
In the "Sixth Dynasty Epitaph Elite II", the "Yuanqin Epitaph" (hereinafter referred to as the "Yuanqin Epitaph") is an epitaph that is particularly worthy of study and writing.
The content of the "Yuanqin Epitaph" is very long, and it may be the longest northern Wei Yuanshi royal epitaph that we can see so far. The reason for this should be that Yuan Qin's status was relatively high before his death, so the production specifications for the writing and engraving of Yuan Qin's own epitaph were quite high.
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It is said that the specifications of the production of the "Yuanqin Epitaph" are very high, which can be seen from the following three aspects:
First of all, the author of the "Tombstone of Yuan Qin" was written by the Northern Wei Dynasty's master of the Piao style at that time. Whether it is the content of the zhi or the content of the inscription, it is written very "solemnly and gorgeously", such as in the main text: "Yuyi Hua Ge, silk and purple, condensed like a mountain, like water." Another example is "The clouds fly under the pen, and the wind rises on the paper." These sentences cannot be done by non-masters.
Another example is the inscription in the Epitaph of Yuan Qin: "... The five statues are exquisitely praised, and the gods melt the seven latitudes. Understand the Xuanwen and learn the secrets of the poor. Refers to Yue Fangren, Zhan He Bisi. With the scales of the sea, the wind is towering. In one fell swoop, ninety thousand are endless. Fly the green locust again, the three-habitat dan thorn. "These inscriptions all reflect the literary style of the Southern and Northern Dynasties periods.
Secondly, the writing of the "Yuanqin Epitaph" also allowed the top calligraphy master who was responsible for the writing of the Yuan's royal epitaph at that time to "Shudan" (referring to the use of a brush dipped in Zhu ink to write directly on the stone slab). There is not much information we can refer to today about the specific situation of the Yuan's royal tomb writing team. But through the study and analysis of the Yuan's royal series epitaphs, we can also reverse some of the general situation of this writing team.
Third, the stone slabs and handwriting engraving work used in the "Tomb of Yuan Qin" are also quite "heartfelt". From the rubbing effect of the "Yuanqin Epitaph", we can know that the stone density of the "Yuanqin Epitaph" is high, and there are not many impurities, which is convenient for the engraver to accurately publish the handwriting effect of the book Dan. The engraver is also very "attentive": almost perfect reproduction of the handwriting strokes, structure and brushes of the calligrapher.
Because it is elaborately produced, the "Tomb of Yuan Qin" can be called the representative work of the "Pavilion Style" in the last years of the Northern Wei Dynasty. We borrowed the name "Pavilion Style" in the Ming and Qing Dynasties here to illustrate this meaning: the Yuanqin epitaph is quite neatly written and has a fairly high artistic level.
Although the Calligraphy was still in the process of progressing in the Northern Wei Dynasty, we will still be impressed by its exquisite artistic level after reading the "Epitaph of Yuan Qin". From this point of view, the "Tombstone of Yuan Qin" can be regarded as a representative work of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
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In the summer of 2019, in the teaching and learning process of our Xiaokai technique class, the teaching idea at that time was: to combine Zhong Wang Xiaokai with a large number of Northern Wei epitaphs. At that time, in the postscripts used, the two books "Elite Epitaphs of the Six Dynasties" (part I) and "Elite of the Six Dynasties Epitaphs of the Second Edition" were also used.
At that time, when I was writing the "Yuanqin Epitaph" of the "Sixth Dynasty Epitaph Elite Second Edition", about one or two pages after writing the "Yuanqin Epitaph", I suddenly "opened my mind": Alas, the pen and knot of this "Yuanqin Epitaph" are clearly the same thing as the "Yuanqin Epitaph"! Then the handwriting of these two epitaphs is most likely from the same person.
Epitaph of Yuan Li
With this new feeling and idea, I went to find the respective historical backgrounds of the two epitaphs of "Yuan Qin's Epitaph" and "YuanLuo's Epitaph". Various historical sources indicate that both Yuan Qin and Yuan Luo died because of the "Heyin Revolution" on April 13, 528, the first year of the Northern Wei Dynasty (528).
The Heyin Rebellion was planned and carried out by the Northern Wei power minister Erzhu Rong, who massacred the Northern Wei imperial family and the hundred officials and secretaries. In this deed, all the kings of the Northern Wei Dynasty, such as Yuan Qin and Yuan Liu, were killed. The "Yuanqin Epitaph" and the "Yuanluo Epitaph" also record this incident separately.
Epitaph of Yuan Yu
In addition to Yuan Qin and Yuan Luo, the second half of the first part of the "Elite Epitaph of the Six Dynasties" also includes the "Epitaph of Yuan Yu". Yuan Yu also died because of the change in Heyin, but he was very young at the time, just 20 years old. Yuan Liu was 43 years old when he was killed, and Yuan Qin was already 59 years old.
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According to the contents of the epitaph, the inscription of the YuanLuo Epitaph was published in July of the first year of Jianyi (528), and the inscription time of the Yuanyu Epitaph was also July of that year. That is to say, the "Yuanluo Epitaph" and the "Yuanyu Epitaph" have the same time of publication (the actual time of the epitaph will be earlier than the burial time of the tomb owner mentioned on the epitaph), and the specific time difference between them may not be more than a few days.
The "Epitaph of Yuan Qin" was published in November of the first year of Yong'an (528 AD), and the time of the two stele was only about four months apart.
As far as the "Yuanqin Epitaph" and "Yuanluo Epitaph" are concerned, the stone slab used in the "Yuanqin Epitaph" is better, and the engraving can be more delicate. The stone quality of the stone slabs used in the "Yuanluo Epitaph" is relatively poor, and many strokes are not carved in place, which should be the reason why the stone quality of the slabs used in the "Yuanluo Epitaph" is not selected.
On the other hand, due to the relatively long content of the "Yuanqin Epitaph", as far as the writer is concerned, the difference in style before and after it is not large, but when the engraver is carved to the end, it is obvious that the feeling is to seize the time to finish the engraving, and the engraving of many strokes is obviously not in place and sloppy. It is also understandable to have to complete the work within a limited time.
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If we compare the structure and pen of the "Yuanqin Epitaph" and the "Yuanluo Epitaph", we will find that there are too many similarities or similarities between the two. For example, the pen, press and thickness comparison of single person pong, wooden character pong, stroke painting, horizontal painting, etc., are obviously written by the same person.
Fortunately, the text content of the "Yuanqin Epitaph" and the "Yuanliu Epitaph" is relatively long (of course, the content of the "Yuanqin Epitaph" is longer), and it is easy for us to find a large number of the same words from the two epitaphs.
If we put these same words together and compare and analyze them, you can see that the knot, pen use, pen speed and so-called "character posture" of the "Yuanqin Epitaph" and the "Yuanqin Epitaph" are actually roughly the same.
Some book lovers may ask, and I also compared the "Tomb of Yuan Qin" and the "Tomb of Yuan Luo", but I did not feel that the two were written by the same person. This, I think you can't just look at it, but two epitaphs must be passed, preferably many times, and slowly you should be able to understand it.
In addition, the time difference between the inscription of the "Yuanqin Epitaph" and the "Yuanluo Epitaph" is four months, and the stone quality is different, and this difference is definitely there. You cannot demand that the two be written in an absolutely identical way, like a replica, but that they be considered in terms of knotting, pen use, pen speed, and so-called "glyphs".
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Then I will say what I think of the Tomb of Yuan Yu. Yuan Yu was only 20 years old when he was killed in the Heyin Rebellion, so the specifications and importance of his epitaph production are certainly not as good as those of Yuan Qin and Yuan Luo. However, when we compare the "Tomb of Yuan Qin", "Epitaph of Yuan Luo" and "Tomb of Yuan Yu" together, we can still see some connections between the three.
As far as my initial writing experience is concerned, the writing level of "Yuan Yu's Epitaph" is obviously inferior to that of "Yuan Qin's Epitaph" and "Yuan Luo's Epitaph". My personal speculation is that the calligrapher of the "Yuan Yu Epitaph" is likely to be a colleague or apprentice of the calligrapher of the "Yuan Qin Epitaph".
In the process of studying the Northern Wei epitaphs, if we are about to write about the epitaphs related to the changes in Heyin, we may wish to put the "YuanQin Epitaph", "YuanLuo Epitaph" and "Yuan Yu Epitaph" together.
In this process, try to use relatively smaller checkered paper, such as 2X2CM checkered paper, so that it is easier to find the inner relationship between the "Yuanqin Epitaph" and the "Yuanliu Epitaph", and between them and the "Yuanyu Epitaph".
The above is a little immature view in the process of studying and writing the "Tomb of Yuan Qin", "Tomb of Yuan Luo" and "Tomb of Yuan Yu", please criticize and correct the book friends in the comments.
2021.07.21