The Charm Of "Tai Yin":a Probe Into Zhao Shuru’s Seal Cutting

This paper studies the seal cutting concept of the seal artist Zhao Shuru (1874-1945), who was a native of Ningbo, Zhejiang in the late Qing Dynasty. As typical Chinese traditional literati, Zhao Shuru’s seal cutting concept is given priority to with strong charm and lofty elegance. This paper is according to the study from the standpoint of art history and it takes Zhao Shuru’s seal works, social intercourse and the influence of Zhao Shuru on his disciples as a starting point to constitute four chapters. It spreads out discussion according to the following core contents:(I) "Tai Yin" and "Tai Yang" -- a comparative study on the seal style of Zhao Shuru and Wu Changshuo; (II) To Learn and imitate stone inscriptions of the Qin and Han Dynasty, absorbing the essence from them--- On the reason why Zhao Shuru’s reputation is not prominent; (III) To view Zhao Shuru’s strong charm seal cutting concept from his social intercourse; (IV) The influence of Zhao Shuru’s seal cutting concept on his disciples----Take Chen Julai and Sha Menghai as examples.As Modern Shanghai-Style seal artists, Zhao Shuru and Wu Changshuo develop a school of their own. Sha Menghai once compared Wu Changshuo’s vigorousness to "Tai Yang", and compared Zhao Shuru’s elegance to "Tai Yin". However, the source of the two is consistent, they all take three generations of Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, as well as Qin and Han Dynasties as the model, and they each hold a style and develop it to the extreme. The decent and elegant characteristics in Zhao Shuru’s seal works are closely related to his strong charm seal cutting thought. His seal cutting ideas are mainly embodied in making seal-carving on the basis of three generations of Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, as well as Qin and Han Dynasties. He strongly supports the copy and publication of seal collection and the compilation of dictionaries so as to benefit later people.Then his disciples inherit and develop his seal style,.Zhao Shuru holds the same view on the choice of making friends and the influence of the disciples,hence his seal style is characterized by peace is retained and developed in Shanghai and Zhejiang area. Zhao Shuru’s reputation gradually disappears. He seems to be fading out of people’s vision and he is no longer as famous as Wu Changshuo. He experienced a transformation process from Zhao and Wu’s confrontation with Wu is flourishing, but Zhao is in decline.