Riding the wind of rebirth

"Shadow rubbing" has reached its peak here. The full shape of the objects copied by hand using this technique is accurate to the real thing, with clear patterns and meticulous details. The inscriptions are standardized and the strokes are orderly. The effect is realistic and pleasing to the eye, injecting a strong stroke into the re-casting of the former glory of full-shape rubbing.

It is not just information, an excellent rubbing is itself a fine work of art.

However, this craft technique, which is extremely important for the study of Chinese epigraphy, was once lost.

The National Library, the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage, the National Museum, and the Palace Museum all have large collections of rubbings of Tibetan artifacts. Many of these rubbings come from scholars in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, such as Chen Jieqi's Fuzhai version, Liu Tizhi's Shanzhai version, Duan Fang's Taozhai version, Sun Zhuang's Xueyuan version, Chen Baochen's Chengqiuguan version, and Wang Chen's Tie'an version.

Here also is the Xuetang version of Zhouzhi’s half-ancestor, Luo Zhenyu, one of the Four Halls of Oracle Bones.

Since last year, various intangible cultural heritage industries have gradually begun to receive attention from the country. Among the categories of calligraphy and painting art, double-hook copying, overprinting and woodblock printing, and shadow rubbing have been listed as the three key skills to be restored.

With the information and a large number of precious rubbings in the warehouse, it will not be difficult for the teachers from the National Museum and the Palace Museum to restore them.

Among them, the double-hook copying method is mainly used to reproduce high-end calligraphy and painting copies, and woodblock printing is used to restore ink paintings to the greatest extent. These two items are now Rongbaozhai's strengths.

The shadow rubbing method has, of course, been restored in the National Museum, which has the largest collection of bronzes.

The teachers in the Shadow-Trubbing Research Room liked Mai Xiaomiao, a cheerful and generous pretty girl, very much. They gave her a Shadow-Trubbing hanging scroll of Shiyou Gui, which made Zhou Zhi very envious.

The Shiyou Gui is 22.5 cm in height, 19.1 cm in diameter and 20 cm in foot diameter. Judging from its shape, patterns and inscriptions, it is a typical style of the middle and late Western Zhou Dynasty. This thing is a set of four pieces, which are basically the same size. The one being rubbing is the one numbered A.

The Shiyou Gui on the rubbing is divided into three parts. The lower part is a three-dimensional rubbing. The size of the object is exactly the same as the original. There are a pair of animal head half-ring ears on both sides of the mouth. The animal horns on the ears are spiral-shaped, and there are animal body-shaped patterns on the pendant ears. The lid edge and the mouth edge of the vessel are decorated with alternating heavy ring patterns, the ring foot is decorated with a single heavy ring pattern, and the lid and abdomen are decorated with tile ridge patterns. All the details have been copied one by one, which shows the exquisiteness.

The two pictures above are the inner lid and inner belly of the Shiyou Gui. The inscriptions on the inside of the lid and the bottom of the Shiyou Gui are divided into 11 columns, with 9 to 11 characters in each column, for a total of 107 characters. The inscription records an event of a court ceremony and enthronement, which took place roughly in the first month of the first year of King Zhou's reign. The king was in Wu and arrived at the Taimiao of Wu and presided over the enthronement ceremony of Shiyou.

The Shiyou Gui is particularly unique because it retains many special phenomena of bronze inscriptions in the transitional period. For example, some parts of the characters "年", "釐", "册", "秦", "朕", and "宝" still retain the remnants of the thick strokes of early bronze inscriptions, but have degenerated into dots drawn with double strokes; in addition, the shape of the character "文" follows the typical early Western Zhou style.

From the perspective of calligraphy, the handwriting is even and beautiful, and the brushwork is skillful, which are typical representatives of bronze inscriptions in the middle and late Western Zhou Dynasty. In terms of the layout of the text, while maintaining the vertical natural arrangement, the inscription does not force the pursuit of horizontal uniformity of the text to avoid falling into a rigid rut; in terms of the font, it is both square and round, and the characters "太", "庙", "公", "族" and so on are deliberately contrasted and processed with brushwork, which is an important means in calligraphy. The pursuit of change makes the inscription retain the graceful, smooth, jumping and agile interest, which also shows that the calligraphy at that time already had the pursuit of interest and aesthetics, and this pursuit also guided the progress of Chinese calligraphy for thousands of years.

For Zhou Zhi, who studies the origin of Chinese characters as her main subject and also likes calligraphy, this exquisite rubbing that is "second only to the original" is too tempting. "If you like it, take it." Mai Xiaomiao felt that it was a bit cumbersome for her to carry such a large scroll: "I don't understand it anyway."

"I just took a piece of calligraphy given to you by Qi Lao, and also took the peach blossoms painted for you by Yuan Lao. How can I feel good about this..." Zhou Zhi finally rejected the temptation: "You should keep it first and give it to me when you return to Lianhe Township!"

"Ok!"

At night, it was time for Zhou Zhi to revise his paintings and give classes. Although Mai Xiaomiao didn't understand much, he felt honored to see Zhou Zhi imparting all kinds of knowledge and skills to a group of people who were ten years older than him. He supported his chin with his hands and looked at Zhou Zhi, with stars in his eyes.

"From Hongwu to Hongzhi, Ming Dynasty court painting and the Zhejiang School were popular in the painting world, forming an era fashion that mainly inherited and carried forward the Southern Song Dynasty court painting style."

"The Ming Dynasty court painting inherited the Song Dynasty system, but there was no special painting academy. Many painters recruited by the court were under the management of the inner court. Unlike the Tang and Song dynasties, most of them were appointed as military officers of the Jinyiwei. Painting history calls them painting academy painters, but in fact they are court painters."

"The Hongwu and Yongle dynasties were in the early stages of development, when institutions were not yet complete and styles were largely inherited from the Yuan Dynasty. During the Xuande and Hongzhi years, painters from Liangzhe and Fujian who inherited the Southern Song Dynasty's court painting style were summoned to the palace one after another, which made Ming Dynasty court painting temporarily imitate the Southern Song Dynasty's court painting style, and court painting creation reached its peak. It was not until after the Zhengde period that the Wu School rose, and the level of folk painting gradually replaced the court style. Creation reached a new peak."

"Palace paintings in the Ming Dynasty were dominated by landscapes, flowers and birds, while figure paintings were narrow in subject matter, mainly depicting the emperor and empress's portraits and their merry lives, the royal family's civil and military achievements, and the emperor's courtesy to the wise and humble. Examples include Shang Xi's "Emperor Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty Enjoying His Life", Xie Huan's "Gathering in the Apricot Garden", Ni Duan's "Engagement with Pang", and Liu Jun's "Visiting Putu on a Snowy Night".

"In terms of painting, Ming Dynasty court paintings were not able to surpass those of the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties, but in terms of mounting, they reached a peak."

"Before the Ming Dynasty, the form of hand scrolls had already appeared. Because calligraphy and painting works are long, the ancients held them in their hands and unfolded them in order for easy reading, which led to the form of scrolls. For example, Wang Ximeng's "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" in the Song Dynasty was completed with a whole scroll, with a horizontal length of 1191.5 cm. Because the entire painting is long, it needs to be rolled up. When appreciating it, you can't see the whole picture at a glance, you must start from one end and appreciate it gradually. When browsing the inscriptions and postscripts on different mounting parts, it is convenient to compare the front and back. The viewer's impression will gradually deepen, and the aesthetic appreciation mood will gradually rise. When reading the postscript at the end, it can give people a feeling of wanting more. It has formed the unique charm of Chinese mounting art and even influenced the aesthetics and the way painters create scenes."

"In the Song Dynasty, Zhao Xigu's Dongtian Qinglu Collection and Mi Fu's History of Painting both conducted in-depth analysis of the horizontal scroll format and its evolution, and had a profound impact on the development of mounting techniques."

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"In the Ming Dynasty, large scroll paintings began to appear. Because of their long length, they were called 'long scrolls'. Because of their horizontal shape, they were also called 'horizontal scrolls'. For example, the famous 'Lanting Preface' by Wang Xizhi from the Eastern Jin Dynasty was mounted as a horizontal scroll by later generations."

"In addition, the mounting form of Ming Dynasty scrolls has also developed in a new way. A blank piece of paper is added behind the top and in front of the water separator of the painting, which is called the 'leading paper'."

"This kind of mounting style did not exist before the Ming Dynasty, and it is also an important symbol to distinguish the mounting era." (End of this chapter)