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seal character

Seal script is one of the ancient Chinese characters, also called seal script. It is a general term for ancient Chinese characters. "Seal makers spread it, spread its physics, and apply it endlessly." The ancients thought that seal script was written by Cang Xie, but this is not credible. The generation of a kind of writing needs a long development process, and it is impossible for a person to complete it in a short time. Generally speaking, seal script includes all the characters before official script and their extended genera, such as bronze inscriptions, Shi Guwen, ancient prose of Six Kingdoms, small seal script, Miao seal script, overlapping seal script and so on. Narrow sense mainly refers to "Da Zhuan" and "Xiao Zhuan". The font of seal script is round and the structure conforms to the meaning of six books, so Sun said in the Tang Dynasty, "Seal script is graceful and smooth".

Produce history

During the Yin and Zhou Dynasties, the inscriptions carved on Zhongding Yi wares, namely the inscriptions on bronze inscriptions, also known as Zhong Dingwen, were widely popular. After the unification of Qin Shihuang, it was collectively called Xiao Zhuan, also known as Qin Zhuan. The so-called seal script is actually an official script. It is a standardized common font for official documents. According to the literature. Before the Qin Dynasty, Chinese characters had no special names. Seal script evolved from Qin characters in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Because this is the official book. Small seal is only suitable for grand occasions. Such as remembering merits and carving stones. Uncle's imperial edict. Soldiers and tigers. The fonts of standard seal script are arranged neatly. This pen is round and round. These lines are long and even. Presenting a solemn and beautiful style. Compared with Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Jinwen, it has some basic features: slender shape. And the taut tension extends downward. It constitutes the visual illusion that the upper part is dense and the lower part is sparse. This is also related to the top-down layout. Even lines, no matter how long stippling is. The strokes are even in thickness. This kind of strength. A pen with even speed. Give people a pure and simple aesthetic feeling. In addition, the font structure tends to be simple and fixed. The layout of seal script can better form the order of vertical and horizontal lines. Qin Zhuan is different from a square pen. He uses a round pen. The round pen is represented by Qin carved stone. Fang Bi is represented by the amount of copyright in imperial edicts of the Qin Dynasty. This is a vulgar style in Qin Zhuan. The Han and Wei Dynasties were a spent force for Qin Zhuan. Except for inscriptions, seals and objects. There are few independent seal scripts. Tang seal. Recovered from lee. Ren's majestic spirit has gone. Epigraphy in the song dynasty and the restoration of calligraphy in the yuan dynasty. The right to use seal script increased slightly. There are many people who are famous for their seal scripts, but they lack the power to surpass them. The wind of inheriting yuan dynasty in ming dynasty. Step evenly. In Qing dynasty, seal script was full of flowers. In promoting the Tang dynasty to surpass the Qin dynasty and enter the stage of great prosperity.

Font classification

big seal character

Big seal script refers to inscriptions on bronze inscriptions, bronzes and six-country scripts, which retain the obvious characteristics of ancient hieroglyphics. Xiao Zhuan, also known as "Qin Zhuan", is a commonly used character in Qin State and a simplified font of Da Zhuan, which is characterized by uniform and neat glyphs and is easier to write than Wen Shu. In the development history of Chinese characters, it is the transition between seal script and official script.

In the late Western Zhou Dynasty, Chinese characters developed into Da Zhuan. The development of seal script has produced two characteristics: first, the lines with uneven thickness in the early days became even and soft, and the lines they drew with utensils were very concise and vivid; Second, standardization, the glyph structure tends to be neat, and gradually deviates from the original shape of the picture, laying the foundation for the square characters. The big seal is for the later small seal. In a broad sense, Da Zhuan includes Xiao Zhuan, pre-Oracle Bone Inscriptions, bronze inscriptions and six-country scripts. The big seal script here refers to the Qin script that prevailed during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. With the eastward move to Luoyang, Qin occupied the hometown of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and at the same time inherited the writing of the Western Zhou Dynasty, which was developed on the basis of inheriting the bronze inscriptions. Regional, some are difficult to identify.

Dazhuan, also known as Zhuan (zhòu) text. It was named after it was recorded in Shi Shuo pian. History of Han Dynasty: "Fifteen poems, printed by Mrs. Shu of Zhou Shi." There are 225 Shuo Wen, which was collected by Xu Shen on the basis of nine Shi Shuo, and it is the main material for us to study Da Chuan today.

The original seal script is generally considered as "Shi Guwen". At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, in Tianxing County (now Fengxiang County, Baoji City, Shaanxi Province, called Yongcheng in ancient times, it was the capital of the pre-Qin Dynasty for more than 400 years, and there were a large number of pre-Qin cultural relics), the southern area was about three feet in diameter, with a small top and a large bottom, and the upper circle was flat like steamed bread. It is engraved with ten four-character poems written by Qin Xiangong in the eleventh year, which is the earliest stone inscription in China. More than 700 words were originally engraved, and more than 300 words are now in existence. These ten stone cities exist in the Forbidden City. Because the content recorded the hunting, it was named "Hunting or Carving Stones Forever". Wei, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, thought this stone was shaped like a drum, so he renamed it "Shi Guwen". Now he is the representative of Da Zhuan.

Small/small seal characters

After Qin Shihuang unified China (22 1 year ago), Xiao Zhuan implemented the policy of "the words are the same, the cars are the same", and unified measurement is responsible. On the basis of the original script of the Qin Dynasty's Da Zhuan, it was simplified, and the variant characters of the other six countries were cancelled, creating a unified writing form of Chinese characters. It was popular in China until the end of the Western Han Dynasty (about 8 AD) and was gradually replaced by official script. But because of its beautiful font, it has always been favored by calligraphers.