The literati seal originated in the Yuan Dynasty, flourished in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, and was parasitic in the Qianjia period of the Qing Dynasty. In the long history of hundreds of years, there have been a lot of unconventional and independent seal carving masters, and Deng Shiru, the originator of the "Deng School", can be called the book and seal, and there is no one like it.
Deng Shiru (1743-1805), formerly known as Yan, the word Shiru. Because of the avoidance of Emperor Jiaqing, he changed his name to Shi Ru, the word stubborn uncle, the name Gu Huanzi, Wanbaishan people, Jiyou Taoist people, etc., Anhui Huaining people, author of "Wanbai Mountain People Seal Spectrum". Deng Shiru was the most outstanding calligrapher and seal scholar of the Qing Dynasty, and he was the first to use the official calligraphy to write seal scripts, which had a great influence on later generations of seal learners.
Kang Youwei once said in "Guangyi Boat Shuangji": "After the Baishan people have not come out, the world is divided into Qin into unacceptable books, since they are not good ancient people, rarely or can." After the white is out, the three-foot erection servant, only the pen, can be sealed. His calligraphy skills are very profound, good at seals, and Cao Wenyun of the Qing Dynasty called his four-body calligraphy the first in the country. He was a beginner in seal carving, He Zhen and Liang Yuan, especially in the early and middle periods, and was obviously influenced by Liang Yuan. Later, he successfully used his unique skills in calligraphy to apply the ever-changing posture of the seal script to the seal, and got rid of the disadvantages and habits of the pretentiousness and pretentious posture in the printing of the Ming Dynasty. This was a major innovation in the field of Indian studies, which made the atmosphere of the Indian world at that time a new one, and the entire Indian academic community was in the wind. Deng Shiru seal, the knife is tactful and smooth, the style is clear and strong, the structure is graceful and colorful, he is famous for his calligraphy and seal carving achievements at home and abroad, and is praised by later generations as "the book is printed in, the seal is printed from the book".
Deng Shiru not only borrowed from each other in penmanship and knife techniques, but also was very fond of calligraphy, chapter cloth and seal engraving arrangement. He borrowed from the sparse and virtual reality of the seal method and chapter method in calligraphy to arrange the sparse and dense changes on the printing surface. He put forward the famous thesis of "counting white to be black", and since then, the blank space on the printing surface has become an important method for the printers. The white here does not mean white, but blank. For Zhu Wenyin, white is the blank background of the Indian text; For Bai Wenyin, white is the red background of the Indian text. In other words, Zhu Wenyin's blank space and Bai Wenyin's red blank are both artistic "blank" and blank.
Blank space is an indispensable part of calligraphy and sealing, and it is also an important part of the composition of the seal surface. The blank space in the seal carving is no different from the blank space in calligraphy and painting in principle, but it has its own characteristics in the specific form of operation. On the one hand, it is subject to the shape and size of the seal, and it is also subject to the seal method and knife method of carving the knife into the seal. In short, we can neither equate the seal with calligraphy and painting, nor can we flow to the delicate craftsmanship in the hands of craftsmen, and it is best to construct a natural environment between ingenuity and inadvertentness, so that the blank space of art brings endless imagination to people.
Later, the famous seal scholars of the late Qing Dynasty, such as Wu Xizai, Xu Sangeng, Zhao Zhiqian, Wu Changshuo, Huang Mufu and others, were all influenced by Deng Shiru and became their own families. Wu Xizai studied under Bao Shichen, is Deng Shiru's second biography**, he has good calligraphy and painting, especially seal carving. He moves the knife quickly and roundly, and he is free to speak, and strives to express the smooth, delicate and elegant posture of the Shu scroll in the seal book, and the lines are very three-dimensional, and the printing has a knife and a pen, and the book is compatible. In terms of rules, the exhibition is interspersed with frowns, so that the head is comfortable, or pretending to be dense, and specially stretched, skillful in change. In particular, the frank and calm state of mind in his prints is even unknown to Deng Shiru. Zhao Zhiqian is even more profound, and his calligraphy, painting and seal carving are all exquisite. He carved the seal boldly to extract the weight of the edict, the brick and tile inscription and the spring cloth mirror inscription into the print, which greatly broadened the source of seal carving creation. He is particularly rich in penmanship, calligraphy, and chapter changes, and his printing is elegant and fresh, beautiful and free, and he has a unique way outside the mainstream Deng and Zhejiang factions in the printing world at that time. His side section is the first to use the Wei tablet and the statue of the Six Dynasties to engrave the Yangwen side paragraph, which greatly enriches the artistic expression of the side paragraph. He "attaches equal importance to printing", and his essence is to pay equal attention to calligraphy and engraving.
Wu Xizai printed three parties: "Zijing Secret Play", "Hundred Mirrors Room", "Wenjie Gongsun" Zhao Zhiqian Yin tripartite: "Zhao Zhiqian Yin", "Bending his waist for five buckets of rice", "Born to Yao Shunjun, if you can't bear it, you will never know".