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Chapter Eight: The Development of Chinese Calligraphy I -- The Seal Scripts
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100 chapter eight the Development of Chinese Calligraphy i The Seal Scripts The wonder of the Chinese brush resides not only in its ability to write an infinite variety of dots and lines, but also in the diverse scripts it produces. Chinese written signs have evolved through thousands of years, producing many different scripts and styles along the way, each with its own unique qualities. These styles are still in use today, in daily life and in art. In China, the knowledge of different writing styles is taken for granted in everyday life as well as in appreciating calligraphic artwork. The interplay of writing style, content, and purpose adds even more dimensions. Therefore, a review of the historical development of Chinese calligraphy and a general understanding of the various scripts are essential for new learners. This is our goal in Chapters 8 through 11, in which major scripts and styles are examined through history. Four scripts/styles are chosen for you, one in each chapter, to try in writing practice. an overvieW of sCriPts anD styLes The Chinese script spawned one of the most literate cultures of the world. The history of Chinese calligraphy is as long as that of the Chinese writing system, development of chinese calligraphy i: the seal scripts 101 which began more than three thousand years ago. Figure 8.1 shows at a glance the development of major scripts and styles through the ages, using the character 鱼 yú, “fish,” as an example. Several points should be made before we examine Figure 8.1 in detail. First, the scripts did not develop along a single line in time. More than one script could be developed and used simultaneously. The Small Seal and Clerical scripts, for example, both developed around the Warring States period.1 Small Seal is generally thought to be the older of the two, partly because it belongs to the ancient scripts, while Clerical Script represents the beginning of modern scripts. A second and related point is that the development of the various scripts was not mutually exclusive. That is, the beginning of a new script did not define the end of an old Figure 8.1. an overview of scripts and styles. [54.91.51.101] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 06:14 GMT) chinese writing and calligraphy 102 one. Rather, they complemented each other. The development of Regular Script, for example, helped the Cursive and Running styles mature. Third, the exact time of the development of various scripts, especially that of the Regular Script, is still an issue very much unsettled. Fourth, the variation among scripts is gradual. Many of the less important variations both within and between the major scripts will not be discussed here.2 Strictly speaking, only four scripts played major roles in the development of the Chinese writing system: Great Seal (大篆 dàzhuàn), Small Seal (小篆 xiǎozhuàn), Clerical (隸書 lìshū), and Regular (楷書 kǎishū). They are considered major scripts because at different times they were formally adopted for official documentation. Great Seal Script is a cover term for several ancient scripts used over 1,200 years before the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE), including Shell and Bone Script (甲骨文 jiǎgǔwén), Bronze Script (金文 jīnwén), and Stone Drum Script (石鼓文 shígǔwén).3 Since the Qin dynasty, three major script changes have taken place: from Great Seal to Small Seal, from Small Seal to Clerical, and from Clerical to Regular. The Running (行書 xíngshū) and Cursive styles (草書 cǎoshū) were initially developed as informal ways to increase writing speed. Later they were also adopted for art. However, they do not represent major script changes; they only reflect modifications of the major scripts. As will be discussed below, they are much less standardized and are not used in official documents. For that reason, they are referred to as styles rather than scripts. tHe Great seaL sCriPts Legend has it that, about five thousand years ago, Chinese written signs were created by a four-eyed dragon god named Cang Jie, who observed animal footprints , bird scratches, rain, wind, thunder, and the shapes of natural objects such as mountains, rivers, and tree shadows, and created Chinese characters based on them. When he did so, it is said, the spirits cried in agony and millet rained from Heaven because the innermost secrets of nature had been revealed. This account is part of Chinese mythology. A more plausible explanation is that Chinese written signs originated in multiple locations. Cang...