A Comparative Study Of "Zi Baozi Monument" And "Good King Monument"

The Wei and Jin Dynasties is an calligraphic-style-alternating period in the Chinese calligraphy history.Under the influence of the old and the new styles,unprecedented changes also occurred in inscriptive calligraphy.At the Eastern Jin,when the new calligraphy styles were flourishing,admixtures of the new and the old styles were very prominent in the inscriptive calligraphy: the official script displayed a taste of the regular script,while the regular script still retained marks of the official script.Thus,the author referred to both of them as the“official-regular script”,and the “Cuan Bao Zi monument” and the “Hao Da Wang monument”are the products under such circumstances.In Qing dynasty,the Wei Jin inscriptive calligraphy were seldom admired by people before the times of Qianlong and Jiaqing,either seldom mentioned by calligraphers through the Northern and Southern Dynasties to Qing Dynasty,let alone learned from it.The reason why people began to pay attention to the Wei and Jin inscriptive calligraphy started from the late Qing Dynasty is because the study of the inscription and the seal cutting arose.During the period of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty,Ruan Yuan for the first time put forward the aesthetic trend of "Monument Advocate" and the artistic value and aesthetic characteristics of the Wei Jin inscriptive calligraphy,creating a new investigation path of the brand new aesthetic field of“Wei monument”for calligraphers and theorists in the Qing Dynasty.Ruan Yuan proposed broad concepts such as the "Northern monument",whereas the concept of “Wei monument” was clearly put forward by Bao Shichen and Kang Youwei and the “Wei monument” calligraphic art which was advocated by the studies of Wei monument was also advancing with the times."Cuan Bao Zi monument" and "Hao Da Wang monument" are both the representative “Wei monument” pieces of the Eastern Jin Dynasty,The two monuments one locates in the south and one in the north,both are away from the mainstream cultural circle of the Central Plain region,each with its distinctive regional characteristics and looks very different in style,and can also be regarded as the pieces of the “square” and the “round”art category respectively.This paper mainly adopts the methodology of the comparative research and the exemplification and argumentation and references Qing Dynasty aesthetic theories of the monument study.The article illustrates the aesthetic characteristics and aesthetic significance of the Wei and Jin inscriptive calligraphic arts through the comprehensive comparison and the investigation of the social-political and cultural background,the stone material,the calligraphy style characteristics and the specific character structures of the "Cuan Bao Zi monument" and "Hao Da Wang monument".And through the study of the monument aesthetic theory of the Qing Dynasty and the study of the aesthetic interest of the calligraphy practice,the article explores the significance and the enlightenment for the contemporary calligraphic art creation.