Biography of Jin Wen
There are two kinds of seal script: big seal script and small seal script. Big seal script is also called seal script. On a large scale, Zhong Dingwen, that is, inscriptions on bronze or ancient prose, also belongs to Da Zhuan. Shi Guwen is the representative of this style. Another example is Da Mao and Pan, all of whom have a good interest. His books are magnificent, unique, concise and heavy. If you play for a long time, you will find the ancient flavor in them, which is an area that can not be ignored in the study of calligraphy art.
The stone drum in Shi Guwen is a kind of drum-shaped stone engraved with inscriptions. Shi Guwen is a four-character poem describing Qin's hunting. There are ten drums of different sizes, about two feet in height and diameter, with big characters engraved in the middle. They are the oldest stone carvings in China. They are collected in the Palace Museum and are now displayed in the painting hall of the Institute. The characters carved on the stone drum are between the ancient prose and Qin Zhuan, and the structure is complex, similar to the inscriptions in the Western Zhou Dynasty, or the Great Seal or Wen Shu.
Xiao Zhuan, also known as Qin Zhuan, was best written by Li Si, the prime minister of Qin Dynasty. Mount Tai carved stones, while Langya Terrace carved stones. It is the representative work of Xiao Zhuan in Qin Dynasty, with exquisite brushwork and rigorous structure. There are also "Yishan carved stone" and "Huiji carved stone", which were destroyed early and are now copied by Song people.
These two styles have lost their Qin Zhuan style and flavor, so they can't be learned, but their glyph structures can still be used for reference.
Seal script, whether it is big seal script or small seal script, has the characteristics of pen in the middle, pen hidden front and pure round pen. The strokes are round, smooth, vigorous and straight. Please refer to "Zhong", "Round Pen", "Lift", "Turn", "Thick Short" and "Yi" for specific strokes. It is worth noting that except for the places where pens are started and collected, almost all pens are raised.
When writing the decline of seal script, we need to refer to ink, such as the seal script works of Li, Deng, Zhao, Wu, Wu Changshuo and He in the Tang Dynasty.
To learn seal script, you must first know it, and then you can write it. Therefore, we should know the knowledge of Shuowen Jiezi and Jinwen Oracle Bone Inscriptions. The specific learning process can start with Xiao Zhuan and then learn Da Zhuan. Similarly, if you want to know seal script, you must know seal script first. It would be easier to memorize the 540 radicals of Shuo Wen Jie Zi first, and then expand them gradually.
Compared with regular script and official script, the stippling form of Xiao Zhuan is relatively simple, with only direct harmony. The line thickness is also relatively uniform, and there are no ups and downs, setbacks and other changes (here refers to the small seal script of the Qin Dynasty, not the small seal script written by later calligraphers He and Imai of Japan), so some people think that seal script is simple and easy to write. This is a misunderstanding. Because the simpler it is, the harder it is to show it. Xiao Zhuan's stippling requires both rigidity and softness, roundness and straightness, simplicity and massiness, and three-dimensional sense, so it is difficult to put pen to paper, and combine illness and long stay in one painting, turning like a hairpin.
Liu Xizai said, "There is nothing better than tendons. However, tendon is influenced by its qi and its urgency. To get rid of the two diseases, the pen has its own coup. " Therefore, when you first learn to write, you might as well write slowly. When you are mature, you must gradually speed up your writing. If you use a pen too slowly, it will become an ink pig, and you can't achieve the effect of being round, straight, thick and smooth. If you hurry your pen, it will dry.
Run, or throw bones and muscles, straightforward and rhyming. That is to say, in the process of writing, the combination of lifting and pressing, the combination of rigidity and softness, the tightening of age, and the fierce fighting are in full swing, making stippling strong and masculine. If it lives long, it will be like a vine. Sun's book spectrum says that "seal seal is graceful and smooth", but Liu Xizai thinks it is "graceful and vigorous, fluent and frugal, which is acceptable. Otherwise, I am afraid it will involve painting words. " In fact, they are all astringent and awkward in the process of writing.
The following examples illustrate the pointillism of Xiao Zhuan;
The structural characteristics of Xiao Zhuan are long overall strategy, taking advantage of vertical direction, and paying attention to symmetry, uniformity and stability in internal structure. The rules and regulations are also relatively standardized and tidy.
To learn Da Zhuan, you can write Shi Guwen first. Shi Guwen's strokes are even, similar to Xiao Zhuan. With the foundation of Xiao Zhuan, it is not too difficult to write, and the brushwork is basically the same as Xiao Zhuan. Shi Guwen's best rubbings are Pioneer, Middle Potential and Aftereffect in Old Collection of Ming 'an Country.
Western Zhou Dynasty bronze inscription. In ancient times, "bronze" was called "auspicious gold", so bronze inscriptions, such as, big, wall plate, plate, wool and plate, are excellent models.
The basic principle of learning to write inscriptions is the same as biographies. However, there are several points to be noted: although the bronze inscriptions in the Western Zhou Dynasty are the same as those in Xiao Zhuan, the strokes of Xiao Zhuan are basically the same in thickness, but the bronze inscriptions occasionally have fat pens. In addition, the structure of inscriptions on bronze inscriptions is not as regular and symmetrical as that of Xiao Zhuan, and most of them are scattered and interesting. Its composition is also more complicated than Xiao Zhuan's, with many changes in size, length, density, exhibition and promotion, gathering and dispersion.
In addition, it must be noted that it is possible to write rubbings temporarily because of the long time and different styles of inscriptions on bronze inscriptions, and even each work has its own calligraphy characteristics in each period. If you learn to write inscriptions from the posts in Shuo Wen Jie Zi Ji, it is not only difficult to master their style characteristics, but also possible that A is written in the early Western Zhou Dynasty, B is written in the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and C is written in the Western Zhou Dynasty. It is also possible to put together several glyphs that are separated by hundreds of years and should not appear at the same time, and make a joke on philology.