**The aesthetic style of Lu Ji's "Pingfu Post".
Qiao Xiaopeng. Pingfu Post (fig. 1), paper, handscroll, vertical 23. 8cm, width 20. 5cm, now in the Palace Museum, Beijing. At present, the academic research on the "Pingfu Post" mainly focuses on four aspects: First, the interpretation of the "Pingfu Post". Represented by Qi Gong's "Ping Fu Ti Shuo and Commentary" and Zheng Chunsong's "Following the Name and Examining the Truth to the Truth - Ping Fu Ti Li Yi's Doubtful Meaning", there are scholars such as Miao Guanfu, Xie Guanghui, Xu Xuebiao, Zhu Zengquan and other scholars who have questioned individual characters and have unique opinions on the basis of Mr. Qi Gong's commentary. The second is the history of the circulation of "Pingfu Post". Represented by Wang Shixiang's article "Western Jin Dynasty Lu Ji Pingfu Post, Sketch Strategy", it describes in detail the history of the Pingfu Post from the end of the Tang Dynasty to the donation of it by Zhang Boju to the Palace Museum in Beijing after the founding of New China. The third is the background of the times when Lu Ji and "Pingfu Post" were created. Many scholars have conducted research on Lu Ji and his time from the perspectives of philosophy, history, literature and calligraphy. Fourth, the artistic characteristics of "Pingfu Post". This paper mainly analyzes the artistic characteristics of "Pingfu Post" from the technical level, such as the chapter, knotting, brush, and ink use. The above research provides the possibility for the aesthetic analysis of the "Pingfu Post", without the support of these foundations, the aesthetic interpretation can only be a castle in the air.
Fig.1 Lu Ji's "Pingfu Post".
1. The aesthetic style of Lu Ji's "Pingfu Post".
Unlike the poetry of pure literary works, the content of the "Pingfu Post" is a short letter.
Qi Gong's "Pingfu Post Says and Explains" interprets this post as: "Yan Xian is stubborn, I am afraid it will be difficult to calm down." In the past, it was a first illness, and it was more than that, and this was a celebration. Bear the (only) man, fortunately for the loss of the ear. (Wu) Ziyang came to the Lord at the beginning, and I can't do it. Linxi returns, the majesty is detailed, the actions are spectacled, and the beauty of the body is also. Before the advance of thinking, the persistence (potential) is constant, and it should be called. When Xia (Bo) Rong Kou was in turmoil, he didn't know about it. ”
This brief letter mainly states three things: First, Mr. Hiko's illness may be difficult to recover, but fortunately he has a son to serve. The second is that Ziyang has been to the Lu family twice as a guest, and when they met again, they behaved very gracefully. Third, due to the chaos and blockage, there is no news of Xia Borong.
As for who the three "Yanxian", "Ziyang" and "Xia (Bo) Rong" mentioned in the post are, scholars are more controversial. But it is not difficult to see that the relationship between the three of them and Lu Ji is very close. may be the same old friend of Wu and belong to the Southern Literati Group. In terms of language, this letter is different from the beauty and beauty of Lu Ji's poems, the language is simple and sincere. Emotionally, unlike the poem's "emotion is in the middle, and the form is in words", the letter is not artistically embellished, and directly shows the deepest concern for friends.
In the history of calligraphy, "Pingfu Post" is a representative work of the transition period from Zhangcao to Jincao. Cursive as a specific style of writing emerged in the Han Dynasty. Zhangcao is a tributary of the development of cursive script in the Han Dynasty, its predecessor was cursive script, and it was standardized by famous calligraphers such as Du Cao, Cui Ying, and Zhang Zhi in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and gradually formed a unique calligraphy. Sun Guoting's "Book Pedigree" said: "The seal is still graceful and clear, the subordinate desire is fine and dense, the grass is noble and smooth, and the chapter affairs are simple and convenient." It highly summarizes the characteristics of "flowing and smooth" and "simple and convenient" of the grass today. Zhang Huaijun's "Book Break" pointed out that the characteristics of chapter grass are "the outline of the words, the rules of the subordinates" and "the difference between the words", while the current grass is "adding its flow rate, pulling out the grass and connecting the upper and lower". Whether the word is implicated or not has become an important symbol to distinguish the chapter grass and the present grass. Qi Gong discussed the distinction between Zhangcao and Jincao in more detail in his "Treatise on Ancient Fonts": "Most of the characters in the cursive slips of the Han Dynasty are the posture of the Han Dynasty, and they are written simply and quickly, so no matter how simple a word is, the pen often brings out the wave feet of the goose's tail." And the two words are never connected to each other. It was not until the Han and Wei dynasties and the Jin Dynasty that there were strokes similar to the real book, and there were even conjugated cursive characters between the characters. This is easy to understand, that is, the former is the old official style, that is, the quick writing style of the Han Li;And the latter is a new style, that is, a quick script of the real book. In order to make a nominal distinction, later generations called the former 'Zhangcao' and the latter 'Jincao'. Qiu Xigui's "Outline of Philology" points out: "Bafen and Zhangcao were formed by the development of the orthodox and vulgar styles of Guli, respectively. "Compared with the Han Dynasty vulgar cursive script on the slips unearthed in Dunhuang and Juyan, the chapter grass is more standardized and beautiful in the strokes and overall form of the single characters. This kind of standardization presents three characteristics as a whole: first, the glyph conforms to the knotted character rules of Zhangcao, second, it has the wavy stroke form of the tail of the goose, and third, the characters are independent of each other. In the long history of the evolution of the book style, the transition from Zhangcao to Jincao was not achieved overnight. Qi Gong pointed out in the "Treatise on Ancient Fonts": "Some font styles in ancient times, when they changed from a major type of A to a major type of B, often started from some subtle styles. For example, the seal and the subordinate now seem to be two major types, but in the Qin Dynasty, the shape of the seal changed from the beginning of the seal, but the artistic style is more sloppy and harder. This shows that the evolution of fonts is often subtle to significant. "Lu Ji's "Pingfu Post" as a whole conforms to the knotted character specification of Zhangcao and the characters are independent, but there is no obvious stroke form of the goose tail waves. It shows the "subtle to significant" changes in the transition period from chapter grass to present grass.
Different from the official seal script or the respected official script and regular script, the cursive script was produced for the practical purpose of rapid recording, and its development was a transformation from the bottom up, from folk writing to the standardized writing of temple scholars. From the cursive script to the standardized chapter grass to the swaying and comfortable and implicated imacao, cursive writing has gradually completed the construction of its own aesthetic paradigm on the basis of practicality. "Pingfu Post" is a short letter written by Lu Ji to a friend, in addition to the practical purpose of conveying information, behind it is a change in the aesthetic style of cursive writing in the Wei and Jin dynasties. This kind of transformation from Zhangcao to Jincao's aesthetic style was first seen in the "Pingfu Post", and it was not until the appearance of Wang Xizhi's "Seventeen Posts" that this transition was completely completed. and then to the formation of the ** calligraphy style represented by Zhang Xu and Huaisu in the Tang Dynasty, and the aesthetic exploration of cursive writing finally reached its peak. This long process of transformation and development laid the foundation for today's cursive aesthetic concept. The transformation of the aesthetic ideology contained in "Pingfu Post" is not only the aesthetic purpose of Lu Ji's personal calligraphy to seek freedom and individuality, but also the lifelong attitude of scholars who are eager for self-expression and chic and graceful in the entire era of "literary consciousness". From the artistic purpose of "Wenfu" to the free and free calligraphy style of "Pingfu Post", this aesthetic ideology is common.
Fig.2 Huangxiang's "Urgent Chapter" (detail).
Compared with the famous work of the imperial elephant "Urgent Chapter" (Fig. 2), which is similar to the era and belongs to the same state of Wu, "Pingfu Post" looks strange and simple. The existing "Songjiang Ben" and "Urgent Chapter" are the representative works of Zhang Cao, with standardized glyphs, strong pen strength, slightly flattened knots, independent characters, and clear waves. And "Pingfu Post" because of the bald pen written on hemp paper, with the pen is strong and simple, the ink color is dry and moist, multi-sided front line pen, comfortable and smart, smooth and natural. "Urgent Chapter" is an engraved version, and after copying and reprinting through the dynasties, it is impossible to accurately detect the original ink. The existing "Pingfu Post" is an ink calligraphy, which is more than 1,700 years old, and the handwriting is mottled and illegible. On the whole, the "ancient" of "Urgent Chapter" focuses more on quaintness, and the "ancient" of "Pingfu Post" focuses on simplicity and simplicity. It is boldly speculated that the original writing of the Huangxiang book "Urgent Chapter" was an act of calligraphy creation of "art for art's sake", and the calligrapher consciously pursued the aesthetic norms of Zhangcao. Lu Ji's "Pingfu Post" is essentially a letter, the original intention of writing is to convey information, and its content is an account of the recent situation of a friend, more like a hurry "urgent", and the aesthetic attribute is not the first. Mr. Qi Gong commented that he was the "Emperor of Ink", or that he had a reputation, and the status of the "Emperor of Ink" was more based on his first authentic work in the history of Chinese calligraphy that circulated in an orderly manner. Of course, Qi Gong also pointed out that the Pingfu Ti was "very similar to the cursive script in the Han and Jin Dynasty wooden scripts." Compared with the cursive script on the scraps of the unearthed Juyan Han Jian and Loulan Jin people, the overall style of the "Pingfu Post" is similar to the cursive script of the same period. Jiang Xun pointed out in the article "Pingfu Post Various (Part 1)": "Looking closely at the ink on the scrap of paper, the bald pen does not have a tactful and delicate thread, and there is no gorgeous and beautiful calligraphy of Wang Xizhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and the brilliant brilliance of elegant and handsome. But "Pingfu Post" is tenacious, there is a distortion of life in tragedy, and the lines are like the rusted barbed wire of an abandoned fortress, which is a memory of bitterness and desolation. "There is a difference between the quaint and clumsy calligraphy style of "Pingfu Post" and the artistic pursuit of Chinese beauty and elegance in "Wenfu".
2. The aesthetic isomorphism of "Wenfu" and "Pingfu Post".
Wen Fu (Fig. 3) is a summary of Lu Ji's experience in literary creation, and it is also the most important and representative literary theoretical work of the Western Jin Dynasty. In the history of ancient Chinese literary theory, Wen Fu basically got rid of the traditional mode of literary political and religious function theory since the Han Dynasty and established a literary theory model centered on expressing the writer's personal emotions and expressing the writer's personal literary style. Behind the "consciousness of literature" is the desire for "human consciousness", and the creator has gradually moved from a Confucian orthodoxy shrouded in regular steps to an independent individual who is "spirited and wandering", and from the "I Note the Six Classics" of Haoshou Poor Scripture to the "Six Classics Note Me" of the vast nature. Faced with the problem of "not being able to meet the object, and not being able to meet the meaning", Lu Ji is seeking a breakthrough. At the level of "quality", we seek to fully express the artistic ideas and inner emotions of the creators, and at the level of "literature", we advocate the artistic expression of gorgeous rhetoric and exquisite beauty. "The Book of Jin: The Biography of Lu Ji" records that "there are more than 300 articles written in parallel, and they are in the world". Lu Ji's "Wenfu" is not a tree without roots or water without a source, but a theoretical summary based on the creation of a large number of poems throughout his life. "Pingfu Post" is the "lone piece" of the existing Lu Ji calligraphy, which is mottled by the vicissitudes of thousands of years of erosion. Although it is objectively difficult for us to comprehensively summarize Lu Ji's calligraphy style, as an important ink script in the transition period from Zhangcao to Jincao, the calligraphy also shows the calligrapher's demeanor of seeking breakthroughs. This kind of breakthrough in calligraphy is like the novelty and change of poetry, which is free, free and simple, and attaches importance to the free expression of inner emotions.
Fig.3 The book "Wenfu" (detail) of Lu Cambodia's trip
In the history of Chinese calligraphy, most of the famous calligraphers before Lu Ji were famous for their calligraphy expertise, and the literary achievements of calligraphers such as Li Si, Zhong Xuan, and Zhang Zhi were not at the peak of the times. Since Lu Ji, there are countless calligraphers who are good at poetry and calligraphy, and even poetry, calligraphy, and printing. This phenomenon should be paid attention to in the study of ancient Chinese art as a whole. From a purely literary point of view, Tao Yuanming's literary achievements in the Eastern Jin Dynasty are above Wang Xizhi. But we must not ignore that even if the charm of calligraphy is put aside, the literary nature of the "Orchid Pavilion Collection Preface" is enough to shine in the entire Eastern Jin Dynasty literary circle. What's more, the "Orchid Pavilion Collection Preface" is an artistic treasure that is highly compatible with calligraphy and literary aesthetics. The poems and paintings of Wang Wei, Zhao Mengfu, Dong Qichang, and the poems and books of Yan Zhenqing, Su Shi, Huang Tingjian and others show a high degree of unity. Although Lu Ji's influence on literary creation and literary theory is greater than his influence on calligraphy, the aesthetic purpose of his poetry and calligraphy is isomorphic. Even if there is no "Pingfu Post", we only imagine through Lu Ji's poetry works, and the imaginary Lu Ji's calligraphy will be free, unrestrained, and beautiful, breaking through the old paradigm and seeking innovation and change. In "Wenfu", "the eight poles of the spirit, the heart travels in ten thousand miles", "the ancient and the modern are in a moment, and the four seas are touched in a moment", "the cage of heaven and earth is in the form, and all things are frustrated in the pen" is the free expression of personal emotions and the complete release of the inner spiritual world, and it is the "unity of heaven and man" between external objects and people. This unrestrained beauty is embodied in calligraphy, especially in the creation of cursive script, that is, to give full play to the tension of the lines, so that the lines flow on the rice paper with the images in the chest, just like the rushing streams in the mountains and the galloping horses in the grasslands, the calligraphers, the pen and ink, and the world constitute a community that shapes beauty. In the article "Aesthetic Thoughts in Chinese Calligraphy", Zong Baihua commented on Han Yu's record of Zhang Xu's calligraphy in "The Preface to Sending High Idlers": "Zhang Xu's calligraphy not only expresses his own emotions, but also expresses the image of various changes in nature. But these images are experienced through his emotions. It's 'gratifying';In expressing his emotions, he simultaneously reflects or alludes to various images of the natural world. Or by generalizing these images to imply his own feelings about these images. These images in his calligraphy are not the depiction of things, but the 'artistic conception' of scene blending, like Chinese painting, more like **, like dance, like beautiful architecture. The community composed of calligraphers, pen and ink, and the world is the world of "artistic conception" where scenes are blended. Calligraphy presents the viewer with a combination of lines, but these combinations are by no means haphazardly pieced together, but a blend of calligraphers' emotions and techniques under the premise of following the aesthetic norms of calligraphy. This kind of blending is divided into two levels: one is the blending of the written content and the inner emotions of the calligrapher;The second is the blending of pen and ink forms and writing techniques. Behind the exquisite techniques of great calligraphy works are the world of "artistic conception" created by calligraphers, and both are indispensable.
The aesthetic isomorphism of Wenfu and Pingfu is not completely isomorphic, and the two are the same but different. Liu Xian's "Wenxin Carving Dragon: Ming Poems" pointed out: "The talents of the Jin Dynasty are a little light. Zhang, Pan, Zuo, and Lu are comparable to poetry. Harvest at the beginning, soft in Jian'an. Or analyze the text to be wonderful, or to be self-glorious. This is also rough. "Qimi" is not only the aesthetic proposition put forward in Lu Ji's "Wenfu", but also the aesthetic trend of the entire Taikang literature. This kind of "Qimi" style is mainly manifested in Taikang literature, which is "refining words, analyzing beautiful words, poor body and things, and complex feelings". Compared with the generous and sad style of the Jian'an period, the overall style of Taikang literature in the Western Jin Dynasty is beautiful and soft, and this style is particularly prominent in the writings of Lu Ji and his contemporaries. However, on the other hand, the existing "Pingfu Post" does not have a beautiful or gorgeous style, but is more quaint and simple. On the whole, ancient Chinese calligraphy has two major systems, "quality" and "yan", just as ancient Chinese literature has the tradition of realism represented by the Book of Songs and romanticism represented by the Ci of Chu. "Pingfu Post" is a work of the transition period from Zhang Cao to Jincao, and its brush and ink form focuses more on the aesthetic category of "quality".
In the second year of Tai'an in the Western Jin Dynasty (303), Lu Ji was defeated in the dispute of the "Rebellion of the Eight Kings", and was killed by Sima Ying, the king of Chengdu, and exterminated the three clans at the age of 43. Huating cranes are not to be heard again. However, in this year, Langya Linyi gave birth to Wang Xizhi, the "sage of calligraphy" who shines in the entire history of Chinese calligraphy.