The old man was curious about the ancients all his life
Qian Song's "learning shallow etiquette" seal book couplet.
Xue Yuanming. Qian Song (1818-1860), seal carver, calligrapher and painter. The first name is Songru, the word Shugai, the number is Naiqing, Tielu, Naiqing, Lao Gai, Guquansuo, Wei Taoist, Yunhe Shanren, Western Suburbs, Qin Dafu, Yunju Shanren, Yunju Shanmin, Iron Bed Jue, Seeing and Hearing with the Joy of Waiting, and the Late Xiguo Foreign History. A native of Qiantang (now Hangzhou), Zhejiang, he lived in Shanghai. Gongshu is good at painting, philanthropic stone text, especially fine seal carving, one of the "Xiling Eight Families" of Zhejiang School.
For Qian Song, the conclusive evaluation of the coffin is that he is an Indian. Such an outcome is inevitable – history will always choose the side of the individual that has the greatest influence on future generations. However, for a person, the course of his real life must be full of ups and downs. According to historical records, Qian Songke inherited his family learning, was good at calligraphy and painting, was good at drumming and piano, liked to collect ancient monuments and old extensions, lived in Shanghai, and later had a "solution society" with Yang Xian, Seng Liuzhou, etc.
Qian Song is not only an Indian, but also a calligrapher, he is good at poetry, calligraphy, painting and printing. The brush is near the river through the road, the landscape painting skills are profound, the color is ancient, the atmosphere is rich in smoke, there is gold and stone gas from time to time, and it is also good at painting plum and bamboo. It can be said that Qian Song is not just an Indian, so he is a successful Indian in the end. Although the ancients did not have a division of occupations and professions, they actually existed. Nowadays, the defects and drawbacks of full-time calligraphers are becoming more and more obvious and serious, although they can reach a certain height in terms of technology or techniques, but it is difficult to reach a high level, because Chinese culture is a culture that pays attention to "passing". Looking back on the growth experience of Indians like Qian Song, we can learn from the following: on the one hand, we must learn from others and break through the "limitations" of the professional fieldOn the other hand, avoid being overly mixed up, so that you are greedy for more and more than you can taste. In short, between "comprehensive" and "proficient", start from the actual ability of the individual, find and obtain a balance.
Qian Song belongs to the "Xiling Eight Families" and does not belong to the "Xiling Eight Families", which is based on the judgments and conclusions of different people on his works. In any case, Qian Song won his status and reputation in the history of seal carving with his works. Between name and reality, it is not important to him, but the interpretation and reflection of the work. The "Eight Schools" are the pinnacle of the Zhejiang School, and although their works are exemplary, some of them have become incomprehensible. The reason why the "Zhejiang School" rose and died first in the history of seal carving is that there is a certain restriction in its own style. This restrictiveness is determined by the technique, or more precisely, by the cutting method. The "Eight Families" Indians, calligraphy is relatively rare, and the seal script is basically invisible, and most of them are official scripts. Judging from the "Eight Families" seal law, it is mainly out of Miao Seal and is influenced by Lishu. That is to say, the official book can also be printed, because there is a natural blood relationship between the seals, but there must be no good book and seal, left and right advantages, and finally can not achieve the unity of the book and seal style. In addition to Ding Jing and Qian Song, the style of the "eight families" is very similar to each other because of the knife method, and the first four can still be distinguished, and the later they are, the more Chen Chen is the same.
Qian Song keenly sensed this. His seal carving, initially influenced by the Zhejiang school of seal carving, especially Ding Jing, Jiang Ren and others, later started more from the Han seal, trying to break through this stylization, abandon the old rules of blindly cutting the knife, trace the Han Dynasty to Qin, and bring forth the new. Qian Song's engraved "Fan He's private seal" can be confirmed: "Get two volumes of Han seal scores, appreciate them all day, play the knife in your hand, and the pen is Han." In addition to the use of cutting knives, more is to cut and apply, light and shallow, rich in ups and downs, so the strokes are more ancient and jerky, vivid and natural, and some of Wu Rangzhi's techniques are similar, which has a great impact on Wu Changshuo. In the seal law, Qian Song has both square and round, the seal is rich and diverse, and the artistic conception is refined. To put it simply, to say that Qian Song belongs to the "Eight Families" is more because of regional factors, and to say that he is not the "Eight Families" is more from the perspective of works.
Judging from Qian Song's seal script couplet (as shown in the figure), because he does not do much, he has no old and spicy pen, and he is clumsy. Of course, this has a lot to do with Qian Song's early death. In March 1860, the Taiping army broke through Hangzhou. At this time, Qian Song was in the prime of life. On the day the city was broken, the family committed suicide by drinking medicine. Qian Song's artistic creation came to an abrupt halt, and he failed to fully display his talents, which is embarrassing. Only the 14-year-old second son Qian Shi survived, and later studied under Zhao Zhiqian. Qian and Zhao are both genius seal carvers and have a great friendship, and the two are very similar because of their experiences in a certain period of life, and they empathize. Qian Song's early death stimulated Zhao Zhiqian a lot, and the reason why Zhao sealed the knife in middle age is probably one of the reasons.
Qian Song's seal book couplet is shallow, self-aware of ability, less courtesy, and often slow and more people
Judging from the seal script couplet, Qian Song pays attention to natural writing, without exaggeration and artificiality. This is undoubtedly consistent with his concept of seal creation. Qian Song emphasized the artistic aesthetics of nature and true interest. He once said: "Po Lao said, innocence is my teacher, and he can carve it on the seal." "Moreover, because there are a lot of copies of Han seals, not to mention the taste of gold and stone, there is more awe-inspiring righteousness. Hanyin emphasizes the strange in the ordinary and the change in the middle. From the point of view of the whole union, the design of the seal carving and other arrangement techniques, faintly visible, such as the "less" word line of the upper link, and the "more" word of the lower link, forming a sense of symmetry, out of the natural.
The above paragraph has the words "Uncle Zi Mianzun". "Uncle Zimian Zun" also appears in Qian Song's seal side, and it is not difficult to imagine that he is a very important figure to him. In the surviving chapters of Qian Song, there are "Xiguo" and "Zimian", and Qian Song's late name is "Xiguo Waishi", which seems to be very close. Unfortunately, it was not possible to find more historical sources.
Qian Song's seal book was greatly influenced by Deng Shiru. In retrospect, Deng Shiru's advocacy of "printing with books" is actually a mutual promotion of books and seals, and the rising tide lifts all boats. The success of Wu Rangzhi, Zhao Zhiqian and others, who were influenced by Deng, is due to this. Qian Song has long been keenly aware of this and has consciously used it in his creation. If you talk about opening up the two veins of Anhui and Zhejiang, you can't fail to mention Zhao Zhiqian. But as Wei Xizeng said, Qian Song's printing has both the characteristics of Deng Shiru's printing style, and it is obviously the one who opened up Anhui and Zhejiang earlier. Qian Song engraved the "Lizhou Borrowing View" stamp in the winter of Jiayin (1854): "The seal is engraved for the cutting knife, there is for the punching knife, and the method is not obtained, but it is not a layman to do it with a pen." The long-term practice of engraving made Qian Song truly realize that "but with the pen", emphasizing the use of a knife as a pen, and finally from the printing and the book, and at the same time borrowing from the two schools of Zhejiang and Anhui. This year, Qian Song was 36 years old, and he was 11 years older than Zhao Zhiqian, obviously a pioneer. It's just that he died too early and couldn't develop further. Qian Song's life ended in cloth, without fame, and Gao Yong, a native of Yi, compiled his posthumous prints into four volumes of "Unvoid Room Seal Reward". Qian Song left his name in history because of India, which can be described as "without a word, as much as possible". In the history of calligraphy, painting and printing, there are very few pure cloth clothes, because there is a lack of conditions for success in all aspects. But it is precisely because of this that it is purely based on the work to speak, and it is even more golden.