Appreciate the calligraphy works of regular script and official script;
Lishu calligraphy works 1
Admonishment calligraphy works ii
Admonishment calligraphy works 3
Official script in the transitional period of calligraphy;
China's Chinese calligraphy has a long history of several thousand years, and has quite superb artistic achievements. From ancient times to the present, the changes of calligraphy style are rich and colorful, which can be roughly divided into: seal script (including big seal script and small seal script), official script and regular script (also called original script, including Weibei and Tang stele). ), running script, cursive script (including Cao Zhang, Jin Cao and Crazy Grass). Among these five languages, seal script, official script and regular script are bred, transformed and gradually formed with the changes of the times.
Official script is the main style of calligraphy in Han Dynasty. The appearance of official script can be traced back to the Warring States period. According to previous records, this kind of vulgar character was created by Cheng Miao, a prison official in Qin Dynasty. In fact, the emergence of various fonts has its social and political roots, and it is produced and developed with the development of society, not an invention of one person.
After Qin Shihuang unified China, in order to consolidate the feudal regime, establish centralization and implement unified measurement. Lishu is a seal script, and the Langyatai engraving and Qinshan stone carving preserved to this day were the standard characters at that time. During the reign of Qin Shihuang, imperial edicts were engraved on various measuring instruments. Due to the short time of seal cutting, we can't stick to the circular strokes and strict posture of seal cutting, so we use strokes that tend to be horizontal and vertical, which is convenient for writing and seal cutting. This practice of turning a circle into a square, turning an arc into a straight line, and folding the pen at the transition without turning the seal script into a pen is indeed much faster and more convenient than the writing and cutting of seal script. It can be seen that even the imperial edicts of the ruling class at that time had to use convenient and quick calligraphy in some cases. In fact, this new style of calligraphy has long been produced and popular among the people, but it has not been recognized by the supreme ruler.
Han Dynasty was the rising period of feudal society. In the early Western Han Dynasty, the gradual recovery of agricultural economy, the development of handicrafts, the prosperity of commerce, the unification of the country and the development of local transportation all contributed to the corresponding development of writing. In this way, official script has been widely used and gradually replaced the position of seal script. According to the needs of society, official script not only becomes round and square, but also simplifies the strokes. But strictly speaking, this is not a typical official script, it should be the text in the transition period from seal script to official script.
It was not until the Eastern Han Dynasty that the official script reached a mature stage. When a new style of calligraphy comes into being, it always has an irregular and naive form at first, but in the hands of the ruling class, it is gradually replaced by a regular and neat form, because the standard fonts are always processed, sorted and standardized, which is the development law of calligraphy art, and the trend of neat strokes in official scripts, the generation of wave potential, the elevation of pointillism and the choice of decoration are all the results of this processing and development. The wave of official script came into being in the late Western Han Dynasty, which is the characteristic of official script's maturity. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, this wave-picking style reached its peak, especially the gorgeous official script on the tall stone tablet, which unfairly achieved the role of propaganda content and also played a decorative role in the tablet body. Inscription of official script in the Eastern Han Dynasty is the peak stage of Han Li.
Compared with seal script, official script has not only changed its shape (the rectangle is flattened), but also is convenient to write and much richer in calligraphy skills than seal script. The dots in the official script of the Western Han Dynasty are like children's pens. Later, it gradually got better, and the pen was upright. When starting, stopping, waving, etc. It can also brush, push, bet or float. Therefore, the skill of using a pen in the official script in the Eastern Han Dynasty is much more complicated and rich than the lines in the seal script. This is a new development of calligraphy art.
In the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was popular to erect steles and carve stones, some to praise the ruling class, some to record worship superstitions, some to record the deeds of the dead, and some to spread classic books issued by the ruling class. Some are carved on stone tablets, some on cliffs and some on buildings. Stone carvings are easier to preserve than other materials, so the stone inscriptions handed down today are rich in written materials, collectively referred to as inscriptions.
There are about 100 or 200 inscriptions in the Han Dynasty. Some original stones no longer exist, only rubbings are left; Some monuments have been damaged, and only some handwriting still exists. Among them, 100 is relatively complete. There are a large number of inscriptions in the Eastern Han Dynasty with different styles and wonderful brushwork, which are the treasure house of Han Li's calligraphy.
During the Jin and Tang Dynasties, although regular script was very popular, official script was still not abolished. Until today, the application of official script is more extensive, precisely because the structure and brushwork of official script are very diverse, with diversity and artistry.