This article explores the simplification of the handwriting process with regard to the graphic features of representational(fangxing)pictographic characters,decomposing the traced lines and restructuring the character shape to give rise,eventually,to features of calligraphic writing including brushstrokes,brushstroke order and brushwork.This happened prior to the formation of the traditional zhuan script,whose writing technique evolved gradually in response to the needs of the artisans involved in the production of character molds and then developed separately from the handwritten script.The writing style of the Houma covenant texts stems from the Western Zhou dynasty and inspired the calligraphic style in the Yellow River Basin during the Warring States period.It is closely related to the"ancient writing specimens[hidden in]the walls of Confucius'home"discovered during the Han Dynasty and can therefore be traced back to the ancient script of the Confucian classics in three scripts of the Cao-Wei dynasty and to that recorded in the Shuowen Jiezi.The calligraphy praised in Wei Heng's work,"Description of characters",in his Description of the Four Calligraphic Scripts(Sitishu Shi),is the work of the Wei state during the Warring States period,which grew out of the Jin state.Wei Heng's work is the only text in ancient calligraphy theory that describes the calligraphy of the ancient script and is hence of great benefit to our understanding and aesthetic appreciation of the calligraphy of the Houma covenant texts.The Houma covenant texts were written for daily use,which was relatively informal;it is therefore worth paying attention to how the people of the period achieved the impressive aesthetic of"natural beauty"(tianchun).The script of the covenant texts discovered at Wenxian also belongs to the Jin state.Although there are some similarities with the bamboo slips of the Chu state,the covenant texts discovered at Wenxian are generally consistent with the Houma ones.Most of the Houma covenant texts are written in vermilion,with rounded strokes that contrast with the sharp and angular strokes written in black ink.This difference is not caused by divergences in brushwork but by the fact that"using vermilion,[strokes]look fat,whereas using black ink,they look slim,"as the ancients said.There is a close relationship between ancient calligraphy and culture,to the extent that following the flowering of the study of the ancient script in Confucian scholarship during the Eastern Han dynasty,calligraphy in the ancient script re-emerged,as testified by the carving in stone of the Confucian classics with characters resembling tadpoles(kedou).
关键词
仿形綫條/筆法/日常手寫體/古文/侯馬盟書/《字勢》/天淳/三體石經
Key words
brushwork of representational lines/brushwork/everyday handwriting style/ancient script/Houma covenant texts/Wei Heng's"Description of characters"/tianchun(natural beauty)/Confucian classics in three scripts
维普
万方数据