In the history of Chinese art, Zhao Zhiqian is a figure that cannot be bypassed. This all-round artist and scholar who has made achievements in calligraphy and painting in the Qing Dynasty, as well as in classics, history, lexicography, and epigraphy, has attracted much attention from the art and academic circles. The Shanghai Library released the news to the outside world, which lasted two years, and for the first time systematically identified the collection of Zhao Zhiqian Ruler, and sorted out 87 authentic works totaling 161 pieces of paper (including famous thorns), which were collected into the book "Zhao Zhiqian Ruler". The book has been published by Xiling Printing Press and was officially released today.
According to Dai Jiamiao, an expert in Zhao Zhiqian's research field, these rulers record various details of Zhao Zhiqian's life, and provide detailed information and new perspectives for studying his talents and achievements in art and literature, understanding the joys, sorrows, joys, and bittersweets in his life. Among them, To Bao Kang, Tang Renshou, Zong Yuanhan, Ni Daiming, Ouyang Wenqing, etc., are the first to find that there are letters exchanged with Zhao Zhiqian, which can make up for his life and travel, and has high academic and artistic value.
"Private correspondence best reflects the author's true thoughts. The ruler published this time shows the unknown aspect of Zhao Zhiqian's life. Dai Jiamiao gave an example, Zhao Zhiqian, Jiang Xiang, and Ding Wenwei were all known as Jiangsu and Zhejiang with Jinshi calligraphy and painting, and they gathered in Wenzhou, sang poetry, had close contacts, and were called brothers, when they were called "Three Uncles of Dong'ou", which was passed down as a good story. In his letter to Jiang Xiang, Zhao Zhiqian advised Jiang Xiang to see everything openly, to "liberate" and "not to worry about it from time to time.", revealing his sincerity and wit between the lines, and also showing Zhao Zhiqian's stirring talent in the years of exile.
Zhao Zhiqian has been running around all his life and has a distinct personality. Zhang Mingke's "Han Song Ge Talks About Art Trivia" recorded: "It is difficult for people to talk about uncles who are full of spirit, but in fact, when they meet those who are in the name of reality, they are also humble and connected." Not only that, but he also took good care of his family, planned everything, took care of everything, and could be regarded as a hard work. For example, in February of the fifth year of Tongzhi (1866), Zhao Zhiqian went to Taizhou to find Chen Baoshan to plan and raise funds. Chen introduced him to Ling Sun Xi of Huangyan County and arranged for a teaching position. He wrote in more detail in his letter to his second brother:
On the eighteenth day, the younger brother set off from artemisia dam, and it rained heavily all the way, and he was overwhelmed by his suffering. After arriving at the Taizhou capital, it rained heavily and there was no boat, delayed for two days, and bargained for the boat at a heavy price, starting to Huangyan. The body is still good, but the luggage is wet and bad. The Wing Academy was thirty miles away from the city, and the mountain chief had to go to the other side, and could not concurrently manage the affairs of the county, so that he could repair three hundred, and the fire was eaten, and it seemed that there could not be much surplus. Zi Yu originally wanted to keep his brother in the office, and the gentleman of the place used the word of the academy as a word, and could not shirk it. Now stay here, After the trial of Yan County, that is, go to the museum... The situation here has become a bitter shortage since the money and grain were shortened. Signed in the collection, the three friends have no bundle repair, the foreign regulations are bundle repair, Zhu Mo is the accounting room, no more than the former Yongjia ten thousand ...
After seven months in Huangyan, Zhao Zhiqian returned to Shaoxing at the end of September to handle family affairs. At the beginning of November, I went to Huangyan again, and returned to Shao at the end of the year. For about eight months before and after the guest residence in Huangyan, although the remuneration was accumulated, it was still only for the rest of the day, which was not satisfactory. Fortunately, Chen Baoshan, Sun Xi, and Ji Zizhen waited for Zhao Zhiqian quite generously, and arranged many calligraphy and painting socialization for him, and the pen was also rich, and there are many works in the "Collection of Zhao Zhiqian's Ming Zhi" that he made when he was in Huangyan, which can be corroborated.
Zhao Zhiqian was not only an outstanding calligrapher and painter and seal engraver with all-round cultivation and pioneering merits, but also a scholar who devoted his life to writing, and had achievements in classics, historiography, lexicography, and epigraphy.
For the unfinished writings, posterity can only obtain information from his letters to friends, such as mentioned in the "Zhang'an Miscellaneous": "Yu Yu has the ambition to continue the "Compilation of The Classics of the Scriptures", and has been running around for many years without time, and gu has his purpose to prepare for the future." In the letter to Jiang Xiang, he wrote: "The "Supplementary Visit to the Monument" and the "Record of the Bronze Buddha" are all written, and there should be a brush copy in the autumn of tomorrow." "At present, the whereabouts of the manuscript of the "Record of the Bronze Buddha" are unknown, and I am afraid that it has been lost. In a letter to Wei Xizeng, he said: "Brother used to write two kinds of "Letter of Seeing Intentions" and "Weighing and Lifting General Interpretation", but he could no longer do it recently, and he deeply regretted that he was humble at that time... "The Compilation and Publication of Jin Shi Cui" was mistaken, and my brother had more than ten paper manuscripts in the past. However, it is not easy to do, and it will be all the essence of the Wang clan. The fragments of the "General Interpretation of The Title of Juju" are now in the Shanghai Library, while the second drafts of the "Book of Seeing Intentions" and the "Compilation and Publication error of the Golden Stone Collection" have not been seen. In a letter to Sun Xi, he said: "Humble writing "Speaking of The Book", Shandong friends have the wish to be engravers, Nai has no time to write, in the future or send printed copies to read also. In a letter to Pan Zuyin, Yun said: "In the future, we should devote ourselves to writing the "Tibetan Secretary" also." "The manuscripts of the "Book of The Book" have not been seen.
In addition to the documentary value, the batch of rulers treasured by the Shanghai Library also has very important research value in the art of calligraphy.
According to Dai Jiamiao's research, the evolution of Zhao Zhiqian's calligraphy can be roughly divided into three stages: one from the beginning of the young study of books to the third year of Tongzhi (1864), two from the fourth year of Tongzhi (1865) to the eleventh year of Tongzhi (1872), and three from the twelfth year of Tongzhi (1873) to the tenth year of Guangxu (1884). At present, I have seen Zhao Zhiqian's earlier handwriting, such as the "Wolong Mountain Song of Supplementing Pine" collected by the Hangzhou Museum, which is in and out of the Tang Dynasty Duan Kai, and the traces of the first characters are revealed.
From the Xianfeng Decade (1860) to the first year of Tongzhi (1862), the taste of the character became heavier and heavier, and the shadow of He Shaoji was seen. Although he wrote to Wei Xizeng in the ninth year of Tongzhi (1870): "Mr. He Zizhen came to Hangzhou and met several times. The old generations are flowing, everything is justified, it is really out of reach. The brothers do not discuss books with them, so they are very compatible with each other. If you talk about this matter, it will lead to great controversy, and it will not be interesting. ”
This passage seems to reveal a taste that contradicts He Shaoji's opinion, and in fact contains two meanings: First, in the ninth year of Tongzhi (1870), his calligraphy had changed from "Qidi" to "Wei Mian" and was struggling to change; second, He Shaoji's pen had special means, using the "return wrist method" to pursue the ups and downs of the press, the so-called "virtual spirit". Zhao Zhiqian's pursuit is mainly based on plain strokes, which is very different from He's. Although there is one source, and the tributaries are different, one is entered by the pen of the seal book, and the other is used by the pen of the lishu. Therefore, "there will be great controversy and then there will be a big dispute."
In fact, Zhao Zhiqian's "Wei Mian at the bottom" style of writing is inseparable from the influence of He Shaoji and the style of writing in that era. There is a Qing dynasty, and the style of Xi Yanshu runs through the whole process. The reason is that The character and calligraphy style of Yan Zhenqing are in line with the needs of qing dynasty scholars, and the "seal qi" contained in his calligraphy is also the bridge connecting epigraphy and theology after the rise of epigraphy in the middle and late Qing Dynasty. Like the letter to Jiang Xiang in this book, it is the embodiment of the style of writing in this period.
In the first year of Tongzhi (1862), Zhao Zhiqian entered Beijing from Wen to take the examination, although he tried but did not sell, but in Beijing he became acquainted with Shen Shuyong, Wen Yuanchang, Liu Xihai, Liu Quanfu, Wang Yirong, and a number of new friends in the field of jinshi scholars, plus old friends Hu Shu and Wei Xizeng, who exchanged jinshi day and night, and through the eyes of countless rubbings through the ages, he began to compile two books: "Records of The Six Dynasties And Other Characters" and "Supplementing the Records of Huanyu's Visits". In the process, Zhao Zhiqian's writing style gradually shifted from the Book of Qi to the North Monument. Among them, the traces taken from Deng Shiru and Bao Shichen are more obvious, which can be verified from the following letters from him to Wei Xizeng:
At this time, I realized that I had written my own book with five words of serious illness, that is, I was not clean. If this disease is removed, then there are those who cannot be reached by Deng and Bao Zhujun, and there are those who do not know their own homes. (Tongzhi 3rd spring)
The wonders of the book are exhausted by the mountain people. Outside of the book, the magic is endless, and the mountain people have not yet had it. Mr. An Wu Bao, a disciple of the Mountain People, who has already obtained from the book outside the book, is no longer as good as the Mountain Man. Learning is not specialized, refined and specialized, the intention is not exhausted, the limits of heaven are also, everything is the same. (Tongzhi 3rd year in February)
Eight points have entered the territory, that is, to write more insightfully. (Tongzhi 3rd summer)
The above quotation shows that Zhao Zhiqian worked Deng and Bao calligraphy, and took Ershi calligraphy as his goal of transcendence. Like his inscription "Fragments of the Completed Baishan People's Book Sima Wen Gongjia Training", the style of writing is the representative of these years, and the Luoyang Museum has his zhijiang xiangshu zhao ertong is also a writing of the same period, which can be compared. This time, the "Codex of Zhang Zhongmu" is very close to the "Six Dynasties BiziJi" and the "Supplementary Huanyu Visiting Monument", and the difference between these three handwritings and the style of inscriptions and rulers is precisely the difference between the "Charter Book" and the "Xingyi Book".
In the fourth year of Tongzhi (1865), Zhao Zhiqian's writing style underwent a relatively large change. The first is the aesthetic changes brought about by the reading of monuments, and the other is the perception of art brought about by the bitterness of life. In a letter to Hu Peishi, he said: "The younger brother has been reading "Yizhou Shuangyi" for five years, and the more he thinks about it, the more he is not. Since coming here, I have seen the stele written by Zheng Shubo, and I have realized the scroll. See Zhang Wanlin's book, the beginning of the enlightenment turn. See more than a hundred kinds of true deeds of Deng Shanren, and begin to understand the setbacks. However, he always did not understand the four words of 'Dragon Leaping Tiger Lying', and Yan Yanxianglai, looking at his writing, is the Great Enlightenment of the Horizontal Folds and Waves. Yan Shi has been studying this for thirty years, and his skills are very secret, although his brother stole it for a moment, and the suspicion suddenly entered, but at present, the families do not have much to give. At this point, the book is in the pavilion, and the brothers and others are no longer able to serve, so they may as well do their own thing. In the seventh year of Tongzhi (1868), his letter to Sun Xi also said that "the brothers were originally Bao and Zhang, and the heart was chased by Zheng Wengong, and the first Han after that."
According to his own words, the calligraphy of Zheng Wengong of the Northern Wei Dynasty and yan Yanxiang of the time was a direct external cause of the changes in his writing style during this period. At present, the works he wrote for Sun Xi, as well as the books he wrote to Xu Zeng, Zong Yuanhan, Hu Shu and others in this collection, it is obvious that Zhao Zhiqian started with "curly edges", paid attention to embellishment at the turning points, and explained very deliberately, while the glyphs were long and did not take off deng shi like a posture. This style of writing remained until the tenth year of Tongzhi (1871) until he went to Jiangxi.
Zhao Zhiqian went through countless hardships and finally waited for the opportunity to go to Jiangxi. However, the environment did not become favorable to the art, but the official field, the hardships of life, and the pain of the body made him seal the sword, and did not see his discovery and achievements on the golden stone. Although the calligraphers and painters came one after another, he no longer had the arrogance and pride of the past in his heart, and was only regarded as a means of making a living. Because of this, his calligraphy became more somber during this period, adding "no scruples" and only writing my heart. The style of his book has changed from slender to flat and wide during the Tongzhi period, especially his ruler, full of paper mottled, no longer pay attention to dot painting and turning like in the past, but a scene of crying while writing letters, and posterity can't help but sympathize with three points when reading it. This book is exemplified by the letters to friends and friends and family letters in Jiangxi.
"Liu Xizai's "Outline of Art and Book" Yun: 'The bookmaker, such as also, such as his learning, such as his talent, such as his zhi, in short, just like his person'. Reading all the letters in this book in this way is the most appropriate. Dai Jiamiao said.
Author: Li Ting
Editor: Zhou Minxian