In 755, the Anshi Rebellion. Most of the counties in the north fell one after another, and only Yan Zhenqing, the Taishou of the Plains, and Yan Gaoqing, the brother of Cong, joined forces to fight against the rebels, and his nephew Yan Jiming liaisoned with them. Later, the rebels captured Changshan, and Yan Gaoqing's father and son were killed. In the first year of the Qianyuan Dynasty of the Tang Dynasty (758), Yan Zhenqing sent his nephew Yan Quanming to Luoyang and Hebei to find the bones of Yan Gaoqing's father and son. When he returned to Puzhou, Yan Zhenqing was deeply affected by the cruel experience of that year, and with the hatred of the rebels and thieves, as well as the grief of the Yan family's "father trapped and the son died, and the nest overturned", he wrote this immortal work "Manuscript for the Sacrifice of Nephews".
The Manuscript of the Sacrifice of Nephews" is also known as the "Manuscript of the Sacrifice of Nephew Ji Ming", which has the reputation of "the second book in the world". The original work has a total of 25 lines, 234 words, hemp paper, about 28 in length2 cm, about 72 wide3 cm, now in the "National Palace Museum" in Taipei.
Yan Zhenqing is trapped in the expression of grief and indignation, and has no intention of being clumsy, arrogant, and unbridled. The rhythm of the whole article opens and closes, with a strong sense of jumping and lyricism. The whole work is a fusion of line, grass and seal calligraphy in one furnace, echoing the content of the article, showing a tragic and agitated artistic conception, just like a silent tragic song, sometimes heavy, sometimes agitated, is a "work of the ages".
The manuscript of the nephew is round and strong, and the extension of the penmanship is the main. The first twelve lines of the opening chapter describe personal identity and praise Ji Ming's life experience, and his feelings are still calm. The dot painting is heavy and round, and the pen is like "printing clay".
The paragraph from "I inherit Tianze" directly wrote the exploits and sacrifices of Ji Ming's father and son, and the feelings gradually began to burst out, and the feelings of grief and indignation were like a tide and could not be contained. In the use of the brush, the concise and heavy dot painting gradually becomes rapid and fast, and the dry brush increases significantly.
The five elements from "I inherit Tianze" to "mourn the heart" are the climax of the work, and the use of the pen is more rapid, and the connection is significantly increased. When it came to finding Ji Ming's bones, there was only one head left, and his mood was heartbroken. The number of places painted has increased significantly, and the expression is in a trance, and the grief is self-evident. To the end of the two lines "soul and knowledge, no long-term guest", especially "woo hoo mourning, still feasting", it seems that there is no intention of writing, the letter is written, the feelings are pouring thousands of miles, and they can't be calm for a long time. Throughout the whole article, the writing is like crying and complaining, such as accusation, and the pain of cracking the skin, the anger of grief and indignation, leaping between the lines, righteous and majestic.
The Manuscript of the Sacrifice of Nephews is different from the "Orchid Pavilion Preface", and in the process of creation, the author's thoughts have changed greatly. Because the change of penmanship directly leads to the change of knots and chapters, the knots and chapters of this work are more unified. The mood at the beginning is relatively calm, the font is mainly in regular script, the knot is relatively stable, and the chapter law has not changed much. In the middle of the work, the knots begin to stagger.
In the second half of the work, the knots change more obviously, the dislocation of the radicals becomes more common, and due to the emotional indignation, the knots of the characters open and close, forming a strong contrast with the first half. The last few lines of words break the original reserved rules, the size is uneven, staggered, sometimes rapid, sometimes slow, and the number of mistakes repainted increases, which is the embodiment of the natural expression of feelings.
The dot paintings of the Manuscript of the Sacrifice of Nephews are more heavy, heavy, and more round than square. When studying, the pen should be round, mainly Tibetan Feng, the direction and strength should be mastered, and the process of writing should be mainly "pressed", and the force should penetrate the back of the paper.
The Manuscript of the Sacrifice of Nephews changed the dense and slender style of the two kings, and changed it into a natural and comfortable knot, with dot painting and outward extension, arc shape facing each other, scattered and spiritual. When studying, you should pay attention to the change of glyphs and the arrangement of chapters, and master the knotting methods and chapter processing methods.
The brush should not be too large, the tip of the pen should be round and thick, and the belly of the pen should not be too thin. You can also try bald pen writing, and the dotted lines should be jerky and spicy. The paper should be as close as possible to the rough material of the paper such as hemp paper.
When studying, you can refer to Yan Zhenqing's other calligraphy works, such as "The Manuscript of the Sacrifice of Uncle", which is conducive to further understanding and mastering the characteristics of Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy.