"shuo Wen Jie Zi And Qing Dynasty Calligraphy And Seal Carving Art

Shuowen Jiezi(origin of Chinese Characters) is a philological classic edited by Xu Shen of Eastern Han dynasty, which inherits and summarizes the achievements of previous philological studies. It has been greatly influencing the development and studies on philology ever since. It is of great consequence to our history of philology, history of education and history of learning. Chinese characters and calligraphy are closely interdependent, therefore, Shuowen Jiezi(model of standard Chinese characters) and calligraphy must be unavoidably related. The most active era of studies on Shuowen Jiezi is Ch'ing dynasty, consequently their relationship is more directly and conspicuously presented.This article concludes that the philological studies based on Shuowen Jiezi gave an impetus to the development of the art of calligraphic seal cutting, after examining the studies on Shuowen Jiezi and analyzing the development of calligraphic seal cutting in Ch'ing dynasty. It is manifested by the rising of general interest in seal script and clerical script which were hardly used during the previous era, and the calligraphers of seal script and clerical script increased day by day, thus thriving socially. Following the gradual prospering of seal script and clerical script, calligraphic wind of stele school matured as well. Thecalligraphic developing process in Ch'ing dynasty shows that formation of the technological principles and aesthetic pursuit of Stele School calligraphy were based on seal and clerical script practices. Implementation of the intended conception of seal and clerical script into standard and running and cursive script illustrates that the development of seal and clerical script had become foundation of the whole Stele School calligraphy. .While epigraphical studies and philology was reviving quickly and promoting the development of art of calligraphy, the art of seal cutting advanced a lot as well. In order to possess the first-hand materials for deeper study, scholars and calligraphers started to collect and organized stelae and seals of Han dynasty, and bronze writing and signatures etc. This wind broadened the seal cutters' outlook, therefore, the art of seal cutting prospered and formed several great schools, such as, Wan school, Zhe School etc.In Conclusion, the development of philology based on Shuowen Jiezi in Ch'ing dynasty had directly and indirectly promoted or influenced seal script and clerical script internally and externally.