Before, we mentioned four conditions for the rise of seal cutting in the middle and late Ming Dynasty: printed materials, printed people, printed spectrum and printed theory. Needless to say, printing materials and people, Wen Peng's contribution is the most important, as well as printing spectrum, which is said to be Gu Congde's Collection of Ancient Printing Spectrum. Many early prints in China were woodcut, mostly jujube trees and pear trees, and ancient prints belong to this category. This kind of printing spectrum, copying the ancient seal onto the jujube-pear woodcut, will inevitably be distorted, and the seal engraver is unfamiliar with seal engraving, so the printing spectrum will lose its form, and even its shape is difficult to distinguish, which often makes seal engraving experts feel depressed. Therefore, although the publication of Ji Gu Pu Yin set off a trend of imitating China's seals, many of them were criticized by some seal engravers.
Gan Yun deeply felt that the woodcut "Ji Gu Pu Yin" did not exist, so the imitator turned it over and folded it, and the ancient law was destroyed. Therefore, according to the printed version of Qin and Han Dynasties, it was copied with copper and jade, and it took seven years to be engraved in the year of Shen Bing in Wanli (AD 1596). The Seal Collection named Ji Gu Andrew has 67 entries, which is actually a collection of predecessors' theories and a definition and interpretation of seal art terms after Gan Min's own textual research. After the rise of seal cutting in Ming dynasty, seal cutting was scientifically classified and expounded on the basis of practice, which was concise and standardized in theory, so it spread widely and had far-reaching influence.
There is also an interesting little story about seal collection. Many mercenary booksellers like to collect seals. Under the propaganda, it was tampered with twice. It belonged to Wen Peng. It is precisely because of these reasons that for a long time, even later, many modern masters still classified the seal collection as Wen Peng's in their own prints.
Despite this episode, The Hai Yin Collection is still regarded as an overall plan of Indian studies. The combination of induction and deep practical foundation made the terminology of Indian studies standardized and sorted out, which provided practical guidance for those who were interested in Indian studies at that time.
When introducing Zhao Huanguang, we mentioned that when seal cutting just rose in Ming Dynasty, there were two schools of renewal and retro. There is no difference between the two schools, and both have made indelible contributions to the development of seal cutting in later generations. The great efforts of the retro school in copying the seals of the Qin and Han Dynasties enabled the Indian people at that time to see the face of the seals of the Qin and Han Dynasties more truly and accurately, and made special contributions to the popularization and standardization of seal cutting.
We will introduce Gan Yang's Collection Seal in detail and systematically when we have the opportunity.
We still know that his seal passed through the seal handed down from generation to generation by Ganyun.
Name table printing:
Seal: Zhu Yunming seal
Seal size: 21mm× 21mm.
The four-character name is printed in white, and the printed words are arranged counterclockwise from the word "Zhu" in the upper right corner. This character arrangement is also unique to seal cutting. Zhu Yunming, a famous calligrapher in Ming Dynasty, is also called the four great talents in Wuzhong with Tang Bohu, Xu Zhenqing and Wen Zhiming. On the one hand, the seal cutting of Zhu Zhishan's name shows the reputation of Gan Yun in Wuzhong seal cutting, on the other hand, it also shows the role played by Wumen in the prosperity of seal cutting at that time.
Seal: Zhu seal
Seal size: 26 mm× 26 mm
Seal: Zhu Zhiru seal
Seal size: 29mm× 29mm
The names of both sides are printed with the word Zhu. By comparing them together, we can see the difference between Zhu Wanyin, an Indian style, and Zhu Zhiru, a circular printing style. The seal cutting method of Han seal is bending, supplemented by a little roundness, flatness and richness, while the seal cutting method of jade chopsticks is more beautiful, and this style of making white seal similar to round Zhu seal is also more common.
Seal: seal in the early Jin and Yuan Dynasties
Seal size:19mm×19mm
Seal: Jin Wenhua seal
Seal size: 22mm×22mm
Four-character Zhu Wen Ming Zhang. Different from the general round Zhu seal, the seal design of these two seals is more square. Although it is not as square as the seal cutting method in China's seal, it is also different from the general beauty of round Zhu Wen. Although this round Zhu Wen style was not created by Gan Yun, it is also a model for many Zhu in later generations.
Through the comparison of two white seals and two Zhu seals, I hope everyone will have a clearer concept of various seal design styles.
Next, we will see one of Gan Yun's works handed down from generation to generation, which is a copy of the seal of Qin and Han Dynasties. The reason why Xi seal is said here is that there are many ancient seal styles in the pre-Qin period, and there are also models of Qin and Han seals.
Seal: Wang Jing Xi Zhi
Seal size: 24 mm× 24 mm
Four-character white text printing with sidebar. In the pre-Qin seal script printing, it is worth noting that the sidebar was handled, and only four paintings were made on all sides, instead of a square sidebar. This practice can be seen in the works of many seal engravers in the late Qing Dynasty. Seal cutting was very popular in Ming Dynasty. In this period, the literati's self-engraving has just emerged, and many styles have not yet been finalized, so the styles are more diverse and rich, and some are even irregular, but it is this diversity that makes seal engraving at this time more worthy of our study. Back to this seal, the vicissitudes and sense of time of the ancient seal it pursues, as well as the ingenious contrast pursued by the slightly rough and simple engraving method, have some merits. When we look at seal cutting works and see the works of many famous artists, we will see the changes in the same strain and personal understanding.
Seal: Rili
Seal size: 15mm× 15mm.
The two words are printed in white. The idiom "Xi" in the ancient seal refers to the existing sentence. There are many ancient seal characters in the pre-Qin period, which are printed with the word "Japanese official", which can be said to be the most common idiom in ancient seal characters. Composition is still through the fracture and adhesion of brush strokes and edges, forming a sense of vicissitudes and years. This beer is not easy to handle, so don't be artificial, otherwise it will be redundant.
Seals: In and out of Japan.
Seal size: 16mm× 16mm.
Four-character white printing with borders. This white print with Tian Zi border decoration is a typical Qin Dynasty style. "It's good to be in and out of Japan" has become a language seal, and it is also considered as the earliest leisure seal, which is generally a statement expressing good luck and heart. For example, "Rili" mentioned above and "Rili in and out" printed here are similar to "appropriate officials" and "appropriate behaviors".
Seal: General Wei Ming
Seal size: 32mm×32mm
Seal: General Rowen has gone to protect the army.
Seal size: 37mm× 37mm
Seal: seal after customs clearance
Seal size: 23mm× 23mm
The above three Chinese characters are the representatives of the general printing style in Chinese characters, from which we can also see Gan Min's imitation of Chinese characters. Friends who like Chinese printing and general printing can look for our previous articles.
Seal: Luoyue Mountain House
Seal size: 44mm× 44mm
Seal: Beauty Cosmetics Pavilion
Seal size: 28mm× 28mm
Seal: Sanquan Daochang
Seal size: 45mm×45mm
Seal: Lianfeng He Ling middleman
Seal size: 49mm× 49mm
Finally, Zhu brought all sides to everyone for their own appreciation. Although they are all Zhu, their styles and characteristics are different. It can also be seen that Gan Yun, as a representative of the retro school, inherited and respected the printing of Qin and Han Dynasties, but he also had his own unique understanding and did not completely copy it. After copying the ancient times, he also had his own creation.