Calligraphy Study Of Tablet Inscriptions Of The Song Dynasty In Anyang

After the appearance of ancient Chinese stone inscription,it has become the carrier of inheriting culture and recording history and includes the humanistic concept and aesthetic orientation and so on of a certain period because of its unique connotation.In addition to reading the contents of the inscription,you can also appreciate the calligraphy of the calligrapher by means of tablet inscription or stone inscription,which is different from general historical accounts.Therefore,the stone tablet is a carrier of calligraphy art.What it passes on to us is the art form and the artistic feeling,and it is the important material in studing the calligraphy art.Anyang is close to the economic and political center in the Song Dynasty,so the Central Plains culture has left different styles of epitaphs works.Regular script is the bulk of these inscriptions,as well as several squares of seal script,running script and two squares of official script.Although the quantity is not much,there is no lack of treasures,most of which are books by court officials and literatis,showing the aesthetic interest of the literati calligraphy in the Song Dynasty and the trend of popular calligraphy style,which provides us with the most true first-hand information for us to study and understand the calligraphy of the Song Dynasty.There is no far cry between calligraphies in the Song Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty.The Song regular script has been considered“a style left by the Sui and Tang dynasties”.Due to the collection and dissemination of calligraphies by Ouyang Xun,Yu Shinan and Chu Suiliang in Chunhua Calligraphy Rubbings(??????),as well as the promotion of Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy by Han Qi in Anyang,etc.,works with similar styles to Ouyang Xun,Yu Shinan,Chu Suiliang and Yan Zhenqing in the Tang Dynasty were very common among Anyang tablet inscriptions in this period.They may be as delicate and steep as Ouyang's style,as gentle and leisurely as Yu's style,as ethereal and lithe as Chu's style,or as magnificent and lush as Yan's style.Meanwhile,there was a unique phenomenon among Song calligraphies,that is,“to approach the style of literati in power”,so we can often see tablet inscriptions that“approached the style of literati in power”.The emergence of“Four Major Calligraphers in the Song Dynasty”also injected new vitality into Song inscriptions.The result was that Song regular script inscriptions in Anyang became even more diversified and confirmed the development history of Song regular script in the Central Plains.Apart from regular script inscriptions,the seal script and running script inscriptions discovered or unearthed in Anyang also fully demonstrated the inheritance and innovation of Song seal script and running script during their development.Some of seal script inscriptions were vigorous,well-balanced and pretty and inherited “the techniques of Li Si and Li Yangbing”.Some were exaggerated and embellished,combining ancient proses with seal script variants.This was not only because of Xu Xuan's inheritance and dissemination of “Li's seal script”,but also revealed the calligraphy creation tendency of Song people on the basis of learning ancient proses when epigraphy was in vogue.Running script inscriptions also had different styles.In the early Northern Song Dynasty,“Hanlin Academy style” inscriptions represented by The Temple Monument of Emperor Zhongzong of Shang Dynasty Newly Renovated in the Song Dynasty in Anyang built up some counterforce for the development of inscription calligraphy.While in the mid and late Northern Song Dynasty,after a temporal tone of “advocating the realm” took shape,forthright,natural,free and unbridled inscriptions emerged as the times require.There were also a small number of folk epitaphs and inscriptions in Anyang,reflecting the status of folk calligraphy.Their styles were mostly naive,plain,innocent and straightforward.From these folk inscriptions,it is not hard to find that being restricted by the development of calligraphy,folk calligraphies more or less maintained their own evolution tracks.For this kind of inscriptions,we can discard the dross and select the essential,draw from the queer and lively manner and natural and unbridled interest.The development of inscription calligraphy in Anyang is based on the development of calligraphy in the Central Plains,which faithfully reflects the form and style of calligraphy in the inscription of the Song Dynasty.By combing and analyzing the calligraphy style of the inscription,it is not only possible to understand the development law of the calligraphy of the inscription in the Song Dynasty,it can also provides reference and reflection for contemporary calligraphy creation on the basis of summarizing the art law and point out a correct direction for calligraphy creation.