Under this background, Zhao Mengfu, Song Taizong, who entered the Yuan Dynasty, wisely chose to do nothing politically, restore tradition culturally and vigorously advocate retro. In terms of calligraphy, although the calligraphy in the Northern Song Dynasty advocated the style of calligraphy in the Jin and Tang Dynasties, it became a fashion to imitate contemporary famous artists after crossing the south. Although Song Gaozong had the idea of going back to Wei and Jin Dynasties, he failed to reverse the situation, but the undercurrent of retro is hidden. At the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhao Mengfu lost no time in putting forward the idea of retro art, which became the mainstream of calligraphy in the Yuan Dynasty.
The restoration of calligraphy in Yuan Dynasty is comprehensive, and all kinds of calligraphy styles have been restored to varying degrees, infiltrated with new spiritual connotation and endowed with new content and value. Compared with the previous generation, although Yuan Dynasty calligraphy was more focused on running script, other calligraphy styles such as regular script, official script, Cao Zhang and seal script were also valued and developed by calligraphers, especially the declining seal script, which was inherited and developed under the call of Zhao Mengfu's retro thought. Judging from a large number of works handed down from the Yuan Dynasty, the efforts of calligraphers in the Yuan Dynasty to inherit and carry forward the tradition of seal script are fruitful.
First, the basis of the existence and development of seal script in Yuan Dynasty
After the Tang Dynasty, there were fewer calligraphers interested in seal script. For more than 370 years from the end of Tang Dynasty to the beginning of Yuan Dynasty, only Xu Xuan, Guo Zhongshu, Dang and others were famous for their seal characters. I'm afraid the reason is that seal script was very old and serious in the eyes of people at that time, so we can't give full play to our personality at will. Moreover, Song people's calligraphy advocates interest, which is easily reflected in the capricious cursive script.
In the Song Dynasty, although few people practiced the font of seal script, it was very popular to collect stone inscriptions, ancient seal scripts and even stone antiques. During this period, a large number of works on ancient Chinese characters appeared, such as Ouyang Xiu's Notes on Ancient Books, Zhao Mingcheng's Records of Scholars, Wang's Notes on Zhong Ding, Xue Shanggong's Notes on Yi Instruments in Zhong Ding in Past Dynasties, and Xiaotang's Notes on Ancient Books, which had a far-reaching impact on later generations. This also shows that the study of ancient Chinese characters is still very important in the Song Dynasty.
(1) The overall return of calligraphy to classicism provided a social background for the development of seal script in Yuan Dynasty. The development of seal script in Yuan Dynasty first benefited from the trend of calligraphy thought of restoring ancient ways, advocating ancient laws and reorganizing ancient books. The appearance of Zhao Mengfu made a major turning point in the calligraphy style of Yuan Dynasty. The retro trend of learning from Jin people occupied the whole court and became an important change in the history of calligraphy. Because of his artistic aesthetic position of worshiping the past, Zhao Mengfu advocated that "the past is the past, and nothing can be taken away from the present." (2) His calligraphy can be traced back to the pre-Qin and Han Dynasties, involving calligraphy, official script, seal script, brush, Cao Zhang and modern script, which affected the full development of various calligraphy styles in Yuan Dynasty, and many famous seal writers appeared, forming a period that can't be ignored in the history of calligraphy, and further affected the revival of seal script in Qing Dynasty.
(2) The in-depth study of seal script provided academic guarantee for the development of seal script in Yuan Dynasty. The study of seal script in Yuan Dynasty inherited the fine tradition of Song people and developed. Like contemporary calligraphy thought, retro is still its only direction. Important works on seal cutting in Yuan Dynasty include Zhao Mengfu's Preface to the History of Seal Cutting, Liu Shutong and Shu Yun, Wu's Xuegu Bian, Stone Carving Yun, Zhou's Liu Shu Zheng Yu and Talking about Wen Zi Yuan, Yi Shu Dian Hua Bian Ji and Wu Rui's Hanshu. Most of the important seal writers in Yuan Dynasty had corresponding works of ancient characters, so the development of seal characters in Yuan Dynasty and the development of ancient characters at that time promoted and influenced each other, which brought the creation of seal characters in Yuan Dynasty into the track of literati calligraphy.
(3) The importance of ancient Chinese characters in calligraphy education in Yuan Dynasty provided a talent base for the development of seal script in Yuan Dynasty. Calligraphy education in Yuan Dynasty can be divided into official, private and family teaching forms. The government-run schools in Yuan Dynasty were relatively complete. Although there is no systematic requirement for calligraphy in schools with Confucian education as the mainstay, calligraphy education, as a skill that readers must master, has never been ignored, and ancient Chinese characters are also a compulsory course for students. The History of the Yuan Dynasty states: "In the fifth year of Emperor Zong's reign, most schools of thought introduced Zhang Qinshan and Zhang Wei from Anxi Road to Jiangsu and Zhejiang ..." (3) Being able to write big characters and proficient in seal script strokes, he was regarded as "a genius who enlightened and surpassed his son" and was recommended to study in Guo Zi School. It can be seen that Yuan people attached importance to seal script, which naturally increased other students' interest in learning seal script.
In the Yuan Dynasty, some adherents of the Southern Song Dynasty were unwilling to be officials, and often set up private schools to teach academic ideas. Although these private schools mainly teach Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism, they all attach more importance to calligraphy. Boshan College in Neixiang, Henan, etc. They are all headed by some scholars with profound calligraphy attainments. Wu, in particular, lived in seclusion, set up a private school, taught seal cutting methods, and compiled thirty-five strokes and other teaching materials to teach seal cutting and seal script. Under his door, famous seal writers such as Zhao and Zhao appeared, which became the main force of the revival of seal cutting in Yuan Dynasty. In addition, calligraphy teaching is also very common in families. For example, under the guidance of Zhao Mengfu, his son Zhao Yong and his grandnephew Zhao Su were both famous for their seal characters. The calligraphy education of the imperial court directly educated the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty. Among the calligraphers working in Kuizhangge, Xuanwenge and Hanlin Academy, such as Zhao Mengfu, Yuji and Zhou, they are all masters of seal script, which is of great significance to promoting the development of seal script in Yuan Dynasty.
(4) Calligraphers are good at various styles, which provides opportunities for the development of seal script in Yuan Dynasty. Calligraphers of all ages are good at many things. The history of Yuan Dynasty, especially Zhao Mengfu, said: "Seal, brush, secretary, official, truth and cursive script are the best in ancient and modern times, so the title of the book is the world." (4) Others, such as, "Truth, action, grass and seal all have statutes, and Gu Li is the first in the contemporary era." ⑤ Qian Liangyou: "Seal, official, truth, action and grass are all excellent." ⑥ Yu He "seal, calligraphy, walking and grass are wonderful." ⑦ Zhou: "Especially India, official, truth and grass were very famous at that time." ⑧ Zhang Fan "can be a big seal, an official, an action, a model and full of vigor." ⑨ Li Zhi's "You Shan Shu" is exquisite from the aspects of printing, official, grass and truth. ⑩ Qian Kui: "Only elegance, truth, grass, seal and official do not overstep the rules." ⑾ Chen Yi once said: "Truth, grass, seal and officials all know the ambition of Xi, and each has its own method." ⑿ Zhao Yong's "works are true, line, grass and seal." [13] Chen You "is good at learning from the past, and truth, grass, seals and officials have laws." [14] Miao Zhen calligraphers who are good at seal cutting, official script, original works and running script ⒂ are good at all kinds of things, so naturally they have more opportunities to show themselves, especially literati calligraphers, who are good at writing ancient Chinese characters, which is not only a manifestation of their respect for ancient times, but also an important factor for them to gain social attention.
(5) The rise of literati seal cutting provided a new place for the development of seal script in Yuan Dynasty. According to the handed down materials, although only Wang Mian and Zhu Gui were able to make their own seals, there were not a few literati who made their own seals, especially Zhao Mengfu and Wu Qiuyan. They actively engaged in seal cutting activities, promoted the establishment of Yuan Zhuwen and imitation Chinese seals, and completed the basic project of seal cutting for literati. Other calligraphers who are good at seal script also enjoy it. For example, he wrote "Museum Treasure" and "Calendar Room" for the museum seal, and Zhou wrote "Museum Treasure" for the museum seal. They wrote more seals for their own use, such as the seals used by Wu Rui, that is, all from their own seals.
To sum up, we can know that seal script was valued by scholars in the Yuan Dynasty, and their artistic practice promoted the formation and prosperity of all aspects of calligraphy in the Yuan Dynasty.