Chapter 9 Chapter Nine The Essence of Calligraphy - Stone Inscriptions

Stone inscriptions are one of the types of stone inscriptions and one of the forms of Chinese calligraphy. The so-called stone inscriptions refer to calligraphy engraved on stone plates, which can be imitated or appreciated by people after hammering, photocopying and mounting.It differs from inscriptions mainly in terms of use and nature.Generally speaking, Fate is to select and engrave the ink marks of successive emperors, famous ministers or famous scholars for people to copy and appreciate. Therefore, Fate is "appreciative" and "imitable", while stele inscriptions are not.There are different opinions about when the scriptures used for study originated. The earliest scriptures we can see now are "Chunhua Pavilion Tie" carved in the Northern Song Dynasty.

The stone carvings are about a foot high and two to three feet wide. Each volume has a title, the name of the author, and the date of Mole.Fatie can be divided into single post and set post.Those who combine many kinds of ancient and modern famous posts into one post are called "Ji Tie", also known as "Hui Ke Cong Tie" or "Set Tie".Among them, there is a difference between the collection of famous calligraphers of the past dynasties and the collection of various ink marks of a family.Collected posts are generally divided into several volumes, up to more than a hundred volumes.

Stone inscriptions have played an important role in promoting the development of calligraphy art in our country.After the rise of stone carvings, there have been imitators and printers in all dynasties. "Tingyunguantie", "Sanxitangfatie" from the Qing Dynasty, etc. are all examples. "Chunhua Pavilion Tie", Song Taizong Chunhua three years (AD 992) released the ink of the past dynasties in the inner mansion, ordered the Hanlin servant Wang to write and compile it, and ordered the workers to carve stones, and after hammering and rubbing, distributed to the ministers.There are 10 volumes of posts, all of which are selected from the books of ancient emperors, famous ministers and famous scholars.Among them, there are many ink marks of Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi; "Daguan Tie", Song Huizong saw that the version of "Chunhua Pavilion Tie" had been cracked, and there were many mistakes in the title of Wang's work, so it was especially authentic in the collection of the inner palace. It was published in Daguan three years (1109 AD. 2000) ordered Long Dayuan and others to change the compilation and re-imitate the upper stone in the downstairs of Taiqing, so it is also called "Taiqing Loupost".The title before and after this post and the title of the author are Cai Jingshu.The engraved version is more than an inch taller than "Chunhua Ge Tie". The small characters on the front of each edition include the number of volumes on the top, the number of editions on the middle, and the name of the engraver on the bottom. Unfortunately, it is often cut off when mounting, but it can also be used to distinguish the authenticity.

"Le Shan Tang Tie" mainly collects the calligraphy of Yuan Dynasty calligrapher Zhao Mengfu and Gu Shanfu's works, and a few are collections of famous sages.Gu Xin copied it on the stone, and Wu Shichang carved it in the fifth year of Yanyou (1318 A.D.).There are 10 volumes of postcards, and the ink marks of Zhao's family are collected. As far as calligraphy is concerned, they are all fine works, and the imitation is also exquisite. "Tingyunguantie", edited by Wen Zhengming, a native of the Ming Dynasty, copied by his sons Wen Peng and Wen Jia, from the 16th year of Jiajing (AD 1537) to the thirty-ninth year (AD 1560), written by Wen Shu and Wu Yi [zi Capital], Zhang Jianfu engraved.This post collects 12 volumes of ink marks from Jin, Tang and Ming dynasties, and "Zhenshang Zhai Tie" is the best engraved post in Ming Dynasty.

"Sanxitang Fatie", the full name of "Sanxitang Shiqu Baoji Fatie", was ordered by Liang Gong in the twelfth year of Qianlong in Qing Dynasty (1747 A.D.), all of which were engraved by Lianggong.The post collects famous relics from Wei, Jin to Yuan and Ming dynasties in one letter, a total of 32 volumes.Among them, there are three precious ink marks, Wang Xizhi's "Quick Snow and Sunny Post", Wang Xianzhi's "Mid-Autumn Post", and Wang Xun's "Boyuan Post", which were acquired by Emperor Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty (that is, Emperor Qianlong), so the collection room is named "Sanxitang".This post was first extended, thick ink and black, called "Wu Jintuo".In the early years of Daoguang, the original stone was additionally engraved with ten-thousand-character lace, and based on this, the sequence of rubbings can be distinguished. "Sanxitang Fatie" has 495 carved stones, including works by 134 people, and it is still inlaid in the wall of Yuegulou in Beihai Park, Beijing.

The above-mentioned stone carvings, cliffs, inscriptions, epitaphs, stone scriptures, scriptures, etc., as well as scripture buildings, titles, and inscriptions that are not emphatically described are the main parts of the stone inscriptions.What they have in common is that they are all mainly engraved characters.Another type of stone carving parallel to this is all kinds of stone carving artworks, such as petroglyphs, portrait stones, stone carvings and grotto art.