Qin inscription:
Guqin passed down through the ages are often engraved with the name of the piano, such as "Jiuxiao Huanpei", "Spring Thunder", "Snowy Night Bell" and "Ruibin" Iron" etc. On both sides of the groove and belly of the piano, it is also common to find inscriptions (or writings) on the sides of the instrument such as the emperor's reign and year when the instrument was made, the name of the instrument's maker, his place of origin, and the place where it was made. This provides convenience for identifying and verifying the age of the guqin and the development of its production technology. In addition, you can also see the calligraphy of one or two lines of poetry by a famous ancient writer on the bottom of the piano, or a neat preface in small regular script, or a seal.
Example:
1. Jiuxiao Huanpei (Fuxi style)
On the top of the pool on the back of the instrument are engraved with the four characters "Jiuxiao Huanpei" in seal script, and below the pool are engraved with seal script "Including" is a big seal, on the right side of the pond is engraved "Super traces of the sky, Xiaoyao Tai Chi. Ting Jian" in running script, and on the left side is engraved in running script "Lingran Xi Taikoo, Shimengzhai treasure" and "Shimengzhai seal" .
The top of the foot of the piano is engraved with 23 characters in regular script: "The spring breeze is soft and the sound is ringing. The new Yan language is hanging down the curtain, the old dragon chants in the blue sea. The story of Su Shi". The oval seal of "Three Tang Dynasty Qin Pavilion" is engraved on the top of Feng Marsh, and the square seal of "Chu Garden Hidden Qin" is engraved on the bottom. On the left side of the abdomen, there are 7 characters inscribed in regular script "Kaiyuan Guichou in the third year of Kaiyuan".
In the above inscriptions, the "Nine Heavens Huan Pei" and "Including" seals are old ones at the same time, and Su and Huang's inscriptions and postscripts, as well as the abdominal inscriptions, are all later inscriptions. The pair of guards under the head of the instrument are made of rosewood. According to the "Wuzhizhai Qinyu" written by Guangling guqin master Xu Qi, they were probably installed during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. "Shimengzhai" is the nickname of Yehenara Funiyinbu, a famous guqin player in Beijing in the late Qing Dynasty. "Three Tang Qin Xie" and "Chu Garden" are both the nicknames of Liu Shiheng in Guichi in the late Qing Dynasty.
2. The sound of the great sage (Fuxi style)
The round pool of the qin is engraved with the four characters "the sound of the great sage" in cursive script. The left, right, upper and lower corners of the pond are inscribed with the official script "Zhi". The four-character year "Debingshen" dates from the beginning of the mid-Tang Dynasty to Debingshen, the first year of Emperor Suzong of the Tang Dynasty (756 AD). On both sides of the pool are engraved official scripts: "Tongs of Yiyang, the material of empty mulberry trees, phoenixes singing in the autumn moon, cranes dancing and dancing." There are sixteen characters in the name of "Tai", and there are two seals of "Kongxue" and "Yuzhen" under the pool, all of which are painted in gold except the year mark.
3. Ancient relics (Zhongni style)
On both sides of the Dragon Pond are engraved cursive lines: "The sword clashes with the gold and we chat for a while, and the box qin and the flowing water need to be played." The font is written in font. It is similar to Wang Xi's Preface to the Holy Religion, which has a Tang Dynasty style of writing, and the meaning of the words is bold and extensive, and also has a Tang Dynasty style. Under the Dragon Pond is engraved a handwriting written by Zhu Xi, a great scholar from the Song Dynasty: "Nurture the righteousness of the emperor and restrain the evil heart of anger and desire. There are no words in the universe, and there are rules for everything. I alone have a deep relationship with you." An inscription on the Ziyang Qin, inscribed as: "Chunxi Dingwei Xin'an Zhu Xi Shu" is the only one that has been handed down from ancient qin. There is a seal with the inscription "Yuzhen" on it above the goose's foot, which is believed to be the seal of Xian Yushu, a great collector in the Yuan Dynasty, as it symbolizes the sound of gold and jade vibration.
4. Songshi Jianyi (Xuanhe style)
In the Qinfu Pond, the right side is inscribed with "Imperial System in the Second Year of Xuanhe", the left side is inscribed with "Kangxi Gengwu Wang Hanzhang Rebuilt", and the first inscription is inverted. The back letter is written in vermilion. Under the dragon pond, the name of the piano in official script "Tongshi Jianyi" is engraved with turquoise. Three lines of running script engraved on the pond read: "The ancient brocade bag holds the Longmen Qin, and the red strings have been resting for a long time. The thunderbolt sound. Ande Boya's empathic hand wrote the landscape heart for Yu Yi." Another line of small characters says: "Qianlong and Renxu imperial rewards and titles". All filled with gold. The whereabouts of the vermilion medallion with white text reads "Seeing the Heart of Heaven".