First, the emergence of seal script.
Seal script is the earliest font in China. According to the evolution of Chinese characters, from Oracle Bone Inscriptions, Wen Shu, Zhong Dingwen, Cao Chuan, etc. Belongs to the "big seal" system; , Han printing, Tang printing, etc. It also belongs to the "small seal" system; Shi Guwen's graphics are similar to inscriptions, and also belong to "seal script". But according to modern research, it refers to the stone carvings of Qin State. It can be said that it is a typical figure of the origin of Xiao Zhuan.
The big seal is not easy to identify, and it is generally called "ancient seal"; After Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, Prime Minister Lisi was responsible for simplifying the norms, so it was also called "Si Chuan". According to The Times, this is A Qin's play, also known as Qin Zhuan. This font is easier to identify than the big seal script.
Second, the characteristics of seal script
The decorative patterns of seal script are very vivid and have pleasing appreciation value in art. After thousands of years, calligraphy seal cutting enthusiasts are still tirelessly copying; Scholars and archaeologists have also written a lot of textual research articles for this purpose; Modern calligraphy seal cutting exhibition also has a place for seal cutting, which is an ancient calligraphy style. All these show that although it has no practical value, from the perspective of calligraphy, it is still loved by ordinary people.
The characteristics of seal script also change with the times. Oracle Bone Inscriptions is tall and thin, with many straight lines. This is because the tool used at that time was a knife. Most of the essays are balanced left and right, with "less images and more ideas" (Wang Guowei); From the Zhou Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, "Zhong Dingwen" changed many times until it evolved into "Biography". Generally speaking, most of them are not sharp, mainly round pens, and the strokes are similar in thickness. Shi Guwen and Qin Zhuan, on the other hand, have smooth strokes and are more neat than Da Zhuan.
Third, the brushwork and structure of seal script.
To learn seal script, we should start with seal script, because its brushwork and structure have rules to follow. Seal script is often painted vertically and horizontally, with rounded ends and the same thickness in the middle. The folding pen connected vertically and horizontally is deformed. Therefore, the seal script was changed to arc painting. There are circular arcs, square arcs and irregular arcs. Beginners of seal script should understand its origin, collection and connection. The way to pick up the pen is to go back to the front and start writing, run the pen and close it slightly. The small circle can be one or two strokes, and the big circle can be divided into three or four strokes, requiring no obvious traces at the joints.
(1) Oracle Bone Inscriptions
Oracle Bone Inscriptions was written on tortoise shells in Shang Dynasty and even in the early Zhou Dynasty. Because its content is mostly the words of royal divination, it is also called "Oracle". Oracle Bone Inscriptions was unearthed in Xiaotun Village, the site of Yin Shang Dynasty in the suburb of Anyang, Henan Province, so it is also called "Yin Ruins" and "Yin Qi".
According to records, Yin Ruins, centered on Xiaotun on the south bank of Huanshui, was the capital of the Yin and Shang Dynasties. After the demise of Shang Dynasty, these Oracle Bone Inscriptions were buried underground and could not be published. Thousands of years later, local farmers accidentally discovered that ancient bones were sold as "keels" to pharmacies because they were not ground to treat knife wounds. On 1898, an antique dealer gave some to Wang Xiang and Meng in Tianjin for identification. They think they are precious cultural relics in ancient times, which means "ancient bamboo slips".
1899, Wang jianding, a Beijing epigraphist, identified these Oracle Bone Inscriptions and found that they were written in Shang dynasty. This discovery shocked the archaeological community. Later, archaeologists such as Liu E, Sun Yirang, Luo Zhenyu and Wang Guowei made a systematic study on Oracle bone inscriptions on the basis of collecting and sorting out a large number of Oracle bones, and wrote many accounts and monographs. Since then, Oracle Bone Inscriptions, another new research field in China's modern academic history, has flourished. Its discovery not only provides valuable information for studying the history of Shang Dynasty in China and the ancient history of human society as a whole, but also attracts great attention from scholars all over the world and becomes an independent international discipline. At the same time, it also had a far-reaching impact on the study of China's calligraphy history and calligraphy creation.
Judging from the150,000 objects unearthed from Oracle bones with more than 5,000 words, they are figures with a certain scale and level after a considerable period of development. Most of the Chinese characters in this period have conformed to the theory of "Six Books" (such as pictographic, knowing and phonological), and the grammar is similar to that of later generations. From the perspective of calligraphy, Oracle Bone Inscriptions's font styles are different in different periods, but the overall writing style is natural. Because it is lettering, the strokes are simple and simple, the font is simple and naive, the structure is uneven and the composition is natural. It not only shows the ancient ancestors' aesthetic consciousness of pursuing freedom, interest and beauty in writing, but also understands the brushwork of seal script and the differences caused by different carriers, which will inspire and draw lessons from later calligraphy creation.