Sheyan is produced in Longwei Mountain, Wuyuan, Jiangxi, so the ancient land belongs to Shezhou, which was initially called Longwei Yan and later known as She (Zhou) Yan. Some scholars believe that the title of Sheyan began around the time of the Northern Song Dynasty from Jingyou to Zhiping, that is, from 1034 to 1067 AD. It is a metamorphic rock that was eventually formed about 800 or 1 billion years ago. The stone is delicate, mostly black, bluish-black, and a few yellowish brown. The natural texture is diverse, which can be roughly divided into five categories: ribbed, eyebrow, Venus, golden halo, and caviar. These natural characteristics of sheshi have created Sheyan famous for its characteristics of "astringent without leaving a pen, slippery without rejecting ink, melon skin and texture, golden sound and jade virtue".
Based on its unique geographical advantages, the Anhui Museum has a long and large number of sheyan collections. With its restrained and subtle color, unique texture, elegant and meticulous shape, and exquisite and delicate lines, Sheyan has become a major feature of the Anhui Museum's collection of Yantai. Now select the representative She yan of each period for introduction:
Figure 1 Western Han Dynasty Three-legged beast pattern stone stone stone
The Western Han Dynasty three-legged beast pattern stone stone stone stone (Figure 1), excavated in 1956 in The Shuanggudui Han Dynasty hollow brick tomb in Li Ge Township, Taihe County. Diameter 15.6, height 14 cm. The stone is round, composed of two parts, the stone cover and the brick body, the stone is blue-gray, and the texture is smooth and delicate. The outer middle of the cover is raised, in the shape of a double beast, with scales carved with thin lines, the body of the beast spirals up, with its head held high, and there are four small round holes at the joint of the snout, and a column under the hole is connected, which cleverly constitutes a lifting beam. The cover edge has a small checkered pattern with a thin line shallow carving, a shallow serrated pattern on the edge, a recess with a diameter of 4 and a depth of 3.3 cm, which should be used for ink storage, and the inner wall line is carved with animal images such as horses, deer, dogs, and fish, and the lines are smooth and vivid. The base of the stone has three legs, which are triangular in shape, and the bear pattern is lightly carved on the feet. The traditional view of the origin of Sheyan is generally based on the "Shezhou Yan Genealogy" and believed to have begun in the Tang Dynasty. However, Su Shi's "Shulu Daoist Mirror Yan" says: "Yan round head axe shape, color is green, the back has a moon golden text, even can be ink and suitable for writing, cover the Tang Dynasty before the object also." Putting forward the view that "Sheyan began before the Tang Dynasty", especially in recent years, many scholars have proposed that Sheyan began in Han, and the important basis of which is this three-legged stone stone, in addition, the Han sheshi large stone plate and research stone, the Eastern Han ShuangpanLonggai three-legged stone stone in Cangxian County, Hebei Province, and the Excavation of the Han Dynasty Pan mantis cover three-legged stone stone at the site of the Gansu Tianshui Kui Huguan official, which further supports the excavation of the Sheyan began in the Han Dynasty. The smooth carving lines of this stone stone, exquisite and simple, it has been separated from the simple stone plate, the whole is more endowed with artistic value, and the three-legged design raises the height of the stone body, which is more convenient for ink writing, increases the practicality, and is a fine work in the Han Dynasty stone stone.
Fig. 2 Tang Ji-shaped Sheyan
Tang Dynasty Ji-shaped Stone (Figure 2), 19.3 cm long, 13.5 cm wide and 3.1 cm high. Sheshi, the color of the stone is light cyan, the stone is fine and moist. The upper circle of the stone shape is below, and there are edges around it, and the head of the stone is deeply sunken, forming a significant crease with the brick surface. There are two trapezoidal feet at the bottom, which make the brick surface elevated and easy to store ink, which is a typical Tang Dynasty Sheyan work. The Yantai era should be from the late Tang Dynasty to the Five Dynasties period. Ji-shaped Yan was popular in the Tang Dynasty, shaped like a rectangular ji and named, and because the two sides of the tail of the yan resembled the wind character, called "wind glyph shaped Yan", that is, mi Fu's "History of Yan" contains "like a wind character; two-legged". With the prosperity of culture in the Sui and Tang dynasties, She yan began to emerge and was loved by ancient literati, and Tang Li Shanfu's "Ancient Stone Stone" praised She yan for "chasing after his mountain stone, a spoonful deep in all directions." Hold the truth only to keep the ink, and seek to use every humble heart. The waves rise because of the text, and the dust is wasted. With jun more research, He Zhi zhi qianjin. Not only that, the Southern Tang Dynasty set up Yan officials, which were specially managed by the official government, which was a period of prosperity and development of Sheyan.
Figure 3 Song Rectangular jujube heart eyebrow pattern 歙砚
Song rectangular jujube heart eyebrow pattern Sheyan (Figure 3), excavated in 1953 in The Small North Gate Cellar in Shexian County. In the collection of the Song Dynasty Yantaizhong in the Anhui Museum, the number of excavations in the small north gate cellar is relatively concentrated, and a total of 17 squares of Sheyan have been excavated, with different shapes and systems. It is 21.2 cm long, 12 cm wide and 2.7 cm high. Rectangular, solid bottom, the Yantang is oval, the Yantang and the Yantang are all narrow sides, and a piece of oval stone with a green color is embedded in the Yantang, which can be removed actively, and the Crescent-shaped pool is carved at the head of the Yantang. The stone used in this stone is very distinctive, with two different textures of ribs and eyebrow lines, the color of the stone is blue-black, covered with fine ribs like satin, and the stone embedded in the Brick Hall is extremely warm, the color is yellowish in the blue, known in the history books as "eel yellow", its surface is covered with small black dots, evenly distributed and delicate, for caviar patterns. There are 8 eyebrow lines of different lengths distributed in parallel on the surface of the stone, and there is a line of marks in the eyebrow lines, which are thick in the middle of the two ends of the eyebrow lines, called "jujube heart eyebrow lines". The jujube brow pattern stone of caviar texture is rare and extremely precious. The stone is smooth, the sound of the buckle is crisp and pleasant, and although the whole is light and textureless, the color of the stone is blue and black, which is interesting. The yantai has a peculiar shape and ingenious design, and the stone is embedded in the brick body, and the seam is tightly sewn, and the craftsmanship is excellent.
Figure 4 Qing The rising sun rises in the east
In addition to this famous jujube eyebrow pattern Sheyan, another piece of qingxu sun dongsheng pattern she yan (fig. 4) in the collection of the Anhui Museum also has a unique "eel yellow", the stone is yellowed in the blue, and it is covered with caviar patterns, which is not only praised for the texture of the stone, but also the craftsman's ingenious carving, the craftsman only carved a round of rising sun in the center of the pond, and the sea water and aquatic grass patterns are carved in the shallow relief of the pond. Simple carvings, like a rising sun on the seashore, are vivid and natural, and the texture of eel yellow is just like the glow of the rising sun. Although the age difference between the two bricks is quite large, the unique texture and texture of the stone make it impossible for us to ignore.
Figure 5 Southern Song Dynasty Changfang copied the hand of the Stone
Southern Song Dynasty Changfang scribe Sheyan (Figure 5), excavated in 1952 in the joint tomb of Zhu Xiyan and his wife in Xiuning County, is 19.3 cm long, 8.4 mm wide and 3.3 cm high. The stone is bluish-black and rectangular. There is a narrow frame at the end of the head and on both sides, the head is narrow and the tail is wide, the surface is wide and the bottom is narrow, and the side of the stone is adducted from top to bottom, and the hand is ladder-shaped. The brick surface is flat, the Yantang and Yanchi are connected into one, and the Yanchi is slope-like and gradually deepens. Anhui Museum collection of Song Dynasty Sheyan has 3 pieces excavated from the chronicle tomb, the chronology and historical background is clear, especially precious, one is the Northern Song Dynasty rectangular Sheyan excavated from the tomb of the Couple in the eastern suburbs of Hefei in 1973, and the other two are from the tomb of Zhu Xiyan and his wife, this rectangular scribe is buried in a clear age, when it is the tomb owner's birth year, in addition to a round three-legged Sheyan, which is also a representative work of the round Yan in the period. Song Dynasty scribe Yan evolved from the Tang Dynasty Ji-shaped Yan, rectangular scribe Yan is the mainstream of Song Yan, scribe Hand Yan as a whole without decoration, simple and generous, stable and elegant.
Article source: "Collector" 201910 issue of "Fine as Jade Pure Naturalization - Anhui Museum Collection of Sheyan Appreciation"
Author: Wang Yuqian