three levels of the tide are unparalleled,
Jiuzhe respects the first level.
This is a brick-carved couplet embedded in the north gate of Yanmen Pass. The first three passes refer to Yanmen Pass, Ningwu Pass, and Bitou Pass , which are the three passes outside the Great Wall. The second couplet refers to "The world is nine barriers, with Yanmen as the leader". The majestic pass of Yanmen, located on the north side of Yanbei Plateau, and the Xinding Basin in the south, with its tall peaks and dangerous mountains. It is the natural barrier for the farming people of the Central Plains to resist the invasion of the south by the northern nomadic peoples, and the throat of guarding the borders throughout the ages. It is the place where military struggling for thousands of years, and it is also a place where countless literati and poets have been chanted and chanted by.
One Yanmen Pass, half of the history of China, shows the long history and cultural thickness of Yanmen Pass. "Yanmen Pass Chronicle" records: "Gouzhu Mountain was called Xingling in ancient times. The west of the ridge is Xixing Pass, and the east of the ridge is Dongxing Pass. The stone edge walls of the two passes are integrated into one, and the pearls and pearls of all dynasties are perfect for each other. Yanmen Pass is located in Xixing Pass in the Ming Dynasty, and Dongxing Pass is located in Dongxing Pass in the Ming Dynasty; the rear of the Ming Dynasty is located in Dongxing Pass, and Xixing Pass is located in Xixing Pass." It can be seen from this that the pass city of Yanmen Pass changed in the Ming Dynasty. The northern entrance of ancient Yanmen Pass is Baicaokou and the southern entrance is Taihelingkou. Since the Ming Dynasty, the northern entrance of Yanmen Pass has been moved to Guangwukou. The east and west wings of Yanmen Pass extend to Fanzhi and Yuanping respectively. The overall deployment of Yanmen Pass is summarized as "two passes, four gates, eighteen passes", and there were eighteen passes here in ancient times. Yanmen Pass, as an important part of the Great Wall of , is one of the most frequent wars, the most famous and the widest influence of ancient passes, and is known as the first pass in China.
Yanmen heads north and enters the desert in the north. The history of Yanmen Pass is first traced back to . The Warring States Period, . The King of Zhao Wuling fought against the Huns here. Han Dynasty generals Li Guang, Wei Qing, and Huo Qubing all led their troops to fight the Huns here. Li Guang once served as the prefect of Yanmen. During the Battle of Song and Liao, the story of the Yang family generals is well-known. Yanmen Pass is the main battlefield for the confrontation between Song and Liao. There is also a statue of Yang Liulang in the scenic area. It is said that Baicaokou, the north entrance of Yanmen Pass, was originally named Fai Caokou, because Yang Ye's defeat in the place and died of hunger strike. During the Battle of Song and Xia, Sima Guang, who was the magistrate of Bingzhou at that time, inspected the western border defense of Quyehe, Linzhou. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Eighth Route Army led by our party severely attacked the Japanese invaders and achieved the famous Yanmen Pass victory. The Yanmen County , named after Yanmen, also went through the Qin, Han, Sui and Tang dynasties, and was rebuilt and abolished many times. By the third year of Qianyuan in Emperor Suzong of Tang Dynasty, a total of more than 1,000 years. Yanmen Pass has always been recited by literati and poets because of its unique military geography and its strange mountains and rivers. Poetry Immortal Li Baiyun "I used to leave Yanmen Pass, but now I guard the dragon courtyard. The sand is chaotic and the sea is chaotic, and the flying snow is fascinating the Hu sky", depicting the magnificent scene of the plains of Yanmen Pass and the flying snow in the Hu sky.
Middle Tang Wei Bo Jiedushi Tian Chengsi was born in the Tian family of Yanmen. He was the son of Tian Shouyi, a mid-term general, warlord, vassal state of the Tang Dynasty, and the son of Tian Shouyi, deputy guardian of Andong. According to historical records, Tian Chengsi was brave and good at fighting. He followed An Lushan, the governor of Lu, and made many military achievements. He was promoted to the General of the Left Wu Guard and led his army to capture Luoyang. After the Anshi Rebellion was pacified, he surrendered to the court and appointed as the governor of Weibo. Later, Tian Chengsi seized the country and refused to obey the court orders. Wei Bo Town was like an independent kingdom. Emperor Daizong of Tang implemented a policy of tolerance and earnestly won over. He married Princess Yongle and was awarded the title of Prince of Yanmen. Han Shu stele " Xianyuhuang Stele " mainly describes the ancestor lineage and life history of Xianyuhuang . After Xian Yu Huang first promoted Xiaolian to Shangjun, he served as Sima, Ganyu Order, Taiwei Xicao, Anbianjie Envoy, etc., and finally served as the prefect of Yanmen. He was not good at being an official, but after his death, he left a set of famous monuments for modern calligraphy enthusiasts, which is also a beautiful story.
Today, we are fortunate to let the "Yanmen County Seal" repurchased by collectors from Japan see the light of day again. This is a great blessing in the history of calligraphy and metal and stone. So, what era is this official seal from? What little-known stories are behind this ancient seal?
"Yanmen County Seal" is made of copper, nose button, square, 5.5 cm in height, 4.3 cm in height, and weighs 261.6 grams. The five characters "Seal of Yanmen County" are engraved on the back of the seal, and are in regular script.Judging from the style of the seal on the seal and the form of the nose button, it should be the seal of Yanmen County in the middle of the Tang Dynasty.
Yanmen has a county, which dates back to 300 BC. "Records of the Grand Historian: Biography of the Xiongnu" records: "In the 26th year of King Wuling of Zhao (300 BC), he also changed into a vulgar Hu clothing and practiced riding and shooting, and defeated Lin Hu and floors in the north. The Great Wall was built, from the time to the bottom of Yinshan Mountain, and to the Gaoque, it was established as a pass. Yunzhong, Yanmen, and counties." The Tang Dynasty established Yanmen County in the early years of Tianbao. Volume 39 of "Old Book of Tang" records, "The governor's office in the metabolism was Yanmen County, and in the first year of Wude, it was established as the general manager of Daizhou, which was in charge of the three prefectures of Dai, Xin and Wei. Daizhou managed the four counties of Yanmen, Fanchou, Wutai, and Wutai... In the first year of Tianbao, Yanmen County was changed to Yanmen County, and it was still the governor's office, and it was also the Daizhou..." At the beginning of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, Yanmen County was changed to Daizhou in the first year of Wude (618 AD). In the early years of Tianbao (742 AD), Yanmen County was re-established, and in the first year of Qianyuan (758 AD), it was changed to Daizhou. It is inferred from this that the establishment of Yanmen County in the Tang Dynasty lasted from 742 AD to 758 AD, a total of 16 years. Therefore, the seal should be the official seal of Yanmen County from the Tianbao to the Qianyuan period in the Tang Dynasty, and its "age" should be over 1,360 years old!
's study of seals has been widely studied since the first rise of seals by literati in Yuan and Ming dynasties to the Ming and Qing dynasties, and modern times have been prosperous with many famous schools. Qin and Han seal is undoubtedly a hot topic of attention. They held high the banner of "Sinzong Qin and Han dynasties", which made seals other than Qin and Han dynasties very neglected. Although the originator of Zhejiang School , Ding Jing, put forward the slogan "If I had known the wonders of the Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties, I would never have adhered to the Chinese literature", there were only a few followers. It was not until Qu Zhongrong, the late Qing Dynasty, that "Collection of Ancient Official Seals" first advocated the research on the interpretation of , the Sui and Tang official seals. Then, Luo Zhenyu, an epigrapher of the Republic of China, vigorously searched and compiled his seals into the book ", Official Seals Collection of since the Sui and Tang Dynasties". The book has a total of 225 final seals, including 25 official seals in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, making it a necessary catalog for studying official seals in all dynasties after the Sui and Tang Dynasties. In the 1970s, "Introduction to Ancient Seals" written by Luo Fuyi , a comprehensive study was conducted from the style of ancient seals, name, button making, material, category to the origin of ancient seals, the era of ancient seals, seal relics, and seal arrangement methods. Among them, the official seals of the Sui and Tang dynasties were detailed and examples were given in terms of seal text and shape, and the key points of identification were summarized and accurately identified. The book "Research on the Official Seal of the Sui and Tang Dynasties" written by Mr. Sun Weizu can be said to be the most comprehensive, systematic and authoritative monograph on the official seal of the Sui and Tang Dynasties so far. The book summarizes the research results of the Sui and Tang official seals by predecessors, and widely lists newly discovered documents. Through the multi-level research of the Sui and Tang official seals, the formation of the system and the material production process are systematically studied. These research results provide a very valuable reference and systematic guidance for the identification of official seals of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and also enrich the academic content of epigraphy , calligraphy and seal engraving, and archaeology . According to Sun Weizu's "Research on the Official Seals of Sui and Tang Dynasties", the Sui and Tang Dynasties have been discovered so far, and most of them only have seal texts. It can be seen that official seals in the Sui and Tang dynasties are very rare, and academic research is also lagging behind the Qin and Han dynasties. However, through the hard work of generations of scholars, the weak area of Chinese seal history has gradually shown a clearer outline. All these research results have provided great academic help to us today to examine the "Seal of Yanmen County".
"Seal of Yanmen County" Seal Interpretation of the seal
"Seal of Yanmen County" seal surface is divided into two lines, the first line is "Yanmen" and the second line is "Seal of County". The seal text is small seal positive text, and the border thickness is the same as the seal text. The seal text has a rigorous structure, the lines are bent and coiled, the strokes are round, the seal script is graceful and beautiful, and the lines are smooth and natural. In terms of composition, the strokes of the characters are simple and traditional, and the process is artistically stretched and moved, with unique craftsmanship. The word "Yan" has many strokes, which occupies a large space, while the strokes of "Zhiyin" take up less space. In order to pursue the overall evenness of the seal layout, the character "Zhi" with the least strokes is balanced through the form of coiled strokes. This buckling treatment is neither abrupt, but also very harmonious with other characters, and the picture is more beautiful.Compared with the seal form of the two characters "Zhi Seal", the style is mostly similar to that of the Tang official seal. Let’s look at the overlapping connection between the seal text and the thin border, which is also extremely exquisite. The seal text and the border are connected in three directions, and there are no strokes on the right side of Yanmen. It can be seen that the seal seal is arranged without a craftsmanship. The other three directions have three strokes connected to the border. This way, it is done with the trend, and the "seal" is natural, and the pearls are perfect. The large piece of white space in the character "官" and the horizontal and oblique insertion in the upper middle of the character "官" can be regarded as the finishing touch, adding an infinitely vivid and lively beauty to the rigorous and dignified seal, as if two magical swords turned into door bolts, locking the majestic pass of Yanmen.
"Geese" and "Bow", which were usually mixed in ancient times. In Han , Xu Shen , " Shuowen Jiezi ", it explains that geese are birds, from the geese to the man, the sound of the factory is like a geese. The word "天" has both phono-sounding and erotic meaning. The word "天" is a kind of bird, 餩, and human (中) expresses the meaning, and the factory (an) expresses the pronunciation. The shape of the oracle bone inscription is also very similar to that of the bird. It can be seen that "bird" and "鹅" are often interchangeable in making the characters, such as the traditional Chinese character "鹅" of chicken, which can also be written as "鹅". Because geese are arranged in an orderly manner according to the principles of aerodynamics during their migration and flying, "geese order" also represents the order of brothers. Every year, the wild geese fly south regularly, starting from , white dew to the end of cold dew, as if the beauty keeps her promise. Therefore, the ancients often used wild geese to describe love, such as "When the word "geese returns, the moon fills the west building."
According to research, the production methods of official copper seals in the Tang Dynasty can be roughly divided into welding method and overall casting method. The overall casting of method sealing wind can see subtleties in the thick and vast land, slow and simplicity in the flow, and the fun of ink and water. Welding judge's seal is also called "pandian seal". It is made by casting the seal body first, concave the seal surface into a cavity, and then coiling around the welding in the cavity according to the text shape. Its characteristics are easy to control and elegant, clean and strong. The most obvious difference between the printing surface effect presented by the two is the connection form at the intersection of strokes. Most of the intersections of welding and casting strokes will be separated, and some even have position deviations, such as "Jinshan County Seal, Wuyi County Seal", etc. Due to the casting process, the connection points at the junction of strokes are obviously thicker than the strokes, and there are obvious inner arcs at the edges of the inner corners, giving people a very strong visual effect, and the overall printing surface is melted into one, such as "Wannian County Seal". The junction of the "Yanmen County Seal" is full at the junction of the strokes, which is thicker and stronger than the strokes, so the production process should be a very typical overall casting.
Tang Dynasty Due to the high prosperity of the economy and society, its various arts have reached a peak and prosperous era, and outstanding achievements have been made in poetry, painting and calligraphy. Seal Script , an ancient style of calligraphy, showed a new prosperity in the Tang Dynasty. It was the peak of the development of seal script that appeared after the Han and Wei dynasties. It was called the "resurrection of seal script" in the history of calligraphy. Representative calligraphers include: Li Yangbing , Weibao , Tang Yuandu, etc. Another important reason for the "resurrection of seal script" in the Tang Dynasty was that it was due to the Tang Dynasty inheriting the Sui system and enrolling scholars in the imperial examinations. Imperial College specially set calligraphy as one of the academic qualities and doctoral students as teachings. At that time, we had to learn different fonts from ancient and modern times, and we also had to understand the origin and change of fonts. It was this rigorous training that ended the confusion of writing since , , began the Tang people's style of worshipping law, and greatly improved people's understanding of seal script. Since then, the court has set up an important position of proofreader , and those who are well-educated are all well-educated people. According to the "Six Dictations of the Tang Dynasty", "There was an official who proofreaded the character "Lang Zheng" at that time, and his duties were to be in charge of the classics and the official work of the text. There were five fonts of the books compiled by the proofreading and publication. The first was ancient text, which had been abandoned; the second was large seal , which was only used for publishing stone scriptures; the third was small seal silhouettes, which were used for seal seals and steles; the fourth was eight-point, which was used for stone steles and steles; the fifth was official script (referring to the collection of regular script at that time), which was used for classics, memorials, and public and private texts." Thus, the so-called revival of seal script from the early Tang Dynasty to the middle of the Tang Dynasty was formed. The famous seal script writers who have achieved success are all small seal scripts. " Tang Six Classics " clearly uses small seal scripts for seals. This famous writer's calligraphy style naturally influenced the style of private seals at that time.
Some researchers believe that one of the differences between the official seals of the Sui and Tang Dynasties is the difference between the "seal" and the "seal". Regarding the difference between the words "zhi" in the official seal of the Tang Dynasty and the official seal of the Sui Dynasty, Mr. Luo Fuyi believed that the official seal of the Tang Dynasty mostly had the word "zhi", and those who did not use the word "zhi" were mostly Sui seals. However, there were found that the word "zhi" was added to the word "zhi" and there were no "zhi" in the seal mud of the mid- and late Tang dynasties unearthed in the Daming Palace site in Chang'an. Luo Fuyi’s point of view needs to be viewed dialectically. From the only few remaining cases, the word "zhi" is not seen. If the word "zhi" is added to the word "zhi" can be identified as an official seal of the Tang Dynasty, it should be carefully studied and carefully discussed. Mr. Sun Weizu put forward a conservative view in "Research on the Official Seal of Sui and Tang Dynasties": "The three characters "Seal of the County" on the left are consistent in style. Whether the official seal of the Tang Dynasty is made uniformly or has its own basis, it still needs further confirmation from historical materials, and this phenomenon is more common in the middle Tang Dynasty." The author believes that the requirement of using small seals to enter seals from "The Six Classics of Tang Dynasty" should be unified in logical reasoning for the text that best represents the token of the ruling authority. Since the appearance, size, and seal text are customized in a unified manner, the seal text should be more unified. In other words, those who carry "zhi" are sure of the Tang Dynasty, and those who don't carry "zhi" are not necessarily from the Tang Dynasty.
"Yanmen County Seal" and exquisite back style
In order to distinguish the official seal of Sui and Tang dynasties from other official seals, Mr. Luo Fuyi summarized the basic characteristics of the official seal of Sui and Tang dynasties from several places in the Forbidden City: one is the enlarged nose button, and the other is that some back styles are cast in seal script and seal script. The difference between the official seals of the Sui and Tang dynasties is that the seal button of the Sui and Jin dynasties "revealed the form of the Han and Jin nose button. The top of the button is semicircular, with a thick and wide nose, and the holes are smaller and semicircular. The entire appearance is completely enlarged by the nose button of the Han and Jin dynasties." And "The buttons of the official seals of the Tang dynasties became taller, thinner and narrower, and the holes became longer and longer. It develops backwards through the Five Dynasties to the Song Dynasty, and gradually formed a buckle button, which completely lost the shape of the nose button." As a result, the changes of the official seal button of the Han and Jin dynasties and Tang dynasties have become very clear: the nose button of the Han and Jin dynasties till the Tang dynasties Net6 till the Tang dynasties Net6 till the Tang dynasties Net6 till the Tang dynasties Net6 till the Tang dynasties Net6 till the Tang dynasties Net6 till the Tang dynasties Net6 till the Tang dynasties Net6 till the Song Dynasty changed. The changes in the official seal system are mostly concerned about the size of the seal surface. The size of the official seal of the Sui and Tang Dynasties is generally between 5-6 cm. According to Mr. Sun Weizu's research, the average size of the seal surface of the Tang official seal is about 5.5 cm, and the size of the "Seal of Yanmen County" is 5.4 cm, which is in line with the official seal system of the Tang official seal. Now compare the "Seal of the Seal of the Seal of the Central Seal" and the "Seal of the Yanmen County" in the Palace Museum. The Seal of the Central Seal of the Central Seal can be regarded as a recognized standard instrument for the official seal of the Middle Tang Dynasty. The size of the seal surface is 5.7*5.6 cm, and the size of the "Yanmen County Seal" is 5.5*5.5 cm. The two prints have almost the same size and their shapes are basically the same.
The nose button of the official seal of the Sui and Tang Dynasties has a change from thick to high and thin, and the nose button is also marked with the specific size. According to the data of the marked heights in the Sui and Tang official seals in Mr. Sun Weizu's "Research on Sui and Tang official seals", the average height of the Sui seal is 3.25 cm, and the average height of the Tang official seal is about 4.21 cm. Compared with the nose button of "Yanmen County Seal" in the "Yanmen County Seal" is 4.3 cm in height, slightly higher than the average value of the Tang official seal. From this we can see that the height, thickness, width and narrowness of the button "Yanmen County Seal" is completely a symbol of the shape of the official seal in the middle Tang Dynasty.
Welding casting method "Jinshan County Seal"
Overall casting method "Yanmen County Seal"
We will find that the rope opening of the nose button can be vaguely seen with wear marks. This shows that the nose button is not only convenient for grasping the strength when stamping, but also shows that in order to facilitate use and carry, the officials at that time did tie the nose button with a rope, similar to the mobile phone chain of today's fashionable girls. With a magnifying glass, you can also see the inside of the nose button rope hole, which is precipitated with the rust spots and corrosion.
In addition to the different printing surface size, button making, and seal printing system before the Sui and Tang dynasties, there is also a prominent logo, which is the back style that appeared during the production process of the official seal. During the Qin and Han dynasties, official seals were basically not signed. This is also the origin of later literati's seal carving styles. Most of the official seals on the Sui and Tang Dynasties were chiseled, and most of the contents were written on the seal surface, the text of the year and month of the seal being issued.For example, the seals of the Sui Dynasty "Guangnafu Seal" were engraved with "October 1st of the 16th year of Kaihuang", and the seals of the Secretariat of the Tang Dynasty, the seals of Wuyi County, and the seals of Pingqin Xie were all written on the text. Some of these characters on the back are carved in one line, and some are divided into two lines, and most of them are regular script. There are two opinions on the issue of backing the text in the academic community. One is the interpretation of the text and the year is the Sui Dynasty, and the other is the interpretation of the text in the single seal is the Tang Dynasty. However, according to the existing information, if there is no year mark in the official seal of the Tang Dynasty, there is no year mark in the official seal of the Sui Dynasty. There are some chisels in the format, and some are two chisels in the format. The back of the "Seal of the Seal of the Seal of the Central Seal" in the Palace Museum was divided into two rows of chiseled characters "Seal of the Central Seal" and were not clear. The two words "Zhi Seal" are clearly visible. Compared with the "Seal of the Yanmen County Seal" on the back, the style and size of the font and the position of the chisel are as if they were one person. I don’t know if it was a custom made strictly required by the official at that time, but I found that this backing style from many Tang official seals can at least be considered as a production practice at that time, and perhaps it was a custom. "Seal of Yanmen County" and the skin and rust color
All officials in the Tang Dynasty "all used copper seals" and were a clear system. Because copper seals have been buried in the ground for a long time, they have been more than a thousand years since then, and have been acidified and corrosion and oxidative rust for a long time. Therefore, the rust spots on the copper seal grow layer by layer from the inside to the outside. Looking closely at the "Yanmen County Seal" bone rust is strong and fine, with clear layers of red spots and green rust. The black rust is on the bones. On the black rust is red rust , and on top of it is green rust, and the green rust has obvious crystal spots. Observing the rust green and blue rust in a 100-fold magnifying glass is very charming. It adds a mysterious color to the copper seal with vicissitudes of life. Judging from the skin patina, it should be unearthed before the founding of New China, and its pit has typical northern characteristics. The pit mouth of southern is mostly red and green rust. This red spotted green rust has a clear layer, from black to red, from red to green, and from rust to crystallize, and it should be the pit entrance in the north. It is very rare that the official seal of the Tang Dynasty can preserve such a complete quality.
is used to compare the official seals of the Sui and Tang dynasties in the surviving public and private collections. The seal style and shape characteristics of the seal on the surface of the "Yanmen County Seal" are fully in line with the characteristics of the official seals of the Tang Dynasty in the Central and Northern Dynasties. The use time was about the time from the Tianbao period of the Middle Tang Dynasty (742 AD) to the Qianyuan period (758 AD). The official seals of the Tang Dynasty were managed by the Ministry of Rites and . There was a strict management system from the awarding, casting, printing, recasting to the payment and cancellation of the seal. According to the "Records of the Retreat of the Dynasty in the Spring and Ming Dynasties" by Song Minqiu, it is stipulated that the official seals that are invalid or not must be handed over to the Ministry of Rites, and the characters of the Ministry of Rites will be broken on the big stone in front of the hall, and then the words will be discarded. Therefore, it is very rare to pass on official seals in the Tang Dynasty.
Where is the horse going? Traveling north has not returned. The cold clouds and snow are flying. The sun is dusk. Yanmen Pass
All the way is Fenshui . Looking at Jinshan in several states, I know that you are happy to be in the first place. I only love this body. I am leisurely
Today, Yanmen Pass is no longer a desolate frontier. Yanmen County in the middle Tang Dynasty has also been away from us for more than a thousand years. During the Anshi Rebellion, Tian Chengsi repeatedly surrendered to the Tang Dynasty and rebelled against the Tang Dynasty. This seal of Yanmen County replayed the prosperous war in that prosperous era more than a thousand years ago. If we carefully play with this mottled and rusty "Seal of Yanmen County", we seem to hear the thousand-year-old fighting among the golden swords and iron horses at the foot of Gouzhu Mountain, as if we hear the endless grievances of Wang Zhaojun, "Han's kindness is shallow and Hu's kindness", as if we hear the shallow moan of Fan Wenzheng's "Hengyang geese are gone without attention", as if we hear the helpless lament of Yang Yekang's death and hunger strike... The past cannot be pursued, and the drums and horns are striking, dimming the shadows of thousands of lights and swords. However, this seal of Yanmen County is still reminding us that peace is hard-won and development requires more effort. (Yuping Half Iron)
