Chapter 7 Section 6 The Art of Calligraphy in the Wei and Jin Dynasties

From Han Dynasty to Emperor Xian, the Eastern Han regime existed in name only, and finally formed the situation of Wei, Shu, and Wu.Sima Zhao destroyed Shu, Sima Yan abolished Cao and destroyed Wu, so the Three Kingdoms were unified and Jin prospered.The Eight Kings rebelled, and the Western Jin Dynasty ended; Sima Rui established the Eastern Jin Dynasty.From 220 AD to 420 AD, which lasted 200 years, this period is called the "Wei and Jin Dynasties". Cao Wei once issued an order to ban steles, which was also reiterated in the Jin Dynasty, so the number of steles decreased sharply during this period.But not all.Due to social turmoil, the situation of "supremely respecting Confucianism" since the Han Dynasty was broken, and the pace of thought changes intensified, and rumors and exchanges of ideas through calligraphy became more frequent. In addition, scholars of the gentry used calligraphy to advertise each other, so calligraphy made great progress.

Seal script is still useful, and official script is still a common representative script. However, due to the restrictions of the ban on monuments, it is not as widely used as before.However, there have also appeared works such as "The Stele of God's Fat Prophecy (Chen Yi)", which melted and cast seal script and script, and has a unique style. The development of regular script is a historical necessity.On the prototype of official script, some brushwork of simplified script and cursive script were integrated, purified and standardized, and it became the model of regular script.Although the germination of regular script began at the end of the Han Dynasty, it was formally formed in the Wei and Jin Dynasties.Zhong Yao [youyou] (151-230 A.D.) was an accomplished calligrapher in the formation of regular script. Although his "Xuan Shi Biao" and "Li Ming Biao" were both in lower case script, they were sufficient to represent the calligraphy at that time. Regular script.

Great progress has been made in cursive script, which is conducive to the application and display of bamboo slips. In the field of cursive script, on the one hand, it has standardized the chapters and grasses of the Han Dynasty, and on the other hand, it has added a lot of fun in the practice of writing, thus greatly enhancing the galloping momentum of the "grass".Although the cursive scripts of Wei Guan [Guan Guan], Lu Ji and others still belong to Zhang Cao, they have come very close to the current cursive script. It was Wang Xizhi (303-361 A.D.) who pushed this grass one step further.He once paid homage to the general of the Youjun, so he was called "Wang Youjun". Because of his great contribution to the art of calligraphy, the world respected him as the "Sage of Calligraphy".His "Seventeen Posts" is a model of "simplicity" as the law in today's grass, showing his superb artistic talent.

Of course, Wang Xizhi's greater contribution is to push the running script to a mature peak. Xizhi's son Xianzhi, in his father's artistic creation, once put forward wise urging opinions on weighing choices, and his own artistic practice has also achieved high achievements.Therefore, whenever cursive script is mentioned, their father and son must be mentioned, known as the "two kings" in the world.Not only is it a model of calligraphy in the Jin Dynasty, but it has also become the ultimate rule of cursive script in history. The ink marks handed down by them are rare treasures. Although their authenticity (yan geese) has yet to be further confirmed, no calligrapher who can forge those works has been found in the history of books.There are many masterpieces of them, and "Sangluan" can be a typical example of running script.

In history, whenever art reaches its peak, theory must also have a corresponding height.This just shows that the achievements of calligraphy artists are the result of a conscious pursuit.The maturity of calligraphy and cursive script in the Wei and Jin Dynasties is completely consistent with the height of the theory at that time.