The Study Of Zhu Yizun's Epigaphy And Calligraphy

Zhu Yizun in the late Ming Dynasty and the early Qing Dynasty was a great scholar with complete cultivations,having made tremendous achievements not only in poetry and essays but also in epigraphic text researches and calligraphic art.By a case study on Zhu,we attempt to probe into the revolutions and progress in epigraphic textual research,calligraphic ideas,calligraphic creations and other aspects and the inherent connections between them.This paper is divided into four chapters: the first chapter recounts the process of Zhu in looking for inscriptions and befriending others.The second chapter sorts out the loss and gain of the epigraphic researches by Zhu.The third chapter explores the aesthetic ideas and his thoughts on the calligraphy and seal engraving.The four chapter elaborates on his calligraphic creations and inheritance.These four aspects are mutually supplemented,crossing with each other,and having the inherent sequential logics.Zhu is one of the important participators in the activity of looking for inscriptions in the early Qing Dynasty.Looking at his footsteps in looking for inscriptions in all his life,we find them across the whole country,with the most important places in Shanxi and Shandong.By looking for inscriptions in these two places,it had greatly expanded his academic vision,having laid a foundation for him to ratify the historical literatures and research on the calligraphies,and resulting in the transformation of his own calligraphic style.Zhu made many good friends in his life,with some calligraphers,seal engravers,epigraphic collectors and epigraphic scholars,who played a vital role in the accumulation and perfection of Zhu's knowledge.Zhu looked for the inscriptions on the ancient bronzes and stone tablets mainly to ratify the historical materials and literatures with the said inscriptions,which specifically include two aspects: to prove the errors in the historical materials and to fill the blanks of the historical materials.Generally speaking,his epigraphic research went beyond the limitedness of stressing more on collections than textual researches,having set an excellent example for the scholars in the later generations.Besides,in his long-term epigraphic textual researches,he developed unique aesthetic visions and appreciative abilities.Therefore,he had also put forward assorted vital views and understandings on the versions,origins and developments of many inscriptions and copybooks,which have vital referential values for the research on the calligraphic history in contemporary times.While he carried out textual researches on the historical literatures,Zhu also paid special attention to the critiques on the artistic styles.He categorized the inscriptions of the Han Dynasty twice.In a way,by categorizing the inscriptions of the Han Dynasty,Zhuhad in fact blazed a revolutionary trail in advocating returning to the ancient ways and the clerical script of the Han Dynasty.Also by sorting out Zhu's critiques on the calligraphic styles after the Han Dynasty,we discovered his unique artistic ideas and aesthetic viewpoints.When elaborating in his book titled “Notes on Poetry in Tranquil Ambition Residence” on the achievements in poetry by various figures,he paid special attention to the critique on the calligraphic styles of the poets.This is also an integral part of his calligraphic thoughts.Besides,Zhu also wrote a great deal of prefaces,postscripts,poetry and other related to the seal engraving.By reading these literatures,we can summarize his major ideas and artistic thoughts in the seal engraving.Zhu was also a calligrapher good at various calligraphic scripts,especially exceptional in the clerical script.First of all,we take the chronicled works as the leads.Then,we refer to the life experiences of Zhu and the transformations of his ideas on understanding the inscriptions in the Han Dynasty to summarize the three stages of the origin and creations of Zhu's clerical script.Additionally,by analyzing the calligraphic works in these three stages,we explore the styles and features of the clerical script of Zhu.In addition to the clerical script,Zhu also painstakingly learn the seal script,the cursive script and the regular script.Also,instead of following the fashion at that time,he displayed his obvious personal features.He excelled most in the cursive script among these scripts.His learning of the cursive script was like that in the clerical script,in the same road featuring the transformation from the “beautiful”calligraphic style in the Yuan and Ming Dynasty to the “primitive and crude” calligraphic style.Additionally,Zhu's achievements in the epigraphic textual researches and calligraphic creations had directly or indirectly influenced his descendants and students.They were famous scholars good at both the poetry and the calligraphy.In fact,they constituted the school of “a calligraphic style of the scholars”with Zhu Yizun as its core in Qing Dynasty.