He Zhen
He Zhen (1522～1604), also known as Zhuchen, Changqing, and Xueyu. A native of Wuyuan, Huizhou, he lives in Nanjing.
Chinese name: He Zhen
Alias: courtesy name Zhuchen, Changqing, nickname Xueyu
Nationality: Chinese
Ethnicity: Han
Birthplace: Wuyuan, Huizhou
Date of birth: 1522
Date of death: 1604
Occupation: Studying ancient customs, Intensive study of six books
Main achievements: 4 volumes of "Xueyu Seal Pu"
Representative works: "Xue Gu Chapter", "Seal Selection"
Character Introduction
Study the ancient texts thoroughly, study the six books carefully, and work diligently on calligraphy, seal script and sealing. He advocated taking the gate book as the criterion and abandoning the vulgar weirdness and bad habits of fabrication and modification that appeared in the epigraphy world at that time. He is unique with Wen Peng, corrects the current shortcomings, and achieves the unification of calligraphy and knife skills. The seal cutting works are simple, fresh, vigorous and vigorous, and are famous for their fluency, elegance, elegance and simplicity. The imitation of Han, Manchu and Baiwen is fierce, upright, green, thick and vigorous, evenly spaced. People at that time praised him as "a famous player in modern times, the best in the country". Cheng Yuan collected more than 5,000 seal cutting works of He Zhen, and his son Cheng Pu selected more than 1,000 of them, and copied them into "Xueyu Seal Pu" in 4 volumes handed down to the world. He is also the author of 2 volumes of "Continuation of Ancient Studies".
Life story
Unknown date of birth, died around 1604, nicknamed Zhuchen, also known as Changqing, also known as Xueyu, a native of Wuyuan, Huizhou, a member of the He family in Dongtianyuan, Wuyuan The fourteenth generation grandson lived in Nanjing for a long time. He Zhen was a highly accomplished seal carver in the mid-Ming Dynasty. Wen Peng had a close friendship with him when he was in Nanjing, and they were both teachers and friends. Both of them advocated that seal cutting should be based on the Six Books. He Zhen once said: "I don't believe that the Six Books do not have the essence of meaning and can drive the sword as well as the pen." ". Wen and He, considering that seal cutting was extremely messy in the early Ming Dynasty, tried to change the trend of seal cutting. Just when Wen Peng discovered that lamplight stones could be used as seal materials, the material was crystal clear and facilitated engraving. Since the advent of stone seals, seal cutting became popular.
He Zhen's early seal cutting was influenced by Wen Peng, but he was not satisfied with this. At that time, it became a fashion to collect Qin and Han seals, and the collection became more and more abundant, making it more widely used. He traveled all over the frontiers and made friends with many generals. From generals to soldiers, they were all proud to get his seal. He returned to Nanjing from the frontier fortress and became famous in the southeast. After his death, his seal was worth the same as gold, which shows his influence. At that time, Li Liufang, a painter, calligrapher and seal engraver, commented on He Zhen's seal cutting works, "Each style is equipped with everything, and each has its own originality and can mark the rhyme beyond the sword and pen, which is said to be outstanding." He Zhen's seal cutting achievement lies in innovation and his ability to "follow the ancients without conforming to the ancients". He changed the style of seal cutting at that time, emerged as a new force, dominated the seal world, and had a far-reaching influence. The single-knife styles created are scattered and vigorous, and have their own style. He is the author of "Xue Gu Pian", "Yin Xuan", etc.
Posterity generations have been arguing over where Zhen Gong was and when he was born (including Han Tianheng, who is also researching). Some say he is from Wuyuan, some say he is from Xiuning, and some even say he is from She County. Today, I must once again clarify the birthplace of Duke Zhen, because my first ancestor ordered Tong Gong to serve as an official in Xiuning, and my second ancestor was born in Xiuning, and later moved his family to Wuyuan. It can be said that during this period, his ancestral home was in Xiuning and his family was in Wuyuan. The research of thirty-fifth generation grandson.