What role does seal carving play in calligraphy

The seal on the calligraphy work is an indispensable part of the calligraphy work, the lack of seal will not become a complete work of calligraphy. First, the seal of art

Seal is initially a token, play the role of seal. After the song, yuan, because of the focus on the calligraphy and painting inscription and signature, calligraphers gradually recognize the artistic role of the seal and pay attention to play this role in calligraphy, so that the book, the seal of the art can be formed. Book, seal, not only make the calligraphy works of color, active atmosphere, play "icing on the cake" effect, and can adjust the center of gravity, remedies the layout of the shortcomings of the works to play a stabilizing and balancing effect. Signature seal on the calligraphy works, to show the solemnity, can prevent forgery; covered with elegant, symbolic chapter, but also can send the aspirations of the book and interest. Therefore, historically, the calligrapher attaches great importance to the use of seal, and even their own engraved seal, so that, the organic combination of book and seal, resulting in a more beautiful and stronger artistic contagion.

Two, calligraphy works commonly used on several seals

(a) name chapter

Name chapter is the name of the inscription with the chapter. Names are linked together, there are also separate. Inscription with the chapter, a word for a positive, a name can also be one. Paragraph name, print; paragraph word, then use the name chapter. Section has a surname, available name chapter, section without a surname, or does not fall paragraph, should be name chapter, in order to identify the author. The ancients with the chapter, pay attention to etiquette; where the young to the book of honor, when the name of the chapter; between peers with the word chapter; honor to the young, with the alias chapter can be. On the contrary, it is a laughing stock. Modern painter and calligrapher Zhang Daqian believes that the shape of the name chapter to "square best, round can be, if the waist round natural shape, etc. can not be used."

The name seal is generally divided into Zhuwen (Yangwen) white (Yinwen) two kinds. A piece of calligraphy on the two sides of the name chapter, the best one Zhu a white, two chapters of appropriate size. The end of the paragraph with more than one chapter, the order is the first name chapter, after the word, number chapter.

(B) the idle chapter

Idle chapter, also known as the layout of the chapter, including the introduction of the first chapter, blocking the edge of the chapter, the pressure angle of the chapter and waist chapter.

1. Citation Chapter

The Citation Chapter is a chapter on the right side of the calligraphy work, also known as the "with the shape of the chapter", with the shape of the stone carved into the chapter, generally not square, but half-way through the square, rectangular, round, semi-circular, with the round gourd-shaped, natural shape, Xiao shape and so on for the better. Calligraphy works on whether to cover the first chapter depends on the need, such as paragraph head too neat, need to "break shape"; paragraph tail seal weight is too heavy, need to "enhance"; works on the distribution of the seal monotonous, need to "adjustment

Citation chapter according to the content can be divided into the following kinds:

(1) zai chapter zai chapter began in the Tang dynasty prime minister Li U end of the apartment jade seal. After the Song and Yuan, this wind is growing, almost everyone has a calligraphy chapter. Ming calligrapher wen zhengming cloud: "my house of study more than starting to build on the seal." Zai number is usually called zhai, hall, room, building, pavilion, pavilion, xuan, nunnery, etc., such as weiqingzhai, xuexi hall, sharpening the sword room, laugh hidden building, pine wind pavilion, come bird museum, enjoy the rain xuan, letian nunnery, and so on.

(2) the elegant interest of the chapter of the ancient chapter of auspicious words, words and phrases of the chapter, more than a moral, elegant, or recorded with philosophical, thought-provoking idioms and aphorisms, or to record their own interests and voices. Elegant and interesting chapter of a wide range of content, there are reluctant to learn, such as "faceted", "master method", "book crazy", "fine in the diligent ", "art without end", "teacher of the ancient not mud", "wide range of acquisition", "view the book for pleasure ", "a person who learns well is clear", "long-term accumulation by chance", etc.; there are expressions of feelings, such as "virtue", "Mingzhi", "Qingqi", "joy and well-being", "joy in bitterness", "cherish the minute Yin", "children's ox", "jade clean ice clear", "light sky interest", "old steed in the stable", etc.; there are expressions of pen and ink interest, such as "ink", "pen plowing", "Xiangtian", There are also expressions of interest in ink and brushwork, such as "ink splashing", "pen cultivation", "incense field", "divine interest", "hiding clumsiness", "addiction to it", and "heart and hand pursuing it", "Karma in the ink stone", etc.; there are wishes for good luck, such as "wishing", "long happiness", "beauty never grows old", "Auspicious day", "longevity", "longevity", "long life", "long life", "long life" and so on.

(3) the year number chapter used to record the age of the calligraphy works, such as A Zi, B ugly, C Yin, or 1989, 1990, the eighties, nineties and so on.

(4) Month Number Chapter Used to record the month of the calligraphic work, such as Shangchun, Ruyue, Silkworm Month, etc.

1, blocking the side of the chapter

Blocking the side of the chapter refers to the chapter on one side of the calligraphic works, play a role in blocking the side of the gas.

2, the corner of the chapter

covered in the calligraphy of the corner of the chapter called the corner of the chapter. Take the upper right corner of the so-called "meet the first", take the two lower corners of the so-called "betting corner". Blocking the edge of the chapter only one side; pressure angle chapter can manage both sides, close to the edge of the corner of the role of "blocking the edge of the corner", "supplement the void" and adjust the role of stabilizing the picture.

3, the waist chapter

Long calligraphy works such as banners, if only in the upper right to cover a citation chapter, the middle appears to be space, can be added to cover the waist chapter, the contents of the book for the booker's place of origin, can also be used in the booker's Zodiac Xiao Xiao-shaped seal. The waist chapter should be smaller than the first chapter and paragraph end name chapter, three chapters should not be covered in a straight line.

All of the above is not idle chapter "idle", if the bell prints properly, can play the role of ink and can play the role of ink and can not play the role of ink and brush. As the modern calligrapher Pan Tianshou said: "the first chapter, the pressure angle of the chapter and the name of the same chapter, can play a color change on the screen echo, break flat, as well as stable and balanced and other utility."

(C) the collection of chapter

The collection of chapter is to appreciate the collector with the chapter. According to records, the appreciation of the collection of chapter also began in Tang, Song after the prevalence. Emperor tai zong of tang wrote "zhen guan" two words for the bead seal, emperor xuan zong of tang made "kai yuan" two words for the bead seal, are used for the imperial collection of paintings and calligraphy. Later identification of the name is quite a lot, such as the collection, the precious secret, the finalization, appreciation, over the eyes and so on. Identification with the chapter, should be depending on the size of the painting and calligraphy, in order not to damage the word and picture for. Some connoisseurs in order to their own reputation, stamping often destroy the picture, which is to pay attention to prevent.

Third, the art of Inscription

Calligraphy on the seal is not arbitrary Inscription, but a certain degree of law. If the seal is not properly inscribed, it will not be a good addition to the work, but will make a mistake and destroy the artistic effect of the whole work. Therefore, how to inscribe a seal needs to be taken seriously and carefully considered. Usually, the following points can be grasped:

1. Suitable size

The size of the seal should be matched with the size of the work, and should be equal to the inscription word is appropriate, a little smaller can also be greater than the inscription word, the big is not elegant. If the words are small and the paper is cramped, the seal can be used as a small joint seal, which is considerate. When a piece of work is inscribed with two seals of different sizes, the top should be small and the bottom should be big in order to be smooth and avoid the disadvantage of being top-heavy. If there are several people working together, the size of their seals should also be equal.

2. Less number of seals

The number of seal inscriptions, the number of singular, is a good idea in ancient times. There is a saying that "use one not to use two, use three not to use four, take the odd number, which is the meaning of supporting the yang and suppressing the yin". The number of seals should not be too many, and too many seals are easy to be cluttered, and even noisy. If a piece of work with a number of prints, you need to choose a different form of prints, to avoid the same.

3. Appropriate position

Inscription, be careful about the position. In a work of art, there is always a place of reality, sparseness and density. If the dense place is not compact enough, the seal can be used to make up for it; if the sparse place is empty, the seal can be used to enrich it, just like moving a small "steelyard weight" to make the picture balanced and ironed. The position of the name and name stamp at the end of the paragraph should be well arranged; if there is a blank space under the inscription, it will be inscribed under the signature; if there is no blank space, it is better to be left rather than right. The seals at the end of the inscription should be spaced appropriately, avoiding crowding and preventing looseness. If a piece of work is inscribed with both the first seal and the embossing seal, they should not be placed on one side of the work. The corner seal should be placed in the lower left corner, and the leading seal should be diagonal.

4. Weighing Lightness and Weight

As far as the color of the seal is concerned, vermilion seal has a lighter weight, while white seal has a heavier weight. For works with light ink color, it is better to inscribe Zhuwen Seal to keep the harmony between the two; for works with heavy ink color, it is better to inscribe Baiwen Seal to make the reddish Zhu color and the black ink color contrast strongly, which is interesting to each other. If a work is inscribed with several seals, the colors of the seals should be in order of priority, i.e., more vermilion with less white, more white with less vermilion, so that there are changes and consistency.

5. Consistent style

The style of the seal should be consistent with the style of the work. For example, it is not suitable to inscribe the seal on the neat and beautiful lower case works, and it is not suitable to inscribe the beautiful and beautiful wire seal on the unrestrained and robust calligraphy works, otherwise, it will be out of place, which will directly affect the artistic effect of the calligraphy works. Inscription of the seal, not only to pay attention to its content and the body of the work of a blended, not contrary, and should pay attention to maintain the content of the seal and the harmonization of the style, such as "Motherland River and Mountains" seal can not be engraved broken, "a generation of heroes" seal can not be engraved with a slim and powerless. So on and so forth.

Four, the use of mud and maintenance

A fine seal, if there is no fine texture heavy and clean mud, it will not be able to fully reveal the wind and God, the effect will be greatly inferior. Generally speaking, the word more with crimson seal mud. Small words with red sealing clay. Especially in the black background of the word post Inscription, you must use red sealing clay. Since the Qing Dynasty, the red color has been increased, and even ancient sealing clay is used for the purpose of seeking the effect of antiquity and elegance, so as to achieve its depth and gravity. Some people are even more particular about it, so they cover it once, but they are afraid that the color is too light, so they cover it once again to increase its heaviness. Of course, they need to be as heavy as each other, which can only be done with the help of seal rules. The cushion underneath the seal can be made of rubber or other soft materials, but it cannot be too soft, for it is easy to lose the seal.

The material of seal clay is composed of cinnabar, grease and moxa. Cinnabar heavy, grease light, if the long term does not reconcile, the two will be separated, cinnabar sinking, grease floating to the surface, and even dip knot deterioration, not good to use. Therefore, every once in a while, to use the bone paddle (not with metal products) to mix the mud, so that the three and uniform. When mixing, to follow a direction, do not pour back and forth. Seal mud should always keep clean. Before dipping the seal into the mud, should be wiped clean; especially the new stone seal should pay attention to clear the stone chips in the pen road, so as not to contaminate the mud. When dipping into the mud, the force should not be too heavy, avoiding snapping in the center of the mud, but following the strands of the mud, using the push and pull technique, dipping a few times, so that the mud is evenly stained on the surface of the seal. When inscribing, you should hold the right press, press evenly, don't shake, don't favor one side or one corner, in this way, the effect of inscribing will be more ideal.

There are many kinds of materials for seals, and the common ones with acceptable price are Shoushan, Qingtian and other common stones. High-grade also have chicken blood, Tianhuang and so on. Liyang Zhoucheng Ludang has a kind of leaf wax stone, which is a kind of seal engraving material, and it is also called Liyang stone in the market. If you have a chance, you can find some to try.

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Hard Pen Calligraphy

First of all, it is important to understand the role of seals. The purpose of using seals in calligraphy is roughly as follows: (1) to enrich the picture and balance the composition. (2) To supplement and enrich the content of the title. (3) The artistic charm of the seal itself. (4) To facilitate appreciation and collection.

Because of the difference in writing tools (pen and paper) between hard pen calligraphy and traditional calligraphy, there is also a difference in the form of the two. Due to the pen calligraphy word size is small, and generally use ordinary white paper, so in the use of seals, hard pen calligraphy also has its own unique features.

1. Seal style: hard pen calligraphy line characteristics to "thin hard" based, so it is appropriate to use quite healthy, thin hard style seal. Hard pen regular script can choose the seal of the text neat, cursive script is appropriate to choose the seal of the text of the pale strong, the official seal script is appropriate to choose the seal of the text of the ancient and simple.

2. The size and number of seals: because of the hard-copy calligraphy with a small paper, the font is also small, so the seal used in hard-copy calligraphy, it is appropriate to be small rather than large, generally 8 to 10mm seal can be. The use of the seal is too large, is currently a common problem in many works of hard-copy calligraphy. Similarly, the same piece of work with the number of seals should be less than more, generally only one party, up to two parties (with two parties when the seal, to a Zhu and a white is better). For the author, of course, should have more than a few different styles of seal, in order to choose to use.

3. The number of words and the content of the seal: the seal used in hard-copy calligraphy is small, so the number of words should be less than more than the number of words (generally only one word can be engraved), should be simple rather than complex. The content of the seal, generally engraved on the author's "last name" can be. Some authors only sign their names, not sign the name, the seal is only "name chapter" (no name), so that there is a sense of repetition, but also can not be fully expressed the author's name. It would be better to sign the name, and then stamped on a word "surname" chapter, so that the name has a name, words and chapters, can be said to complement each other.

4. The first chapter: hard pen calligraphy, due to the limitations of the word, generally do not have to use the first chapter.

Additionally, traditional calligraphy using rice paper, stamped and framed can be preserved for a long time. And hard pen calligraphy with more than universal white paper, stamped seal mud floating on the paper surface, not good storage is easy to deface. Therefore, hard calligraphy should be used less seal. Especially after the paragraph, there has been no seal position, more can not be forced to cover. For the seal mud, should choose good and use. Special attention should be paid to the engraving store engraved "seal" more artless, and calligraphy works out of place, it is best not to use.

In short, the seal of hard-copy calligraphy, it is appropriate to less appropriate small, according to the style of the work selected seal style, according to the layout of the work needs, when used, can not be forced. Appropriate use of the seal, can add color to the work, and vice versa, can only destroy the artistry of the work.