This is the second in our series on seal engraving practices, and we're going to talk about borders.
frame
Border, a frame that is used at the edge of the print face to frame the printed text. The border issues we need to consider include but are not limited to the thickness and thinness of the border lines, light and hair, edges and breaks, etc.
The border of one side of the seal is often an important formal feature of the seal, therefore, the border is the seal carving must pay attention to the printing surface element, especially the Zhu Wenyin (because the border of the white text seal is often automatically formed by the edge of the seal surface of the unengraved text).
(Border in Han Yin Baiwen and Zhu Wen Yin)
1. Coarse and fine. We know that coarse and fine correspond to two aesthetics, namely thick and elegant. There are a large number of broad-sided seals in the ancient seals of the pre-Qin Dynasty that we see, such as the small seal of the Sanjin Dynasty that we are very familiar with, "Right Sima":
(Warring States Seal: Right Sima)
The reason for its shape is that most of these broad edges are not intended to form an aesthetic contrast with the slender characters inside, but to protect the slender characters inside their seals from damage such as bumps and bumps. In fact, it does protect the print from damage. As:
(Sanjin Ancient Seal in kind: Han Qiu)
Later, the thick edge in seal carving often no longer played the role of protecting the seal (although it still has this role), but more as the aesthetic need of seal carving. For example, Wu Changshuo's freehand print:
(Wu Changshuo: Kuraishi)
The four borders of the "Cangshi" seal are almost all thicker than the text, but its role is no longer to protect the seal, but to participate in the chapter of the whole seal, and has become an indispensable part of the chapter law.
Pay attention to it, we will find that the thick borders of the freehand seals of later generations are often not equal in thickness on all sides, but have their own thicknesses, which is already different from the ancient seals.
The thickness of the four imprint edges has been used very wonderfully by the seal carvers! Take the "cangshi" as an example, in the four edges, the upper edge is the sky, so it can not be too thick, so it is the lightest and finest of the four sides, and after the damage treatment, it becomes lighter and clearer in the image; the bottom edge of the imprint is relatively stout, it is for the ground, the ground carries ten thousand squares, and it is the most vigorous and majestic. The right border and the bottom edge are almost the same thickness, and its function is to construct the right side of the red character with the word "cang", and form a balance of "counting white when black" with the white space composed of the relatively clear and light left side edge and the word "stone" with fewer strokes, so as to achieve the harmony and unity of the left and right sides of the printing surface.
Coarse and coarse truth, fine and fine purpose, seal carving in the thickness of the adjustment, should have its purpose, its ultimate pursuit is to achieve aesthetics through the chapter.
The thickness of the printing edge has changed, in general: the top is thin and the bottom is thick, and the left and right sides seek to change depending on the chapter situation. For example, Qi Baishi's "I don't know if there is a Han":
(Qi Baishi: I don't know if there is a Han)
Of course, the left and right sides of this square seal have corresponding thickness changes due to the density of the text.
Of course, this is only in general, and in many cases, this variation in thickness is in the service of the overall rules. For example, Chen Shizeng's "Lao Fu Ding" seal, the thickness changes, and it has entered a more advanced state of "not exceeding the rules", because the printing edge has been refined by the author to each small part, serving the sparseness, lightness and weight of the chapter, and if you go deeper into it, there is also rhythm.
(Chen Shizeng: Lao Fuding)
Of course, the thickness of the printing edge changes much less, and the same square print, the four printing edges are often equal to the thickness, because the industrial stability of the printing is the pursuit of dignified and serene, gentle and elegant, round and even, beautiful and clean, and does not need more contrast changes. For example, Wang Fuchang's "two ears are only deaf in the world", using the wide-edged and thin Zhu chapter method, and its four sides are basically equal in thickness, as shown in the figure:
(Wang Fuchang: Two ears are only deaf in the world)
Another example, Chen Julai's "
(Chen Julai: Sun Baozhi)
This square seal, except that the four sides are slightly thinner than the seal to highlight the seal, its thickness is uniform and equal, and there is almost no difference between the four sides.
The above is Zhu Wen, and the following is Bai Wen:
The edge of the white text seal, made of the Indian text "forced side", Wu Qiu Yan said: "The white text seal must be forced to the side, there can be no space, and the empty is not ancient", but this is the "absolute word", "absolute words" often cannot be used to guide the art, the white text seal must be forced to the side, it is the ancient system of the Han seal, look at the Qin and Han Dynasty seal white text seal edge:
(Han Yin: Weicheng Lingyin)
The seal is forced to edge, and a thin edge is naturally formed, which not only ensures the attributes of the seal, but also correspondingly achieves the simple state (because each text is not completely square, and there are different strokes of length and posture, the formation of the "forced edge" edge is not equal, so it is simple).
Later generations of seal carvers have long broken this "forced edge" of the state of imprinting. Such as Wu Changshuo "Wu Junqing":
(Wu Changshuo: Wu Junqing)
The text seems to have shifted to the left as a whole, resulting in unequal thicknesses of the printed edges: the left side is the narrowest (thin), the right side is relatively thicker, and the bottom edge is the thickest. This seems to be slightly similar to the "Cangshi" chapter of Zhu Wenyin above, but the left and right chapters are reversed. With the method of "counting white as black", this square seal also found the balance of the printing surface.
Interestingly, even the seal of the industrial stability class often uses this method to achieve the curiosity of the chapter. Such as Chen Julai's "Pavilionkeeper":
(Chen Julai: Chief of the Pavilion of Anji)
Look, it has the same thick bottom edge, but based on the stability of the work, the other three sides are still made of "forced edges", maintaining the same slenderness and evenness, and even in order to increase the ancient cang, it has been correspondingly broken (about the breakage, I will say it below).
2. Light and hair, broken and complete. As we discussed above about the "line quality" of the printed Chinese character, the border of the printed surface also has two states.
The smooth and complete frame naturally shows the aesthetic characteristics of neatness, uniformity and elegance, while the hairy and broken frame correspond to the aesthetic characteristics of wanton, rough and simple. This is determined by the "line quality", that is, by the characteristics of the lines that it visually presents.
Regarding the frame of the ancient seal Zhu Wenyin, we can basically determine that at the beginning of its production, it was generally in a smooth state, and the non-smooth state we saw in later generations was due to the long years and the tempering of time. Slightly closer official seals, such as this side of the Qing Dynasty:
(Qing official seal: the treasure of the future)
Although there is a reason for the material of the jade seal, but its smooth and undamaged state is actually its original state, when the craftsmen make, they must not dare to have damage and burrs, otherwise there will be worries about life, this kind of smoothness, is the seal carvers of later generations do not take (of course, Huang Mufu can be regarded as an alternative kind of stable sealer, because what he pursues is "gold"), because it is too "crafty".
Therefore, the Zhu Wenyin of the seal carvers, in addition to the Gongwen school printers, mostly use hair and brokenness. Such as Wu Changshuo's
(Wu Changshuo: 缶庐)
We look at this square seal, four printed edges, none of which are complete and clean, and thus, the whole seal presents a majestic and unbridled, majestic, and ancient aesthetic state.
Of course, in the works of seal carvers in modern times, the damage of the seal edge is artificial, and it is the purposeful aesthetic creation of the seal carvers, or there are also "natural" and "coincidences" obtained by chance (for example, Wu Changshuo often rubs the surface of the seal with the sole of the cloth shoes, hoping to obtain accidental wonderful), but more is the subjective choice of the seal carvers.
Where is it broken, what is it like?
As mentioned above, the broken beauty of the seal comes from the years, from the grinding, and more from the power of nature, and the broken beauty in the seal carving comes from manpower, from the imitation of nature and time by manpower.
Wind, flowing water, and sand will wear down the printed surface, causing it to produce pits, making the corners rounded, making Zhu Wen thinner, making Bai Wen thicker, and making the edges of the lines no longer sharp, and the effect of the presentation no longer sharp.
(Wu Changshuo: The Seal of Junqing)
Its corners have become rounded, losing its sharpness, and the ears of the "阝" part of the Qing character and the lower part of the "Yin" character have been worn down. Another example is Jiang Ren's "real water without fragrance":
(Jiang Ren: Real water has no fragrance)
The sharpening of the word "incense" and the word "water" have strengthened the effect of the chapter on the printed surface, and the word "none" has even been eliminated by the sharpening of one of the four points.
Bumps and falls will make the border become burrs, which will make the border stick to the lines of the printing surface (of course, it will also knock the lines of the printing surface), and will also make the corners directly lose their sharpness and become round, or directly break the corner of the printing surface, which can be regarded as bumps and falls; the unique rust of metal will make the border mottled, and at the same time, it will also make the border and the text stick together, which can be regarded as rust residues; these two are Chen Shizeng's "Xuanzhi Xuan":
(Chen Shizeng: Xuanzhi and Xuan)
Both "Xuan" characters are adhered to the frame, or bumped, or corroded, which can produce this effect.
Under the cutting of the blade, there will be a clear gap in the border (and at the same time, there will be a sharp cut made by the blade on the printing surface, which is considered a cutting residue...... For example, Zhao Guni's "Mustard House":
(Zhao Gu Ni: Mustard House)
Another example is Chen Hongshou's "Tiaohua Pavilion Seal":
(Chen Hongshou: Tiaohua Pavilion Seal)
The damage of this square seal seems to be a knife cutting across the printing surface, but it may actually be caused by the fragmentation of the seal stone, and it cannot be imitated bluntly.
Of course, there must be a "degree" of devastation, otherwise, there will be a suspicion of "artificiality", lose the interest of "nature", and go to the road of craftsmen.
Think about it carefully: "Zhu Wen's rotten paintings, white texts rotten ground", all the brokenness comes from the word "physics", and the border is often both the "ground" of Baiwen and the "word" of Zhu Wen, and its "rotten" exists in "physics".
Seal carving artists are not only artists, but also scholars who have thoroughly understood the "physics" of gold and stone!
I would also like to give an example to talk about the overlap between the border and the text strokes, which is also a problem in the practice of seal carving. In fact, there is only one principle: to serve the rules and regulations!
(Liang Yuan's one-day traces and Deng Shiru's one-day traces)
Obviously, the most important difference is whether the three strokes of the word "zhi" are connected to the frame, Liang Yuan's is not connected, and Deng Shiru's is connected. In contrast, the echo of Deng Shiru's "zhi" and "day" characters is more explicit, because the three strokes of the word "zhi" are connected to the border, forming a circular enclosed space similar to the word "day". By the way, there is also Wu Rangzhi, he also chose to lap, as shown in the picture:
(Wu Rangzhi: Traces of a Day)
The same three strokes are connected to the edge, and the same enclosed space is formed, the difference, Wu Rangzhi chose the echo of the contrast of the square circle, while echoing the left and right, and adding the contrast between straight and curved, so that the whole seal bite tighter, reunion is more dense, but also contributed to the beauty of the contrast between the movement and the static on the left and right sides of the printing surface.
([Seal Carving Practice] No. 2, some pictures come from the Internet or Indian friends, and the copyright belongs to the original copyright owner)