Riding the wind of rebirth

Chapter 1612 Treasures

For example, a Han Dynasty green-glazed Boshan pottery mirror box was identified as a Han Dynasty green-glazed pottery granary. Zhou Zhi certainly could not tolerate such a mistake and could not help but propose corrections.

There are indeed not many talents like him these days. Those who know about cultural relics generally do not speak fluent English, and those who speak fluent English do not know much about cultural relics. They can't even translate the word "opening". In the end, Zhou Zhi still thinks that using "craquele glaze" is a relatively appropriate translation, which is also recognized by everyone.

Although Zhou Zhi was still not satisfied with this word, after all, it was a French word, which meant the mesh series of patterns formed by firing porcelain. However, the Chinese word "kaipian" is a positive word, while "craquele glaze" is neutral or even derogatory. This is the same as the word "dragon" and "dragon", which is unreasonable.

Putting all this aside, Zhou Zhi's main job these days is to make trouble.

"Chunhua Ge Tie" was leaked from An Siyuan, and An Siyuan was of course very clear about its previous status. The previous owners of the six-hand scroll, the Fujita Museum, Eiichi Ataka, and Goro Sakamoto had very close relations, and Goro Sakamoto and An Siyuan were both colleagues and friends.

Before the influx of a large number of Chinese nouveau riche, the world's top circle of ancient Chinese art collectors was actually only this big. Behind the top artworks, there are always the figures of these bigwigs. Therefore, An Siyuan was quite clear about Zhou Zhi's level.

  Not until the lawsuit was won and An Siyuan donated the statue of Dancing Phoenix did he call Zhou Zhi to his house and took out the real task that needed Zhou Zhi to complete - to repair the Ming Dynasty rubbings of "The Inscription on the Buried Crane" and the Song Dynasty rubbings of Huaisu's "Thousand Character Essay in Cursive Script"!

"The Epitaph of the Buried Crane" is a peak in the history of Chinese calligraphy that can be compared with the Lanting calligraphy. Since it came to light in the early Northern Song Dynasty, it has been extremely famous.

To be honest, the Inscription on the Buried Crane has some connection with Zhou Zhi, because he was taught by Huang Shangu, and it is said that Huang Shangu's calligraphy was inspired by the fact that when he passed by Zhenjiang, he saw the inscription on the Buried Crane, which had few characters but was full of vigor and vitality, and was very memorable. So he lingered under the stone inscription of the Inscription on the Buried Crane for several days, and his calligraphy improved greatly.

Therefore, Huang Tingjian believed that "there is no better large-character work than The Inscription on the Buried Crane" and "its excellence is beyond description", and praised it as "the ancestor of large-character works".

The writing style of The Inscription on the Buried Crane is strong and vigorous, with a round brush and hidden tip. The style is derived from seal script and official script. The structure is broad and stretched, with the upper and lower parts connected, like a crane dancing low, with a generous demeanor and a sense of celestial beauty. The name of the characters is consistent with the inside and outside, and it can indeed be called a masterpiece of calligraphy. Therefore, since then, many calligraphers have learned from The Inscription on the Buried Crane. In addition to Huang Tingjian, Mi Fu, Lu You, and Bada Shanren are also outstanding. After the study of inscriptions and calligraphy in the late Qing Dynasty, Gao Fenghan, Zheng Banqiao, He Shaoji, Zhao Zhiqian, Shen Zengzhi, Zeng Xi, Li Ruiqing, Xu Beihong, Zhang Daqian and others also studied.

The original inscription of the buried crane was written in large characters on a cliff wall at the western foot of Jiaoshan Mountain in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province. It was written by a hermit for a dead crane. The original inscription on the cliff reads "written by Huayang Zhenyi and written by Shanghuang Shanqiao". However, there have been many different opinions on who wrote it, and there has been endless debate. The main theories are that it was written by Wang Xizhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Tao Hongjing, the leader of Taoism in the Southern Dynasties, and Wang Zan of the Tang Dynasty.

But it is a great pity that the cliff was struck by lightning and collapsed in the late Northern Song Dynasty, and fell into the river and broke into five pieces. It is usually submerged in water and can only be seen when the water level dries up.

According to the "Jiaoshan Chronicles", the inscription originally had more than 160 characters. In the winter of the 51st year of Emperor Kangxi's reign in the Qing Dynasty, Chen Pengnian, who had served as the prefect of Jiangning and Suzhou, recruited workers and spent three months digging up the remaining stone of "The Inscription on the Buried Crane" from the river. After cleaning and removing the dirt, the inscription only contained 86 characters, of which nine were missing.

Because it fell into the water first and then came out of it, the rubbings of "The Inscription on the Buried Crane" are divided into the versions before and after the water flooding. The number of characters in each version is not exactly the same, and the contents are also slightly different.

The Shuiqian version is very rare and precious because it is not easy to copy. Every piece of paper and every word is regarded as a precious jade. Therefore, even if the number of characters in the later version is increased and the copy is more refined than the Shuiqian version, its artistic value is still not comparable to that of the Shuiqian version. The version collected by An Siyuan is the 98-character Shuiqian version of "The Inscription on the Buried Crane" formerly collected by Liu Yong in the Qing Dynasty. Because it is a Ming Dynasty rubbing, the calligraphy style of the Southern Dynasties, especially the infiltration characteristics of the center of the seal script, are well preserved; in addition, the effect of wind and rain erosion has also enhanced the vigor and solemnity of the lines and the deep charm. Compared with the later Shuihou rubbing, the retained features are more complete. The key is that unlike other Shuiqian versions, this rubbing has a lot of characters, the most among all the rubbings of "The Inscription on the Buried Crane". It is a very important physical material for studying the art of calligraphy and the history of the development of the seal and clerical scripts in the process of the development of large-character regular script.

The word "Huayang Zhenyi" in the text is still intact, the word "Ji" is half damaged, and the word "Ye" is intact. Later, He Zhuo, Mao Yixiang, Yang Longshi, He Shaoji, He Weipu, and Luo Zhenyu inscribed it. All calligraphers praised this rubbing, which has increased its value.

Many of An Siyuan's collection of rubbings of inscriptions are unique pieces, and the Ming rubbing of "The Inscription on the Buried Crane" is one of the best.

Another outstanding book is the complete volume of Huaisu's "Thousand Character Essay in Cursive Script" in Song Dynasty.

The value of this rubbing is even more important than that of "The Inscription on the Buried Crane".

Huaisu was an expert in cursive script throughout his life, and most of his works were in that style. In his youth, he learned the true essence of brushwork from Wu Tong, and thus his calligraphy became a master.

In addition, he was also a great Zen monk who spent his entire life in extreme asceticism. The harmony of his mind allowed his calligraphy to not only adhere to the traditional Wei and Jin calligraphy styles, but also be free and unrestrained, expressing his own wild and unrestrained style.

Being able to maintain the purity of "cursive writing" while writing at an extremely fast speed is in line with the style of Chinese art that "wearing heavy shackles, and still dancing lightly and freely", and the state of mind that Confucius called "following the heart's desire without going beyond the rules". This is one of the reasons why people in later generations who learn cursive writing often take Huaisu as their master.

Among the inscriptions and calligraphy works handed down by Huaisu, the famous ones such as "Self-Portrait", "Bitter Bamboo Shoot Calligraphy", "Sutra in Forty-two Chapters", etc., are all superb and magical works of large cursive script. This "Thousand Character Essay in Cursive Script" may not be comparable to "Self-Portrait" and "Bitter Bamboo Shoot Calligraphy" in terms of creative freedom and spirituality, but it is more precious.

Because this work is the culmination of Huaisu's life, and it is also the only "Song Dynasty rubbings" in the world. The whole scroll contains thousands of characters, which is a magnificent sight. It can most completely present the entire style of Huaisu's calligraphy and is a true top treasure.

This rubbing was collected by Jingzhan in the Ming Dynasty and was called the "Qun Yutang version". It was later passed down to Wen Zhengming, Wen Peng, and Xiang Zijing. In the Qing Dynasty, it was collected and inscribed by Zhang Zhao, Wu Rongguang, Wu Yun, Pan Shicheng, Zhao Liewen, Shen Yinmo and others. It has been passed down in an orderly manner, with more than sixty or seventy seals alone, which is quite spectacular.

Moreover, this version is a "wood rubbing" from the Song Dynasty, which means that it was first carved on a wooden board using the double-hook brush technique and then printed.