For most seal cutting enthusiasts, as well as calligraphy and painting enthusiasts, they often have a lot of troubles about what constitutes a good work and what is good about it. The aesthetic orientation, especially for us today, is difficult to explain clearly. Therefore, when we introduce seal cutting, we also review the aesthetic orientation of seal cutting in the past dynasties and the related background of the emergence of this aesthetic orientation. We hope it can be helpful to everyone. helped.
As for the edge inscriptions, the edge inscriptions of the Zhejiang school of seal cutting we introduce here are indeed unique and rarely known. It was also the Zhejiang School that began to pay attention to the edge mark. Later, more seal carvers focused their attention on the mark. Especially by the time of Zhao Zhiqian and Wu Changshuo, the mark had already raised the mark of seal cutting to a status even higher than that of the seal. .
In the thinking activity of seal cutting creation, there should be a basic aesthetic orientation. These creative thinking activities include the process of initiating and unfolding creative thinking such as sensing objects, being interested, thinking, contemplating, etc. The richness of the margins provides us with first-hand research information to understand the author's creative thinking activities. If the margin still only records time, place, purpose, etc. as before, we will have no way of knowing some of the author's thinking activities during creation.
The creation of seal cutting is often a comprehensive and complex process that starts from a kind of "feeling" and "interest", through mental thinking and contemplation, and pays attention to the creative environment and atmosphere. Its performance is often not limited by space and time, so we can still have our own insights when we see seal cutting works a hundred or thousand years later. This sense of perfection is also extremely important in the aesthetics of seal cutting. During the process of seal carving creation, the author's thoughts are running wildly, images come to him one after another, he concentrates and ponders, and he has images in his mind and can be finished with one stroke.
Let’s take a few examples of Ding Jing’s stamps to see the creative thinking activities involved (we apologize for the inability to find clear pictures of some examples).
The seal of "Wang Pengshou Jingfu Seal" created by Ding Jing is as follows:
Jingfu asked me to use this stone to engrave seals. It has been on my desk for a long time, and I accidentally made it today. It happened in an instant, just like the strong wind sweeping away the thin mist. If a knowledgeable person has not seen the stone, he should use his eyes and ears with jade seals. In the third month of Wuyin, the record of respecting the old man is written.
Ding Jing's "Xu Guanhai Seal" seal says:
I made these two seals for Xu Xiucai's longevity stone. It is like a strong wind sending light clouds. The stone was left for a long time, and it was carved during the time when the Song Dynasty people were carving it. I drank tea and played by myself. I lived up to my three-year delay. In the ninth month of the autumn of Wuyin, Ding Jingshen, the old man of Shengsao, recorded it on the left side of the inkstone forest.
From the creative process described in the two seals, we can see that the creation process of these two seals is very long. One has been "left on the desk for a long time" and the other has " Three years too late." However, the creative process of actually cutting the knife into the seal is very short. "It is done in an instant, just like a strong wind sweeping away a thin mist." This kind of overnight experience made Ding Jing feel "the joy of an angry cat choosing a stone, and a thirsty galloping into a spring." , the interest in this is not the interest of the seal style, but the interest of the author's artistic creation in the creative process. It has been accumulated for a long time and will be released quickly. From this we can see Ding Jing's full preparation in the creative process. This process is very similar to what Liu Xie said in "Wen Xin Diao Long", "Silent contemplation, thinking for thousands of years", "Thinking is wonderful, God and The mental process of "Wandering with Things". The speed of "making it happen in an instant" is the inevitable result after the creative artistic conception is fully brewed.
The side text does not mention the reason why it was not started "three years later" but "it was done in an instant". It is just that we know that many authors have creative impulses in the process of conception, often in an instant. We generally call this kind of creative impulse "xing" that can come and disappear in an instant. Being excited and excited are sudden inspirations in artistic creation. The source of this inspiration is almost indescribable in Chinese culture and art, whether poetry, calligraphy or painting. It may come from the touch and stimulation of nature, environmental atmosphere, or something other than the subject of creation. Classical aesthetics believes that interest comes from sensing objects. The emergence of inspiration in seal creation naturally has such triggering factors. Deng Shiru, a famous seal carver from a similar period, had the same feelings as Ding Jing. On the postscript of the seal "New bamboos make up the old forest", he wrote:
At the end of the autumn of Guimao, Mr. Mei Fu came to Jingkou. When I was making stone seals, the sound of wind, tide, waves, and the sound of swords rushed around the river tower together with the sound of swords. These several sounds are not found in Ouyangzi's "Ode to Autumn Sounds", and they are complemented by this stone cloud. Ancient Huan and Deng Yan Ji.
This is a record of extremely high spirits during creation.
The feeling he feels when playing the sword, and even the sound he makes when playing the sword, are integrated with the surrounding wind, tide, waves and the sound of the wind. The high concentration of the spirit can best stimulate the enthusiasm for creation and create the best. A natural work of art.
Let’s take a look at the seal of “True Water Without Fragrance” made by Ding Jing’s disciple Jiang Ren:
On the day of Jiachen Valley in the Qianlong period, the same seal as Sanzhu, Qiuhe and Si The orchid rain gathers and soaks in the clouds of "Yan Paradise", drinking wine till dawn, and then drunkenly. Returning home late the next time, I found Weng Liuhu's book fan in the snow. It snowed on the twelfth day. The old farmer said that in the more than 20 years since Xinsi, there has not been such a rapid snowfall. On the fourteenth day of the spring, the jade dragon died, and the dangerous building was arrogant. He brewed a cup again, and the seal of "True water has no fragrance" was quickly formed. I recall that fifteen years ago, at the "Yinzhuozhai" and Dong Zhitang in western Guangdong, Xu Qiuzhu, Sang Jitao and Shen Zhuang from my hometown had a cold-relieving party. I saw a lot of gold, stone, Yi tripods and seal carvings from various families. After making friends with Huang Xiaosong, I got a glimpse of Mr. Songshi’s pillow secrets. Sighing inkstone Lin Ding's seal is as outstanding as Huanhua's poems and Changli's pen, which is incredible. When he was successful, he surpassed the Qin and Han Dynasties, and Gui, Li, and Wen could not compare with them. This work is imitated by a layman's "Several Sail Terrace", which was sold directly to the Zha family, and the original copy was collected by Zhizhang in the late period. Jin Yun is addicted to lay people's seals. He has spiritual understanding and determination, and apart from the sour and salty bonds, he is not good enough for outsiders. He is clumsy and clumsy for Wei Gong, so he is especially looking forward to it. Jiang Ren.
This is Jiang Shantang’s representative masterpiece, which clearly records the accumulation of emotions, that is, the time of contemplating ideas for several days, from drinking with friends on Dadan in Yantang, through Xuegui, Shufan, Snow Ji, appreciating the snow to "brewing a cup again", thus leading to the completion of printing quickly, and the mood is still in excitement, and you can't stop. That is to say, there is a process of improvisation in the creative process, which also reflects the author's creative mentality. "Whatever happens when you encounter it, and you understand it leisurely, it becomes a natural interest."
Without the description of the stamp, we would have no way of understanding Ding Jing's creative process and feelings. Therefore, the notes and commentaries in the side chapters give us first-hand information to understand the author's creative process. The Zhejiang School's emphasis on identification not only enriches the art of seal cutting artistically, but also allows us to obtain more and more intuitive descriptions of the author's creative process.