On the Calligraphy of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Western Jin Dynasty - Meng Yunfei on the Calligraphy of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Western Jin Dynasty - Meng Yunfei

<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > on the calligraphy of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Western Jin Dynasty - Meng Yunfei</h1>

Meng Yunfei graduated from the Department of Chinese of Henan University in 1995 and stayed on to teach, in 2001 he was admitted to Capital Normal University to study for a doctorate in calligraphy from Mr. Ouyang Zhongshi, and in 2007 he went to Tsinghua University to engage in teaching and research at the postdoctoral mobile station of art. He once served as the director of the academic department of "Chinese Calligraphers and Painters", the deputy editor-in-chief, a member of the Education Committee of the Chinese Calligraphers Association, and a member of the presidium of the Calligraphers Association of central state organs. Professor, currently working in the Counsellor's Office of the State Council, and also serves as a master's and doctoral supervisor of Henan University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Grame University in Thailand. He has published more than 150 papers in newspapers and periodicals such as Literature and Art Research, Chinese Literature and Art Review, Chinese Calligraphy, Guangming Daily, and People's Daily.

On the Epitaph of the Eastern Jin Dynasty

We say that the Eastern Jin Dynasty monuments were more popular, compared with the Cao Wei and Western Jin Dynasties, which strictly banned the monuments, but this period is far from being comparable to the grand situation of the Eastern Han Dynasty erecting monuments carved in the government and the public. At that time, ordinary officials and scholars, because of the prohibition of the imperial court, were limited by financial resources and status, and there were not necessarily monuments in front of the tomb, but many epitaphs were buried in the tomb. Therefore, after the prohibition of the stele, the epitaph has almost become a substitute for the tombstone, and the tomb is buried in the tomb as a burial custom. Therefore, the inscriptions of the Eastern Jin Dynasty that we see today are mainly epitaphs. According to the author's statistics, there have been more than 30 eastern Jin Dynasty epitaphs unearthed in various places over the past 50 years. The content involved in these epitaphs is relatively rich, and they are extremely valuable physical materials for the study of writing and calligraphy. These epitaphs have the following remarkable characteristics: First, the places of origin of these epitaphs are relatively concentrated, and most of them are unearthed in the present-day Nanjing, where the capital city of Jiankang is located, and its adjacent Zhenjiang, Ma'anshan, Wuxian and other places; second, from the perspective of the identity of the tomb owners, most of them have high social fame and status, either from the famous families in the north and south, or belong to the royal family, and there are few inferior people; third, the materials used in the epitaphs are generally brick and stone, and some are lead, tin and other materials.

Judging from the situation of the publication, the epitaphs of the Eastern Jin Dynasty can obviously be divided into three categories:

First, the engraving of fine finishers. There are many such epitaphs, generally there are boundary columns, demarcation grids or vertical line columns between words, engraved neatly, and neatly arranged in line spacing and word spacing. The strokes are rigorous, the horizontal strokes are square, the strokes are square, the pen is strong, and the bones are strong. The knot is square, the glyph is dignified, and it is meticulous and elegant. Such epitaphs include "Zhang Zhen's Epitaph", "Wang Xing's Epitaph", "Li G's Epitaph", "Wang Jianzhi and his wife Liu's Epitaph", "Wang Min's Epitaph", "Wen Yu's Epitaph", "Xie Kun's Epitaph", "Li Ji's Epitaph", "Xie's Epitaph" and so on.

2. Those who are rough and casual in the publication. The number of such epitaphs is small, frank and natural, willful, generally without boundaries, strokes are long or short, glyphs are large or small, and the arbitrariness is strong, it seems that the layout has not been written and planned, and the craftsmen directly play the knife on the stone (brick), the carving is random and sloppy, and the strokes are often wrong. For example, the word "county" in "Xu's Epitaph", the stroke on the right is an obvious error, and for example, the left side of the "Liu" character in "Liu Geng's Epitaph" is engraved with a horizontal painting. Most of the texts of such epitaphs also have a certain writing meaning, such as the more rounded folding pen in the "Epitaph of Yan Qiannu Liu" and Wang Xizhi's early writing "Aunt Ti", which has many similarities; the "Mengfujun Epitaph" and "Xie Qiu's Epitaph" have many provincial pens and continuous pens. Epitaphs that can be roughly classified as such styles include "Liu Geng's Epitaph", "Xu's Epitaph", "Li Lun's Wife He's Epitaph", "Bian's Lady Wang's Epitaph", "Wang Deguang's Epitaph" and so on. This cannot but be reminiscent of the fact that in the same period, the influence of the script on the "Book of Inscribed Stones" became deeper and deeper, and the writings that were stereotyped in the same period should also have a subtle influence.

Third, the degree of finishing of the book engraving is between the first two. Such as "Xie Wen's Epitaph", "Gao Song's Epitaph", "Yan Qian's Wife's Epitaph", "Bian Wang's Wife's Epitaph", "Song Beggar's Epitaph" and so on. Such epitaphs do not have strict requirements for boundary columns, such as "Song Qi's Epitaph" that has a line boundary but no word boundary; for example, although "Xie Jue's Epitaph" has a bounded grid, but the glyphs are of different sizes, and sometimes there are strokes that jump out of the boundary; "Gao Song Epitaph", although there is no boundary, the word spacing is very neatly arranged. In short, this kind of epitaph book style is frank and simple, and does not lose certain rules, pay attention to the rules of writing, but not confined by the law, the strokes are solid, the charm is bone, and the show contains a kind of dignified and simple, the glyphs are jagged, the timing is longitudinal, the arrangement is more easy-going and appears to be free, the changes are varied without losing the beauty of harmony and unity. Through a general investigation of the engraving of these three types of epitaphs, we can speculate that the first type of epitaph should be created by skilled professional engravers, the second type of epitaphs are the works of ordinary craftsmen, and the third type of epitaphs may be the works of skilled engravers who "have no intention of being good and good", so the calligraphy style of these types of epitaphs is naturally different.

The epitaphs of the Eastern Jin Dynasty are diverse, ranging from the plain and rigorous Lishu to the Lishu with mixed or seal meanings, and there are also the calligraphy with slight affiliation or action. The style of the Epitaph of the Eastern Jin Dynasty can be described as varied, only those with similar styles, and no handwriting that is exactly the same. Except for a few pieces of the "Epitaph of Xie Kun" that are relatively strict lishu, the vast majority of the books are in the form of books between the Kai li and the li. There are also a number of epitaphs and epitaphs, but the number is extremely limited.

The first category is those who basically continue the Cao Wei and Western Jin Dynasties. This kind of calligraphy, the stroke is thin and hard, the pen tip is exposed, and special emphasis is placed on the wave pick at the end of the horizontal painting and the brush, but the glyph has tended to be rectangular from wide and flat, and the individual strokes also have obvious italics, such as the sharp edge of the skimming brush. Such epitaphs are seen in xie kun epitaphs, Wen Yu epitaphs, Zhang Zhen epitaphs, and Jin Gong Emperor Xuangong Chronicles. For example, the "Xie Kun Epitaph", this record is the earliest piece of the Eastern Jin Dynasty epitaph found, although it has been used in letters at that time, and the zhi is written as a book to show solemnity. The font is flat and square and the structure is not very rigorous, the strokes are stretched naturally, the waves are clearly picked, and the skimming and pinching pen is flipped upwards. The pen style of this epitaph is similar to the Western Jin Dynasty's "Emperor's Three Lins and Yong Steles", which retains more of the simple atmosphere of Han Li, and the charm of Han Li is particularly strong. In short, this kind of epitaph engraving is very serious, meticulous, the knot body is orderly and orderly, the calligraphy is simple and clumsy, the pen is vigorous, the posture is flat, the wave is obvious, and it is in line with the early Han Dynasty.

The second category is numerous and can be roughly divided into two cases, and according to the principle of similarity, I divide them into two types: Li Kai and Kai Li.

(1) The first is the Li Kai, which refers to the style of the book that is mainly lishu and has a certain meaning of the script. There are many such epitaphs, and the more typical ones are "Li Ji's Epitaph", "Li G's Epitaph", "Li Lu's Wife Wu's Epitaph", "Wang Xing's Epitaph", "Wang Min's Epitaph", "Wang Danhu's Epitaph", "Wang Jian's Epitaph", "Wang Jian's Wife Liu's Epitaph", "Liu Geng's Epitaph", "Xie's Epitaph" and so on. Among these epitaphs, there are some differences due to the amount of calligraphy in italics, such as the "Epitaph of Wang Jianzhi" (with pictures, see Liu Tao's "History of Calligraphy in the Southern and Northern Dynasties of Wei and Jin", page 243), and its calligraphy is between the likai, and although the horizontal painting has wave picking, the wave picking converges, and the body posture obviously has certain characteristics of italics. Some of the characters have a strong sense of meaning and are very similar to Han Li. There are also a few characters with obvious antique seal book relics, which are extremely decorative, which is really rare; the three epitaphs of Wang Xingzhi, Wang Minzhi and Wang Danhu's Epitaph are mainly square pens, and although there is no lack of flat squares, most of the horizontal paintings have no obvious wave picking, and the chapters and knots have shown the characteristics of the calligraphy to a large extent, which belong to the transitional body from the Lishu to the Kaishu; and the three epitaphs of "Li Ji's Epitaph", "Li Min's Epitaph" and "Li Lun's Wife Wu's Epitaph" are similar to Han Li, and the posture takes a horizontal posture and is mainly flattened. Horizontal painting is multi-wave picking, with both square and round circles, but the glyph is slightly longer than the general Lishu, and it has a slightly italic stroke.

(2) The second is the Letter, which refers to the style of writing that is mainly based on letters, and has a certain amount of letters and even the meaning of the writing. There are many such epitaphs, and the more important ones seen are "Tombstone of Song Beg", "Epitaph of Yan Qiannu Liu", "Epitaph of Wang Kang", "Epitaph of Xia Jinhu", "Epitaph of Xie Wen", "Epitaph of Yu Daoyu", "Epitaph of Xie Qiu", "Epitaph of Cai Bing", "Epitaph of Huang Tian", "Epitaph of Wang Deguang", "Epitaph of He", and so on. In these epitaphs, in comparison, most of the book engravers have a certain degree of subordination, and those who are casual in the book engraving obviously have a certain line of writing intent.

Those with slightly heavier affiliation, such as the "Epitaph of Gao Song" and "Xie Wen's Epitaph", these are relatively typical examples, the font is square, the structure is rigorous, and the pen is round and loose. Although the structure of the shelves between the fonts belongs to the script, it still retains some of the characteristics of the lishu in form. Judging from the vast majority of the words of these epitaphs, the structure is already pure italics, and the use of pens, such as the horizontal stroke of the starting pen obliquely cut in, the closing pen is changed to the upper and lower ton, the vertical painting is mostly made of hanging needles or hanging dew, the curved arc of the vertical hook is changed to the book for the toe picking, and the out of the stroke of the painting, the twist and turn of the painting, etc., also shows a fairly mature degree of calligraphy. The six characters of "Lady Hui Xie Shi" in the "Epitaph of Xie Wen" are almost indistinguishable from the engraved Chung Shui Xiao Kai or Wang Xi Zhi Lin Chung Chung Xiao Kai. The long horizontal paintings of the words "year, twenty, ten, one" in the "Epitaph of Gao Song" are cut in obliquely from the pen, pressed downwards with the pen, and gently mentioned in the middle, which is already a mature italic method of the Tang Dynasty.

Those with a slightly heavier penmanship include "The Epitaph of Yan Qiannu Liu", "The Epitaph of Xia Jinhu", "The Epitaph of Wang Tong", "The Epitaph of Liu Meizi", "The Epitaph of Meng Fujun" and so on. This kind of epitaph with heavier strokes is brick carving, the book carving is more casual, most of them are carved on the soft mud before the brick burning, the strokes are not modified, the middle is thick and the end is pointed, the structure is mixed with Chen, the overall style is similar to Wang Xizhi's "Aunt Ti" such an early book, such as the "Mengfujun Epitaph" has a total of five fast, from the calligraphy style, it seems to be carved by two people who are different. The glyphs are jagged in size, as if they are engraved by hand, without any pretense, but the calligraphy is frank and simple, with a unique flavor. Although the degree of italicization is heavier, some strokes have a slightly written meaning, and some strokes still seem to have a certain degree of subordination. There is also a piece of "Xie Qiu's Epitaph", the book inscription is extremely rough, somewhat similar to the casual knife engraving on the seal of later generations.

Because an epitaph often contains different calligraphy styles, and even a font has different meanings, the classification of the six dynasties epitaph script can only be relative, especially the second type of epitaph, there is only a problem between them, which is stronger or weaker, and there is no diametrically distinct strict boundary. In summary, the epitaphs of the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the same period often coexisted and developed in a variety of books. For example, the "Chronicle of the Xuangong Palace of Emperor Gong of Jin" in the second year of the Yongchu Dynasty (421) is a strict and neat lishu, while the "Epitaph of Xie Jue" in the same year and the "Epitaph of Song Qi" in the fourth year later are already slightly subordinate letters. Obviously, this difference in epitaph style and style in the same period should have little to do with the evolution of the book style, but is more likely to be related to the advantages and disadvantages of the book and the engraver's book skills and the preference for a certain book body. This situation is more prominent in the calligraphy of family epitaphs in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, for example, the epitaph of the Li family unearthed in Lüjiashan and the epitaph of the Wang family unearthed in Xiangshan have obvious differences in calligraphy style, and the reason for this situation should be closely related to the aesthetic interest of the two family epitaph writers. In addition, the differences in the style of epitaphs in the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the same period may also be related to the situation of calligraphy and engraving. Generally speaking, those who have not been written or engraved casually, their calligraphy mostly retains a certain handwritten stroke. On the contrary, the calligraphy is rigid and neat, and it is rare to practice cursive writing.

All in all, from a macroscopic point of view, the epitaph calligraphy of the Eastern Jin Dynasty developed and evolved along a roughly consistent trajectory. According to the changes in the style characteristics of epitaph writing, the evolution of epitaph calligraphy in the Eastern Jin Dynasty can be roughly divided into two stages. The first stage is the early Eastern Jin Dynasty, and the first type of Lishu epitaphs are mainly popular. Although the number of epitaphs in this period is not much, the body of the book is uniform, except for the "Zhang Zhen Epitaph" with a slight sense of rhyme, the rest are all obvious books, such as "Xie Kun's Epitaph", "Wen Yu's Epitaph", etc. The second stage, from the middle to the end of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, mainly popularized the epitaphs mixed with each other. During this period, the number of epitaphs increased greatly, and the body of the book was complex and diverse, including calligraphy such as "Li Ji's Epitaph" and "Wang Jianzhi's Epitaph", which was mainly based on calligraphy with the meaning of calligraphy or seal writing, and also "Xie Qiu's Epitaph" and "Xie Wen's Epitaph", which were calligraphy with the main calligraphy and writing meaning. However, these are only a simple and relative division of the eastern Jin Dynasty epitaph book body, and the actual situation of the evolution of the book style is very complicated, it is not a process of removing the old and the new, but presents a state of coexistence of the old and the new. After the emergence of a new book style, the old book style has not died, and it is entirely possible to use it for a long time due to the personal preferences of the bookmaker.

On the Western Jin Dynasty

Lishu is one of the ancient Chinese character scripts, the second largest calligraphy in China since the existence of writing, and the name Lishu was first seen in the Eastern Han Dynasty. But it is indeed difficult to say when the Lishu originated. Bangu Book of Han. Yiwen Zhi Yun: "(Qin) began to create Lishu Yi, which began with the many troubles in the official prison, and tended to be easy to save, and to give it to the disciples. Xu Shen wrote in "Explanation of Words and Words. Zhongyun: "Qin Shi Huang was the first to be the head of the world,...... Dafa was subordinate to the pawns, Xingshu, and the official and prison positions were complicated, and there were initially subordinate books, which tended to be easy, and the ancient text was thus extinct. According to legend, the Lishu was created by Cheng Mi, and Cai Yong of the Han Dynasty wrote in the Sacred Emperor's Chapters: "Cheng Mi deleted the ancient Wen Lishu. "Later generations have thought that the lishu originated from the great seal, and some people believed that the lishu originated from the small seal. Although the theories are different, it is undeniable that the early Lishu often had the meaning of seal writing. There is a seal book to the Lishu is an important change in the history of the evolution of Chinese characters, it is a variant of the seal book, and it is the predecessor of the Kaishu, which succeeds the Zhou Qin on the upper and the Wei and Jin dynasties on the lower. Lishu has the following stylistic characteristics: First, in terms of brushwork, two new methods of folding pen and sharpening appear in lishu, liberating the pen edge, and yunbi emphasizes the priority. In terms of stroke form, the dot painting also has a change in thickness, changing the circle into a square, changing the curve into straight, adjusting the stroke break, saving the stroke structure, etc., all kinds of dot painting are staggered, which is unprecedentedly colorful; second, in the structure, because the stroke of the book clearly has the tendency of left sweeping and right waves, and the gesture affects the knot body, so the left and right opening gestures contribute to the flattening of the lishu glyph and the horizontal trend of the knot. In this way, the left and right gestures, and the flat structure, are mutually causal and complementary, resulting in the unique style of the Lishu. Due to the characteristics of the calligraphy and knotting, the layout of the lishu has also formed a very different feature from other books, that is, although the central distribution of each word is roughly uniform, because the gesture stretches to both sides and the glyph is flattened, the distance between the words and the words is greater than the distance between the lines. Lishu broke through the principle of creating characters in the six books, laid the foundation for the script, marked the end of the era of ancient writing, and created a new stage of modern writing.

The Western Jin Dynasty Lishu has the basic characteristics of the Lishu, but there is also no lack of unique personality of the characteristic era.

During the Western Jin Dynasty, although the script and the book have gradually risen, it is still practical in solemn and formal occasions, especially on the stele, the lishu is still the right body. The Western Jin Dynasty calligraphy that can be seen today is roughly "Zhang Guang Brick Zhi" (Tai Shi Yuan year, 265 years), "Gao Xiu Stele" (Tai Shi 6 years, 270 years), "Pan Zong Bo Ge Dao Inscription" (Tai Shi 6 years, 270 years), "Taishang Xuanyuan Tao Te Ching" (Tai Shi 6 years, 270 years), "Rencheng Taishou Lady Monument" (Tai Shi 8 years, 272 years), "Emperor San Lin Yong Monument" (Xianning 4 years, 278 years), "Lu Interpretation Tomb Table" (Tai Kang 3 years, 282 years), "Feng Gong Shi Yan Inscription" (Tai Kang 3 years). , 282), "Yang Shao mai mound land coupon" (Taikang five years, 284 years), "He Guoren tombstone" (Taikang five years, 284 years), "Wang Jun's residual epitaph" (Taikang eight years, 287 years) and more than thirty kinds, in addition to some tomb bricks and architectural bricks. The number of Lishu inscriptions in the Western Jin Dynasty is far greater than that of the seal books of the same period, and the variety of these Lishu handwritings is very rich, including inscriptions, Shinto inscriptions, epitaphs, tomb door inscriptions, stone rafter inscriptions, and stone pillar inscriptions, most of which are found in the relics of the funerals of that year. Looking at these Lishu handwritings, we can roughly see the overall style of Lishu in this period. They not only have roughly the same era, region, and national style, but also they have no lack of personality characteristics in terms of glyphs, structures, and chapters.

1. The inscriptions of the Western Jin Dynasty

The Western Jin Dynasty lasted only half a century, and Lishu is still the orthography of this period, so the inscriptions are mostly Lishu, and although the calligraphy style inherits the Cao Wei tradition, it is more procedural. Because the Western Jin Dynasty explicitly forbade the erection of monuments, there are very few monumental monuments that are circulated today. The more famous inscriptions are: "Gao Xiu Stele" (Tai Shi 6th year, 270 years), this stele lishu has a simple style, Kang Youwei believes that this stele calligraphy "simple thick ancient Mao, strange posture, and Wei Stele", "Spirit Temple", "Ju Yanyun" are between Li Kai, you can see the source of variations"; "Rencheng Taishou Sun Lady Monument" (Tai Shi 8th year, 272 years), this stele handwriting, knot body square, the picking method is curved, the strokes are square, its wave picking decoration is more intense than the Cao Wei stele carving, similar to Han Zhi's "Kong Xian Monument" (220 years); Emperor Sanlin Peiyong Monument (Xianning 4th year, 278), this stele calligraphy expresses the most rigorous calligraphy of the time in idealized glyphs. The inscription is intact, the glyph is square, the glyph is slightly longer, in addition to the conscious regurgitation and wave picking, you can also see the strokes of the popular era, with obvious calligraphy meaning; "Qi Taigong Lü Wangbiao" (Taikang Ten Years, 289), this stele is closely closed in the middle of the palace, the strokes are open, and the Jin stele is slightly different from the usual style, drawing on the style of the Han Li orthodoxy, and there is a Han stele style, and its style is absolutely similar to Wei Zhi's "Zen Table". Liu Xizai of the Qing Dynasty thought that this stele and the "Monument to Lady Sun" were "the best of the Jin Dynasty". Yang Shoujing said: "It is the stele that transforms the han human personality, and a kind of ancient Mao qiao jianzhi, which raises people's eyebrows, and follows Han Wei on its shoulders, and it is not worthy of it." Since then, Northern Wei has lost its frugality, Northern Qi has lost its wealth, and the Sui Dynasty has been wiped out. "In general, compared with the Han and Wei dynasties, the above inscriptions are neat and formal, highly decorative Lishu.

These books were the popular "Books of Inscription Stones" at that time, most of the books were carved neatly, the waves were clear, the horizontal painting was sharp and counter-brushed, flat and hard as a folding knife head, the pen was sharp and exposed, the knots were square, and the style was similar, such as the "Emperor's Three Lins and Yong Monument", "Rencheng Taishou Sun Lady Monument", "Qi Taigong Lü Wangbiao" and other monuments, which completely inherited the style of Cao Wei's solemn and heavy calligraphy. Although these intricately carved Western Jin Dynasty books are not written by one person, the places used are different, and although each work has a square flat body, a fat and thin pen, and a rough technique, it has common characteristics. For example, the "silkworm head" of the horizontal drawing pen becomes a square "folding knife head", the skimming stroke also has a square angle at the end of the brush, and the two verticals of the left and right symmetry are no longer vertical but expanded; the right hook is no longer a long and heavy curved hook but a short flat pick close to the italic method. In short, the gui angle is exposed, the decoration is strong, and it is the effect of the combination of engraving and writing.

II. Epitaphs of the Western Jin Dynasty

The Western Jin Dynasty emperor Cao Wei Yu continued to forbid the erection of monuments, and Emperor Wu of Jin once issued an edict: "The stele is privately beautiful, and the rise is hypocritical, and it is not greater than this, and it is forbidden to cut it off." "But in fact, because the Sima clan of the Western Jin Dynasty was a Confucian hao clan, advocating Ming religion, advocating filial piety, and paying attention to door valves." The degree of luxury and extravagance in the upper class of the ruling group is even greater than that of the previous generation, although it still follows the prohibition of the stele since Cao Wei, but the royal family has been "overstaying the family and mourning for several generations", and the upward and downward effects have become a common practice. At that time, the tombs of some noble officials and eunuchs were very luxurious, and epitaphs were often set up in the pits, and their shape was the epitome of the stele, and there were also zhi stones simplified into rectangles, all of which were carefully carved.

The epitaph originated from the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the Western Jin Dynasty was in the initial stage of epitaph development, and the form was not fixed. Most of the fonts used in the Western Jin Dynasty epitaphs are Lishu, and only a few are Lishu in the period of Likai's transmutation, and to some extent, these can also be regarded as Lishu with the meaning of Lishu. There are very few Jin steles, and more than 20 of the Western Jin Dynasty epitaphs have been seen, and almost all of the excavation sites are concentrated in Luoyang and Yanshi in Gyeonggi. Because the epitaph is buried with the tomb owner, it has not been eroded by wind and rain in the ground for a long time, and the strokes of the excavated Jin Dynasty epitaphs are like new carvings, not like the mottled damage of the stele, so they are more cherished by Jinshi and scholars. In recent years, there have been many excavations of western Jin Dynasty epitaphs, among which the calligraphy art value is relatively high: "Zhang Lang's Epitaph", "Jia Chong's Wife Guo Huai Coffin", "Xun Yue's Epitaph", "Huafang's Epitaph", "Stone Epitaph", "Zuo Di Tombstone", "Lady Tianshui Zhao's Tombstone", "Shiding Epitaph", "Han Shou's Epitaph", "Lady Xu Guanluo's Tombstone", "Zhang Yongchang's Coffin", "Lesheng Tomb", "Wei Yan Coffin", "Yang Jun's Epitaph", "Feng Gong's Stone Coffin Inscription" and so on. At a glance, there are roughly two different styles of epitaphs in the Western Jin Dynasty:

One category is the book carved square dignified people. For example, the two steles of "Jia Chong's Wife Guo Huai Coffin" (296) and "Xu Meiren's Epitaph" are neatly painted, square edged, loosely knotted and rectangular, and the style is close to Cao Wei's "Wang Ji Remnant Stele" (238), which is a typical Wei and Jin Lishu style; "Xun Yue Epitaph" (304), the strokes are straight and vigorous, the glyphs are slightly rectangular, the knots are neat, and the style of the book is similar to that of the "Emperor Linpai Yong Stele"; "Huafang Epitaph" (312), this Zhili book is changeable and postured in pointillism, and the structure is slightly different from the Jin Li chang body. Vivid and not losing the strict physique, it is a very distinctive work; "Shi Yu Epitaph" (308), the style of the Lishu is strict and dignified, and a new atmosphere is brewing in the regular and dignified physique, which has a very deep origin with Wei Li's "Cao Zhen Remnant Stele"; "Zuo Di Epitaph" (300 years), the epitaph Lishu uses the pen to enter the front and stop bright and rhythmic, the glyph is slightly smaller, the calligraphy style is neat and solemn; the Epitaph of Yang Jun (about 291), the writing style and form of the zhi are close to Han Li, between "Cao Quan" and "Huashan", The knot work is stable like "Cao Quan", the wave is like "Huashan", and the wave is picked as a round pen; "Liu Tao's Epitaph", this zhi stroke is vigorous and strong, the glyph is square, and it is very similar to the "Jinnanyang Blocking Yang Hanfu Jun Shinto Monument". It seems to be influenced by the standardized model books "Xiping Stone Classic" and "Three-Body Stone Classic", the Western Jin Dynasty epitaphs are rigid and rigid, the silkworm head swallowtail and the wave picking method are the same, the body disparity is very small, horizontal and vertical, basically along the road of work and tidy rules. Specifically, the style of this type of lily is: first of all, the knot tends to be rectangular, and the posture is both vertical and horizontal; the knot is square, the strokes are sparse and symmetrical, and the four corners of the grid are often filled, and this stroke structure is very prominent in the epitaph book, and the writer seems to have the intention of showing its solemnity with a square. At that time, the letters had already been produced, and the letters of correspondence and the gradual rise of the letters of letters influenced each other, and the letters of this period inevitably had some charm of the letters. The second is that the epitaphs of the Jin Dynasty are highly decorative. The Jin Dynasty inscriptions are mostly based on square pens, and the forms of pointillists are square and prismatic, and the picking methods are curved like bows, and the pens are more gui angles. In order to match the solemnity of the stele, the Jin people lacked changes in the strokes and were very procedural. Due to the excessive emphasis on the selection of square edges, it always shows a pretentious attitude, lacking vitality and vitality. Because the program of the Jin Dynasty Lishu is too strong, the elegant and natural and varied picking of the Han Dynasty Lishu is a rigid and neat picking method, the wave momentum is too square and straight, the tip of the pen is square, the line is straight, almost the same, so that the colorful style of Han Li has gone into poverty. This kind of procedural lishu is extremely inconvenient when writing, and can only be used in the inscription of the inscription, so it is replaced by the new script, making the script a common font, which is an inevitable trend.

The other type is the sloppy calligraphy. Basically, there are "Lady Tianshui Zhao's Tombstone", "Zhang Yongchang's Coffin", "Lesheng Tomb", "Wei Dai coffin", "Feng Gong Stone Coffin Inscription" and so on. Although this kind of epitaph is sloppy, there is a big disparity between the penmanship and the knot. For example, "Zhao's Tombstone" (268) and "Zhang Yongchang's Coffin" use round pens, dot painting is naturally thick, naïve and frank; "Wei Yan Coffin Ming" (298), the book engraving is relatively rough, the characters and paintings are some single knife engraving, but Lishu is naïve and clumsy, full of wildness, and has a natural and uninhibited interest; "Feng Gongshi Inscription" (282), this inscription is written with a pen that follows the rules of Han Li and does not deliberately pick it. The knots are rich in variations, varying in size, some are long and flat, like handwriting, natural wild and not vulgar, this inscription is related to Han Li in terms of rhyme; "Du Mo Tomb Gate Inscription", the strokes are thick and square-oriented; "Lesheng Epitaph" (293), with the form of "folding knife head", obviously deeply influenced by the Luoyang official sample Lishu; "Yang Shao Buys The Land Coupon" (284), which is a kind of vulgar pen lishu that is very close to pen writing, and the handwriting is both and grassy, full of natural interest.

3. The Brick Script of the Western Jin Dynasty

The Western Jin Dynasty can be said to be one of the periods when brick calligraphy flourished. At that time, on the bricks used in the ground building and the bricks for the underground burial chamber, the Yang inscriptions were fired, and the content was either the date of brick making, the surname of the brick maker, or the Auspicious language, the blessing and the like, and most of the bricks we can see today are excavated burial chamber bricks. From Lu Xinyuan's compilation of "Illustrations of Ancient Bricks in Qianyongting", it can be seen that the calligraphy style of the Western Jin Dynasty brick script inherits the legacy of han and Wei bricks and has a new development. His calligraphy has not lost the simplicity of Han and Wei bricks, and is more abundant than the changes in knots and brushwork compared with Han and Wei bricks. In addition, the number of typos and variant characters in the Western Jin Dynasty brick text is increasing, which is also a feature of folk books, especially in this period. However, because the folk calligraphy culture is not high, calligraphy is not formally trained, but can be "unscrupulous" and free to be interesting, which is the most basic feature of ancient brick script.

The brick script of the Western Jin Dynasty is the most lishu, and its brick calligraphy is mostly similar to the posture, style, pattern and style of the Eastern Wu brick script. Moreover, there are few surprising and strong styles in the brick calligraphy of this period. There are roughly two new styles of Lishu in the Western Jin Dynasty brick inscription calligraphy: one is the appearance of small character Lishu works with multiple characters in branches. For example, "Yuankang 3rd Year June 27Th Brick", divided into two lines, there are row columns, the number of words is as many as three crosses, the horizontal strokes are short, the calligraphy gestures are smooth, and the downward posture is strengthened, such as the river going straight down, a thousand miles. Another example is "Yuankang Six Years of Tai Nian Cheng Chen Brick", which is also divided into two lines and the same format as the former, with a word count of up to thirty-six characters. Calligraphy is based on horizontal posture, which is different from the former. Another example is "Jin Yuankang Seven Years august bricks", divided into two lines, where sixteen characters, no line column, calligraphy gestures are introverted, quite contains the meaning of the real book; the second is mainly manifested in several pieces of "Jianxing Three Years sun bricks", the basic characteristics of this style are, first of all, the glyph is horizontal; followed by the thin strength of the dot painting; and then the beginning of the dot painting often appears folded to create a coherent situation. Overall, you can see melodious interest in the flatness. In particular, the "August Nong Peng Shuo Day Xin Wei Sun Brick", its upper text "can be long" and the lower end of the text "Yong Wei Ying (Yang)" Lishu are free and elegant, the pen at the stroke of the pen is particularly interesting, the first and second strokes of the "Long" character are one stroke, which is quite interesting. The dot painting is used interchangeably with straight folding and circular rotation, and emphasizes the upward upturned form of horizontal painting and painting waves, soft and rigid, which can be described as a rare masterpiece of Lishu in Jin bricks.

On the chapter cursive style of the Western Jin Dynasty

Just as standardized fonts can be generically called "italics", folk hastily first aided fonts can be generically called "grass". However, cursive writing in the strict sense began in the Han Dynasty. What is now called "cursive writing" is a broad concept, which includes chapter grass, imakusa, and so on. During the Western Jin Dynasty, there was no present grass, and what was popular at that time was the "chapter grass" with a certain degree of programming.

The origin of the name of Zhangcao includes the founding of Emperor Zhangzhang of Han, the love of Emperor Zhangdi of Han, the theory of playing chapters, and the saying of Shi You's "First Aid Chapter". Among them, it is more reasonable to say that the chapter is played. According to literature, there was no name for "Zhang Cao" in the Western Jin Dynasty. This name, which first appeared in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, was wang Xianzhi's saying to his father Wang Xizhi: "The ancient chapter grass, the failure to be grand, the real body of the Dun, and the principle of poor hypocrisy, the cause of the rush grass, not between the manuscripts, in the past law, the adult is easy to change the body." Probably the name Zhangcao began in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and at that time it was intended to distinguish it from "Imacho".

Zhang Cao was born in the Han Dynasty, the development stage of Zhang Cao is "Li Cao" or "Cao Li", at this time Zhang Cao is the rough, rapid, and provincial writing of the Li Shu, as Wang Yan said: "Disband the Li Body, Rough Book", that is, Zhang Huaihuan's "Book Break" said "the outline of the existence of the subordinate, the rule of the loss of the subordinate, the indulgence of the run, to the first aid". Chapter cursive writing was born and developed in the Lishu era, which is comparable to Lishu and has unique characteristics. Chapter grass not only has the same decorative beauty as Lishu, the waves are flexible, the meaning is simple and elegant, and the chapter cursive uses points that echo the pitch and the strokes of the implication, increasing the flow of glyphs and liveliness, which is not caught by lishu. Therefore, Zhang Huaihuan praised Zhang Cursive and said: "Shi You made grass, first aid, Wan Ruo Luan, grabbed like a fighting beast, late returned to Jian Jian, was eager to fly through, Shi Hua was solid, and the ruler was particularly strange, and the merits were spared, and the scholar was appropriate." The Western Jin Dynasty can be said to be the perfect maturity period of Zhangcao. Its symbol is that the structure is gradually standardized, and the strokes have been melted into the waves of the Lishu, making the chapter cursive from structure to dot painting more beautified. The perfection of The Wave book can be said to be a sign of the maturity of the Lishu, and the development of the chapter cursive has also evolved with the evolution of the Lishu. Because any font has a reduced and fast way of writing, this is the need of society, which is as Zhang Yu of the Song Dynasty said: "Cursive writing does not have to be in the Jin Dynasty, it must be available since the pen, but it is not written in a rigorous way and becomes cursive." From the chapter cursive to the Western Jin Dynasty, the wave of the lishu was perfectly used in cursive, so Jiang Kui said: "The chapter grass dot painting wave hair, out of eight points." The emergence of this kind of wave is an inevitable form of cursive writing, and it also shows the artistic development of cursive elephants, making cursive more beautiful. In this way, the cursive chapter has matured and reached the stage of perfection.

The Western Jin Dynasty was the period when Zhang Cao was prevalent, and Zhang Cao's family was full of talents, famous for Wei Wan, Suo Jing, and Lu Ji, and Zhang Cao's famous works include Suo Jing's "Yue Yi Ti", "Ode to the Master" and Lu Ji's "Ping Fu Ti".

Wei Wan (衛瓘), courtesy name Boyu , was a native of Anyi , Hedong ( present-day northern Xia County , Shanxi ) , born in the 25th year of jian'an by emperor Xian of the Eastern Han Dynasty , and died in the eighth year of emperor Yongkang of the Jin Dynasty ( 220–291 CE ) at the age of 71. Wei Wan served as Shang Shu Ling (尚書令) and later became the official Sikong (司空). He studied Zhang Zhi in cursive, and referred to it as his father's Wei Qifa, "more draft". He and Suo Jing served in Shang Shutai together, and both enjoyed the title of the book. At the time, people called it "one machine and two magic". The Book of Jin reads: "At the end of the Han Dynasty, Zhang Zhishan's cursive book, the commentator said: 瓘德伯英 tendon, Jingde Boying meat." He himself said, "I have the tendons of Bo Ying, and Heng (Wei Heng is the son of Wei Heng, also a calligrapher and calligraphy theorist) gets his bones, and Jing gets his flesh." Tang Zhang Huaihuan listed his chapters and grasses among the divine qualities, and commented on his book: "Talented and outstanding, if the birds are vigorous, fluttering above the breeze, using them with affection, they do not think it is difficult." When the discussion is said, Bo Yu let go of the flow and passed the rope, and the law is not as good. "Wei Wan's handwriting now only contains the Dunshou Prefecture Minti, the first of which is inscribed in the Song "Chunhua Ge Ti". Wei Wan's cursive writing has the following characteristics: the horizontal pen takes the oblique left low right high, the pen does not make a wave potential, but makes an introverted vertical introduction downwards, and the last stroke of many words pulls down the reflection belt, such as "degree, entry, xin, li" and other words. His work changes the chapter cursive gesture from horizontal to vertical in the gesture, which is the most prominent feature of his cursive book, and this change also leads to a change in the form of cursive. His draft book is already close to Imakusa in terms of penmanship, penmanship, and knotting, but there is still a will of Zhangcao. However, due to its profound skill, it can flow without being frivolous, gorgeous and deep. Beyond the reach of ordinary herdsmen.

Suo Jing (索靖), courtesy name You'an (born in the second year of the Reign of Emperor Tai'an of the Three Kingdoms) and emperor Tai'an of the Jin Dynasty (239-303 AD), died at the age of 64. He was the sister and grandson of Zhang Zhi, the caosheng, who had few Yiqun's weight, and had written twenty volumes of "Suozi" and "Jin Poems" in each, and also wrote "Cursive Writing". He was deeply influenced by the famous scholars Fu Xuan and Zhang Huaqi. Zengguan Shangshulang and Jiuquan Taishou, because they had been the Sima of Zhengxi, were called "Suo Zhengxi". Suo Jing was good at chapter grass, and Wang Monk Qian called it: "Passing on Zhang Zhicao and its shape is different, very discreet in its book, and its name is 'Silver Hook Pious Tail'." "Book of Jin. The biography of Suo Jing says that "the pen is better than Jing, but there is a kaifa far less than Jing". Emperor Wu of Liang commented on Suo Jing's words: "Like a fluttering wind, the bird flies." Zhang Huaihuan listed his characters as divine qualities in the Book Breaks, and said: "Jingshan Zhangcao and cursive writing, out of Wei's birthday, are more dangerous than it." There is a crack in the middle of the mountain line, and the water potential is suspended. The snow ridge is lonely and pine, the glacier is dangerous, and its strength is not caught in ancient and modern times. Or the law of Yun Kai is too strong, but the poor soldiers are extremely powerful, and they are mighty and heroic, and they look at their bravery and courage to linger in Zhang, but in Wei. Song Huangtingjian said: "Suo Zhengxi's pen is short and long, and it is unattainable. Huang Bosi said: "General Suo Zhang Cao wrote a wonderful ancient and modern. Some people also believe that his calligraphy has surpassed the grass saint Zhang Zhi in some aspects, saying that "he is extremely proficient, and he is not as good as Zhang; there is a wonderful yuzi, and Zhang is not as good as Zhang." "Now we can see the handwriting entitled Suo Jing, such as "Ode to the Teacher", "Yue Yi Ti", and "Zai Demon Post" and "July Tie" included in the "Chunhua Ge Ti".

The text content of the "Ode to the Teacher" was written by Han Shi Xiaoshan, and although the writers had many objections, they all seemed to be based on Suo Jing. The Zhangcao "Ode to the Teacher", which was passed down as a book written by Suo Jing, has fourteen lines and one hundred and ninety-four characters, which is the first handwriting that appeared in the bibliography during the Northern Song Dynasty during the Xuanhe period. This "Ode to the Teacher" written by Suo Jing has a long-term influence, and Ming Zhang ugly's "Qinghe Calligraphy and Painting Boat" Yun: "You'an's "Ode to the Teacher" is a special person who has retired from writing, and the structure is strange and lovely. In the past, people said that they could not choose a pen, and they did not say anything. Qing Liang Wei's "Chengjin Zhai Ji Wen Lu" Yun: "Suo Jing's "Ode to the Master" is horizontal and vertical, the hook point is picky, and it does not go at all. If our books take this as a guigao, there is nothing to lose. The Right Army's "Seventeen Theses" is also the same method. Youyun: "Suo Jing's "Ode to the Master" cursive is calm and strong, gu hou is rigorous, and Ou Shu is born out of this. And when the place is dragged open, the tightening place still tightens itself, and does not let go of relaxation. This post has thick strokes, vivid strokes, and a strange posture, which is quite different from Zhang Cao's famous "First Aid", no wonder Wen Peng said: "The Jin and Tang Law Books that I have read in my lifetime are no less than hundreds of volumes, but Sun Guoting's "Book Genealogy", Huai Su's silk "Thousand Texts", "Sleepwalking Heavenly Grandmother", yan Lugong's "Liu Zhong's Envoy Post", and even more without hatred. However, it is self-permissible, or accumulates habits to specialize, and it is only a few tens of thousands. This post cannot be copied, engraved, or learned, and I do not know where it originates or ends, which is really the first in the ancient law books." He also said that this post "has a side pen, a flat pen, a thick pen, and a lu sharp pen." There is a three-fold discount within one point. Such as thatched steps, and the weather is different; such as the dirty bottle cup, and the meaning of tao is within the Taihe. At first glance, the more cute it is, xianzai! It can be seen from this that posterity has a very high evaluation of the "Ode to the Teacher" written by Suo Jing.

The "Moon Yi Ti" can be said to be the most famous work attributed to Suo Jing's name. It is not a ruler, but a copy of a sample essay that was used as a reference when confessing to writing a letter. "Yue Yi Ti" is Suo Jing's representative work, Zhang Cao, the existing nine chapters, can be described as a long and huge production. This work is concise and flowing, strong and sharp, similar to the style of Suo Jing's "July Post". It's just that the July Post already has signs of this grass, and this work is purely chapter grass. Its characters are independent, the writing is strict, the characters are precipitous, the waves are sharp and the bones are strong. It can be confirmed that his calligraphy is too much, and there is a comment that there is a trend of "silver hook and tail". For example, the word "hair" in it, each stroke is sharp, sharp, but there is no sense of weakness. It can be seen that its power is extraordinary. Mr. Gao Ershi, a close friend, called this post "Suo Jing Zhangcao, the authentic handwriting is unparalleled". He also said that his "gas is high and wonderful, qingjun and charming, and the first in the chapter grass". The "Moon Ritual" that we see now is only an engraved copy, and its base copy is not Suo Jing's original handwriting. Although scholars, scholars, and scholars were quite skeptical of the "Moon Ritual Thesis", they did not fundamentally deny that the post originated from Suo Jing, and they spoke highly of it. Most of the later scholars thought about the style of Suojing's calligraphy based on this post. Although this post is not necessarily written by Suo Jing, it is still a good post for the chapter draft template.

The "July Post", this post was circulated in an orderly manner, and the ink copy was still in the human world during the Northern Song Dynasty, which was one of the four pieces of Suo Jing in the imperial collection contained in the Song "Xuanhe Book Genealogy". After the Song Dynasty, the ink book disappeared without a trace, and only the engraving was passed down. The earliest inscription is the Chunhua Ge Ti (pictured, see page 150 of the Famous Masters of the Wei and Jin Dynasties in the Complete Collection of Chinese Calligraphy), and later engraved into the "Dai Ti" and "Ming Bao Xian Tang Collection of Ancient Fa Ti". This post is a ruler, written and written, not as scripted as the copy of the "Moon Ritual Thesis". Judging from the physique of zhang cursive calligraphy, the "July Post" lacks a bit of ancient and thick atmosphere, and is not as simple and elegant as the "Ode to the Teacher". This post has a slightly longitudinal gesture, but the upward or flat gesture is still clear, and some of the "points" of the stationed pen are abrupt and not quoted, and the characters are horizontal but not introverted. In conjunction with Wei Wan's "Dunshou Prefecture Folk Post", the body of the "July Post" is obviously more oblique.

In addition to the above three posts, the cursive handwriting of suo jing that can be seen now is also in the "Chunhua Ge Ti". The text of this post is quaint and quite similar to that of the Jin people, but the calligraphy style is far from Suo Jing's other handwriting, so posterity has many doubts about it. As a book writer, it is not difficult to write several works with different faces, as long as the artistic level of the work is high, in the absence of very conclusive evidence, I would rather believe that it is true, because there is a reason for existence.

Lu Ji, Zi Shiheng, Wu County Huating people. Emperor Yong'an of the Three Kingdoms was born in the fourth year, and Emperor Hui of the Western Jin Dynasty died in the second year (261-303 AD). Lu Ji "rarely has a different material, the article crowns the world." Together with his brother Lu Yun, he was called "Erlu". After Wu's death, he entered the Jin Dynasty, and the former official crown prince washed horses, wrote Lang, and was an envoy to pingyuan. Lu Ji was a genius with beautiful words, and wrote more than 300 articles, including forty-seven volumes, of which only ten volumes remain, and three volumes of supplements have been handed down. Among them, "WenFu" is an important literary treatise in ancient times. Lu Ji was good at cursive writing, and Tang Wei continued to list his books as the lower and upper grades. Wang Monk Qian said: "Lu Ji Shu Wu Shi Shu is also incomparable. Xuanhe Shu genealogy volume 14 clouds: "Lu Ji can zhangcao, so that talent can see and cover the ears." ”

Lu Ji's Ping Fu Ti is the earliest and most reliable authentic inkblot of surviving literati and scholars. This post has nine lines and is written on hemp paper. The ink is slightly green, as if it is written in pine smoke ink. This post is a chapter cursive, the dot painting is simple, the pen is strong, it seems to be written with a very strong bald pen, when it is out of the woods, simple and natural, not exciting; the horizontal stroke is short, there is a tendency to pitch; the longitudinal stroke is long, it is an arc to the left and the right; the flat and long glyph, narrow and wide, is oblique and stable, and it is quite interesting; although the characters are independent, they are often seen in the corresponding coherent form of the front; the dot painting rarely uses the wave potential, and the wave potential and the pick painting are often manifested as wanting to indulge and return, and have transitioned to the present grass. Lu Ji's post is treasured by the world. Ming Dong Qichang said: "Before the Right Army, after Yuan Chang, only these few lines remain, which are Xidaibao." "Ming Zhang Ugly Cloud:" Yunjian Chen Zhongol said that his book is very similar to Suo Jing's pen poems. Youyun: "The Ping Fu Ti is the most ancient, and it is the same as Suo You'an's Ode to the Teacher." Unfortunately, the erosion is too much, not into the eyes of the common people. However, the penmanship is round, just like the Tai Tang Xuan wine, it is not something that the ancients can do", which is reproduced in the "True Deeds Daily Record" Yun: "For the Western Jin Dynasty Ming Xian's handwriting, and Zhang Cao Qiwei, far better than Suo You'an and Xie An Shi Generation." ...... Dancing in a self-posture, there are really those who have not been able to get their appearance after all their lives. Yang Shoujing said that the "Ping Fu Ti" is "a book written by Bald Yingjin, without a single stroke of flattery, nor a single stroke of roughness, so it is high." Lu Ji's cursive writing is written more casually, and many of them are habitually written, which makes it difficult for later generations of calligraphers to interpret and add a bit of mystery. Mr. QiGong of the present generation said: "The characters of the Pingfu Ti are composed of chapters and grass dots to paint Qigu, and the Han and Jin Dynasties produced by the school in xi'an are in accordance with the contract. It can be proved that it is beyond the ability of people after the Six Dynasties." Especially since the twentieth century, a large number of Western Jin Dynasty JianMu and residual paper documents have been unearthed, and their calligraphy style is similar to that of this "Pingfu Ti". The Northern Song Dynasty's Xuanhe Shu genealogy calls this post a chapter cursive, which is compared with the cursive writing of the chapters passed down as Suo Jing and Wei Wan, although the cursive script of Lu Ji is slightly less standardized, but it is relatively simple, and its authenticity is naturally far better than the cursive writing of other famous Western Jin dynasty artists in the engraving.

In the Western Jin Dynasty, Zhangcao flourished, and in the upper class, not only the zhangcao was famous, but also very popular in the folk, reaching a stage of perfection in art. Before the excavation of JianMu, scraps of paper and brick carvings in the Jin Dynasty, the circulation of chapter cursive writing by later generations was mostly recognized by tossing and turning and copying inscriptions. However, in order to understand the true face of the Western Jin Dynasty chapter cursive writing and the overall style of the chapter cursive writing in this period, it is necessary to rely on the Jin Dynasty Jian Mu books, scraps of paper and some brick carved chapter grass unearthed in modern times. Among the Jian Mu and residual paper of the Jin Dynasty that have been unearthed in modern times, many of them are chapter cursive. The value of these inkblots directly written by the Western Jin Dynasty is far higher than that of the facsimiles and engravings that have been copied from generation to generation, and it is an extremely valuable material for us to study the true appearance of the Western Jin Dynasty Chapter Grass. Cursive writing in the Western Jin Dynasty, still with Zhangcao as the authentic, is the norm of Xicao, but the common writing style of Zhangcao is more common. These excavated Cursive Handwriting of the Jin Dynasty can be roughly divided into four categories: ruler drafts, manuscript manuscripts, Jian Mu bookkeeping, and Xizi scraps. Most of the cursive scripts are sloppy and loosely structured, mostly similar to the cursive scripts on the Dunhuang Hanjian. For example, "Books must not wait for characters", "From Hu Dang and other characters", "Ji Wo Jane", "He JiangJian" and so on. The cursive characters on the residual paper documents have different pen styles: "Loulan Residual Paper", "Why Must", the strokes are thick and solemn, not only have heavy waves, but also have sharp picks, the pen is meticulous, the knot takes the horizontal posture, the horizontal stroke is straight, and generally follows the writing rules of the chapter grass; "Jibai Shou Residual Paper", "FuYi", the pen is smooth, the stroke thickness changes richly, and the knot body already has the meaning of the present grass; "May 2nd" residual paper, a total of four lines, the first line of glyphs is larger, the last three lines are smaller, the first line of knots is horizontal, and the pen is thick It is the French style of chapter grass, the last three lines of strokes are gentle and flowing, and the knot body has many lower quotations, similar to the body of Wei Wan's "draft"; the remnant paper of "Urgent Qi yao" is a calligraphy book for children's enlightenment in the Jin Dynasty, the first four lines are the font of the transition period, and the last four lines are cursive. This residual paper is used for folk learning, from here we can see the popularity of zhang cursive writing in the folk; "Huaxuan residual paper", horizontal painting straight, stroke flow, vertical stroke in the last line of the "Mo Ling" to reach the extreme, the two words are a stroke of succession, is a rare phenomenon in the Western Jin Dynasty cursive.

The famous cursive handwriting of the excavated Western Jin Dynasty brick carvings that can be seen now are "Jin Xianning Four Years of Lü Province Bricks", "Duliang Liang Bricks", "Song Duck Bricks", "Zhou Bosun Bricks", "Jiayuguan Jin Tomb Brick Carvings" and "Guo Yongsi Shujian FragmentAry Disk". For example, "Xianning Four Years of Lü Province Bricks" and "Zhou Bosun Bricks" were excavated at the same time, and the text on the top was carved on the wet and soft brick billet and fired, which can be said to be an ancient hard pen calligraphy work to some extent. "Xianning Fourth Year and July" is a few words, although the stroke changes are not large, but the penmanship is skilled, and the knotted character method is more rigorous. The strokes of the words "salty", "four", "month" and so on are in and out, and the tilt of the word posture is just right. The word "is" is picked at the end of the word "is", and the word "for" is left-handed, showing that there are also changes in the brushwork. These engraved cursives have the gesture of immaculate grass, the dot paintings fly, and the style is quaint, but from the perspective of its posture, it still belongs to the category of chapter grass.

Through the above investigation of the surviving cursive writings of the Western Jin Dynasty, the style of the western Jin Dynasty's chapter cursive writing can be summarized as follows. First, the Western Jin Dynasty chapter cursive writing, the difference between words and characters, that is, the words and words are not as involved as in the present grass or wild grass; second, the pen is broken, that is, the strokes take care of each other, and do not have to be connected. Although there are also consecutive strokes in a word, it is not like the lishu where the pens and strokes are broken and not connected; third, pay attention to the use of points, often changing paintings into points. The flexible use of points, turning static into motion, increases the beauty of flow; fourth, each word either emphasizes the waves, or highlights the dividing trend, or extends the horizontal painting of the waves, or the posture of the hook. These all show to varying degrees the meaning of the separate back and flying upwards brought about by the matrix- the Lishu; fifth, it has the fun of ancient clumsiness and the wind of flowing beauty. The Western Jin Dynasty Chapter Grass has both the simplicity and thickness of the Lishu and the gentle flow of the present grass, which can be said to be the perfect maturity period of the Chapter Cursive.

On the writings of the Western Jin Dynasty

Kaishu, also known as the true book and the main book, was once called "Lishu" or "Present Li" and "Kaili" in ancient times. Zhang Shen's General Interpretation of the Book of Laws. The "Debate Body" says: "The ancient no true book is called, and later generations call it the true book and the letter of letters, and the cover is lishu also." "Kai" is originally the meaning of the French style, Zhang Huaihuan's "Book Break" Yun: "(Eight points) this is called the Kai Shu, Kai, Fa Ye, Shi Ye, Mo Ye" ". Therefore, the eight points and the present grass were once called kaishu, and later generations used to turn the real book and the main book into the kaishu. For the sake of convenience, it is now commonly known as the letter of lettering.

The formation of the Script was influenced by both the Lishu and the Xingshu, because it arose during the period when the Lishu and the Xingshu were in common. When the Lishu emphasizes the wave picking, in order to facilitate writing, the folk often do not emphasize the form of the wave picking when writing the Lishu, and this more casual way of writing the Lishu is one of the factors that form the Script. Of course, early writing can also be one of the causes of calligraphy.

The Western Jin Dynasty was a period of growth and development of the Kaishu, but the Western Jin Dynasty Kaishu that we can see now is all the handwriting found since the 20th century. Although these discovered Jin ren calligraphy are not the hands of famous calligraphers, it is difficult to say that they represent the superior level of the calligraphy at that time, and many of them do not have a clear chronology, but we can use these handwriting to examine the general condition of the Western Jin Dynasty and understand the process of the Western Jin Dynasty.

(1) The Jin people wrote the scriptures

The scriptural writing is the product of the direct relationship between calligraphy and Buddhism, as monks and nuns, scribes, or devotees regard copying the scriptures as an act of merit to express devotion to the Buddha. Out of the devotion of the Buddha, when copying, it must be respectful, and the handwriting requires not only clarity and neatness, but also beautiful and generous. Those who copied the scriptures professionally were called jingsheng, and their words became the scriptures, and the font became the scriptural script. Jingsheng is generally from the folk, and the style of writing has to be constrained by the Buddhist spirit and the client. Therefore, the calligraphy style of writing scriptures is generally clear, neat, natural, and serene. Because the number of writers is very large, they have the characteristics of proficiency in writing. In addition to Buddhism, Taoism was also popular during the Wei and Jin dynasties. Chen Yinke once wrote: "During the Eastern, Western, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Tianshi Dao was a religion passed down from family to generation, and its calligraphy was often an art passed down from family to generation. Many people at the time had the habit of copying family scriptures, especially the Tao Te Ching written by famous masters, which was the object of collection by people at the time. The following are the more famous inscriptions written by the Jin people.

"Jinren Writing Classic", the thickness of the dot painting is uniform, horizontal and vertical, the closing brush of the dot painting on the right is mostly picked out by waves, the traces of the book are more obvious, and the knot is square.

The Sutra of the Buddhas is basically the same in size and size, and the knots are skillful, symmetrical and not rigid. Horizontal paintings are all into the pen with sharp edges, the pen is lagging heavy without wave potential, the pen has waves, the left is thin and the right is thick, and the left is light and the right is heavy. For example, the horizontal painting of the "ten" character is slightly picked up after being pressed again, which has the will of the swallowtail of the book. The vertical painting is now pressed and then lightly closed, forming a vertical needle. In addition, some words, such as "idle" and "happy", have a dangerous structure and show a natural ups and downs. All in all, the center of gravity of the handwriting is slightly skewed to the left and up, which roughly has the characteristics of the mature period of the calligraphy, which is tight on the left and loose on the right, and the upper and lower are light. If you cover up half of a word, the left side is purely in letters, and there are still traces of letters on the right.

"The Great Nirvana Sutra", the left side of the dot painting is thin and the right is thick, the left vertical pen is more long apostrophe, the right vertical pen is more thick lines and bends inward to take the momentum, the hook pick is hidden, the left and right sides are closed and put, one yin and one yang, and the characteristics of the calligraphy are more obvious.

The Fragments of the Lotus Sutra, shunfeng starting the pen, pressing the closing pen, horizontally drawing the left tip and right thick; the vertical painting is short, pressing the sharp pen, and stopping abruptly; skimming the square head and tail, the long skimmer has the tendency to fly, the short stroke is thick; the painting is fat and does not come out, it is the side pen that is written downwards; the pen with the vertical hook is often long and hanging without hook. The knot body is square.

Through the above few handwritings, it can be seen that the commonality of their calligraphic style of this type of calligraphy is: in the brushwork, the horizontal drawing of the brush is exposed, not a straight downward flanking or reverse rebound, pressing down according to the movement trend, simply and neatly. Because the speed of the line is extremely fast, by the time the pen is spread out, the stroke is already more than halfway through, and the line appears to be very strong and sharp. The closing pen of the horizontal painting is not pressed down like the mature letter, and then returned to the pen to collect, but the horizontal posture of the book is taken, and then the upper right is picked up after re-pressing, making a fluttering and flying shape. The skimmer re-presses the pen and goes out to the lower left, the line is rounded, the tip is thin and flattering, and the end is slightly retracted, which is connected with the stroke below. The closing pen is particularly heavy, and generally does not make an obvious upward trend. When writing points, it quickly retracts, rabbits rise and fall, and the speed is abnormal. The vertical painting is thick and thin, and the tail is more hanging needles. The hook is heavy and thick to the right, very exaggerated, small and pointed to the left, trying to dilute it. The vertical folding pen arcs inward, making the square glyph shape, the four corners protruding, and the skeleton hard. In short, the traces of the calligraphy in the brushwork are gradually weakening, the composition of the calligraphy is gradually increasing, the left is thin and the right is thick, the skimming is thin and thick, the changes in the dot drawing lines are getting bigger and bigger, and the forms are becoming more and more abundant. In terms of knots, it is basically a method of horizontal and vertical writing, and taking the position laterally. Since it is the main pen, the long strokes are horizontal, apostrophe, pinch, and vertical hook. And the horizontal painting takes the flat and long, and the vertical painting is short and straight, so the word potential is broad and flat. However, often the left is sparse and the right is dense, the left is light and the right is heavy, the left is high and the right is low, the left is weak and the right is strong, which is a little uncoordinated, and this imbalanced relationship is the internal basis for the evolution of the Western Jin Dynasty Kaishu to the mature Kaishu.

(2) Simple paper books

In the excavated Western Jin Dynasty Jianmu and residual paper (especially the Main Loulan Script), there are many calligraphy handwriting, through which we can examine the Western Jin Dynasty's calligraphy, although many of these handwritings do not have an exact date. This batch of early calligraphy, from different calligraphers, has a variety of faces, and the calligraphy also has its own origins, but it can be roughly divided into two styles.

The first is a strong and archaic script. This kind of calligraphy also has a relatively large number of calligraphic notes, with a variety of glyphs, some long and some flat, but basically flat knotted. In the brushwork, the horizontal strokes are left and low and the right is high, the vertical hook is mostly flat pick, vertical and skimming are flipped, and the painting is mostly fat pen-like. It is estimated that this type of script evolved directly from the "new subordinate". The more representative of such calligraphy are "Qing Yong", "Twenty-Eight Residual Paper of the First Month", "Pursuit", "August 10th", "Ma Li Sealing Inspection", "Mourning Residual Paper", "Sun Orphan Residual Paper" and so on.

The second is the partial script of the new Yan. It is characterized by the straightness of the strokes, the tendency to be flat, and the shape of the strokes forcing into mature letters. The common features of this type of calligraphy are: horizontal drawing of the pen to press the edge, closing the pen to press; vertical painting in the pen collection; vertical skimming, square tip and tail, the closing pen is not picked by the pen; stroke, at the closing pen, the pen is pressed, and then folded out; vertical hook, vertical pen is pressed and then picked out to the upper left. In the brushwork of this type of calligraphy, the most striking feature is the "end" and "vertex" of the stroke, which is caused by the writer's use of the pen method of "lifting". Due to the extensive use and emphasis of the writing method, especially the sharp edge of the horizontal brush and the sharp end of the apostrophe, the early letters with the intention of picking the pen are hidden. The change of brushwork will inevitably affect the form of pointillist painting, thus establishing the stroke form of the letter, and the change of stroke is bound to affect the posture of the knot, so the posture of this type of letter has been "evolved", and the introverted "Wang (Xizhi) Book" is almost a step away, but the fullness of the stroke, the level of fineness of the knot and the posture of the side are not as good as the "Wang Book". The more representative handwriting of this type of calligraphy includes "Chao Ji Bai Residual Paper", "March 1st", "Ji Yan", "Feelings", "Adult" and so on.

(3) "Three Kingdoms" Manuscripts

There are four fragments of the Unearthed Jin Ren Kai script "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". Two of the most famous ones are: one was unearthed in 1924 in Yanshan County, Xinjiang, and the content of this volume is from the Book of Wu. The word "anger" in the "Biography of Yu" (虞翻傳) of "Quan is then great anger" stops at the "realm" character of "subject to enter the distant realm" in the "Biography of Zhang Wen". A total of 80 lines, counting more than 1,090 words, with slight damage in the middle. The other was discovered in 1965 in the ruins of a pagoda in the ancient city of Yingsha in Turpan, Xinjiang (pictured, see wang Jingxian, history of calligraphy in the Southern and Northern Dynasties of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, p. 86). The content of this volume is from the Book of Wu. The character for "Wu" in "To Wushan and Zigui" in the biography of Lord Wu, and finally the "lei" character of "pardoning the armies but deep ditch and high fortress", a total of forty lines, counting more than 570 words, there are also damages in the middle. Mr. Guo Moruo believes: "As far as the handwriting is concerned, the B type of writing should be earlier than the first type of writing, maybe the second kind is the Western Jin Dynasty manuscript, and the first type is the Eastern Jin dynasty codex, but the age difference will not be too long after all." ”

The fragments of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms are in the second volume, and the font is quite similar to that of the scriptures. There are more curved pens, horizontal paintings are more prone, horizontal drawings into the pen more pointed, gradually thickened when the pen is written, re-pressed after closing the pen, forming two square corners, and the sharp edge when entering the pen becomes a sharp contrast. Some of the short paintings are almost triangular. Vertical painting is the opposite, the lower pen is thick, the closing pen is thinner, or a vertical needle. Skimming is not only curved, but also sharp. Stroke into the tip of the pen thin, re-press the pen after closing, so the pen is extra wide and thick, especially prominent in the whole word, so that it has become the most distinctive stroke in the whole volume. On the whole, this fragment of the scroll is rigorous in knots, the glyphs are square, and because there are more thick and heavy strokes, it is more clumsy and thick than the general scriptures.

The fragments of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms are well written, calm and powerful with a pen, and meticulous. Horizontal paintings start with a sharp tip, but the starting pen also has a pause, such as the long horizontal of the words "even, so", the short horizontal of the words "old, also"; the shoulders of the horizontal folding pen, not turning down, but pressing down with force, there is a clear square fold; the painting lies horizontally, making a thick wave; the long horizontal and point paintings are always seen picking the pen and the skimming of the pen; the vertical painting and skimming the pen are square; the vertical hook pen is clearly picked upwards. Such as "Shu, pair" and other words; this fragment of the knot is mainly flat knot, flat and tight, dense and symmetrical. Some partial parts and monogram structures, such as "moon, owe, straight, must", etc., are still significantly different from the mature italics, but there are many words, such as "big, sichuan, middle, first", etc., and their knots have evolved to the degree of side posture.

Looking at the two fragments of A and B, we can see that there are indeed differences between the two, which may be related to the personality of the writer. However, there are indeed great similarities between the two books, such as the way the partial parts are written, the way of knotting, and the remaining styles, which are basically the same. If the mature script of the future generation is used as a reference, the degree of italicization of the A version is better than that of the B book. It is no wonder that later generations of scholars believe that the B species is earlier than the A species.