painting and calligraphy

Painting and calligraphy书法This section is for those who take a special interest in exploring the art of Chinese brushwork书法、绘画. In China, painting and calligraphy are always closely related to each other. Together, they are referred to as the Twin Sisters.Seal-cutting篆刻is traditionally listed along with painting, calligraphy and poetry as one of the "four arts" expected of the accomplished scholar 学识渊博的学者and a unique part of the Chinese cultural heritage. A seal stamp盖章in red is not only the signature on a work of calligraphy or painting but an indispensable 必不可少的touch触觉；格调to liven it up活跃起来.A. Chinese Traditional Painting Chinese traditional painting is highly regarded throughout the world for its theory, expression, and techniques. Different from Western paintings, a Chinese painting is not restricted by the focal point重点、焦点in its perspective 观点；远景；透视.According to the means of expression, Chinese paintings can be divided into two categories: the xieyi school学派and t he gongbi school. The xieyi school is marked by exaggerated forms and freehand徒手画的brush work. The gongbi school is characterized by close attention to detail and fine brush work. Xieyi, however, is the fundamental approach to Chinese painting. Itconstitutes an esthetic审美的theory 美学理论which, above all, emphasized the sentiments感情、观点. Even in ancient times, Chinese artists were unwilling to be restrained抑制；约束by reality.B．CalligraphyCalligraphy is regarded in China as the art of writing, beautiful handwriting with the brush, or the study of the rules and techniques of this art. As a traditional art, calligraphy occupies the same position as painting in the history of Chinese art and constitutes an indispensable part of the heritage of national culture. In China many people can write a good hand, but only a few of them could become calligraphers. It takes painstaking effort and years ofassiduous刻苦的，勤勉的practice to qualify oneself as an artist in this field. Like script脚本；手迹、手稿, Chinese calligraphy began with the hieroglyphs 象形文字；图画文字；秘密符号and, over the long ages of evolution, has developed various styles and schools. Chinese scripts are classified into five categories: the seal character (zhuan), the official or clerical script (li), the regular script (kai), the running hand (xing) and the cursive草书的；草书体的、连接的hand (cao).C. Seal-cuttingSeal-cutting is a unique part of the Chinese cultural heritage. It is traditionally listed along with painting, calligraphy and poetry as one of the “four arts”which an accomplishedscholar is supposed to master. The art dates back about 3,700 years to the Yin dynasty and originated from the cutting of oracle甲骨文inscriptions碑文、铭文、题字on tortoise shells. Itflourished繁荣，兴旺；茂盛；活跃；处于旺盛时期in the Qin Dynasty, when people engraved their names on utensils餐具；器皿；炊具and documents (of bamboo and wood) to show ownership or authorship所有权或原作者. Out of this grew the cutting of personal names on small blocks of horn角, jade玉, or wood, namely, the seals as we know today.As in other countries, seals may be used by official departments as well as private individuals. From as early asthe Warring States Period (45-221 B.C.), an official seal would be conferred as token of authorization by the head of state on a subject whom he appointed to a high office. The seal, in other worlds, stood for the office and the corresponding power. Private seals are likewise used to stamp personal names on various papers for purposes of authentication证明；鉴定；证实or as tokens of good faith.Rubbings (拓本Taben)To make rubbings from carved inscriptions was the earliest method of making copies in China before printing was invented. In ancient times, engravings were often made on stone of important imperial decrees法令；判决，律例, texts of Confucian classics,Buddhist scriptures佛经, proved medical recipes食谱、处方、秘诀as well as poems, pictures and calligraphic works by noted men of-letters so that they may be appreciated and pre-served for posterity 子孙后代，后裔；.To make rubbings is to make copies from these cut inscriptions铭文、碑文or pictures, The method followed is rather simple in principle: paste张贴，裱糊；用浆糊粘a wetted piece of soft but firm paper (xuan paper is normally used) closely over the stone tablet石碑or bronze and beat it lightly all over with the cushioned缓冲的end of a stick so that the parts of paper over thecut hollows凹陷处will sink in. The paper is then left on to dry. Then ink is applied by dabbing轻拍；涂；轻擦；轻敷it on until the paper is turned into a copy with white characters or drawings on a black ground. Removed and dried, it becomes the rubbing. Rubbings vary and are called by different names according to the ink used. Wujinta (乌金拓片black gold rubbings) are made with very black ink; chanyita (蝉翼拓片cicada wing rubbings) are made with very light ink; zhuta (朱砂拓片vermilion rubbings) with vermilion ink. Bound book form, the rubbings become beitie (stele柱rubbings), which may be used either asmodels for calligraphy or kept in a collection for appreciation or research. The Four Treasures of the Study (文房四宝wenfang Sibao)The writing brush, ink stick墨, paper and inkslab砚are the traditional implements工具and materials for writing and painting and have always been named collectively as the "four treasures of the study".Each of these items is represented by its "best": the xuan paper宣纸, hui ink stick徽墨, hu brush湖笔and duan inkslab端砚are highly valued in the country and known abroad as well.1. Xuan Paper (Xuanzhi)2. The Hu Writing Brush (Hubi)3. The Hui Ink Stick (Huimo)4. The Duan Inkslab (Duanyan)Red-Stained玷污的；著色的Stone 鸡血石(Jixueshi)Jixueshi (literally, chicken-blood stone) is a precious stone found in China and is particularly good for making seals. A piece of this red-stained stone, greatly valued because it is rare, is worth up to 10,000 yuan.Produced at Yuyan Mountain in Changhua County, Zhejiang Province, the stone is a mineral intergrowth共生，交互生长of cinnabar朱砂and pyrophyllite寿山石叶蜡石. It derives 源于；得自its name because cinnabaris brilliantly red, like chicken blood. Pyrophyllite寿山石叶蜡石., on the other hand, may be in any of a variety of colours - white, yellow, grey, green or black - which, stained with沾、着色the red, presents at its best a glittering闪闪发光的and translucent透明的；半透明的splendour光彩壮丽、辉煌、光辉never to be matched by human creations. The market value of such a piece of stone is assessed by the amount of red in it, the brillance of its colours, its translucence and purity.Ink Paste面团，膏；糊状物，浆糊for Seals (Yinni印泥)The ink paste used for the imprinting印of seals is called yinni in Chinese,which means literally "seal clay". It stems from the clay that was used in ancient times to seal official documents and which, like the modern sealing wax 封蜡, was stamped铭记；标出；盖章于…；by a seal印章. Later on the word yinni began to refer to the traditional equivalent of the inking pad the paste, usually red which gives the seal its colour before it is stamped on paper. High quality inking paste is made of eight ingredients, some very precious: cinnabar朱砂, pearl珍珠, musk麝香,coral珊瑚, ruby红宝石, moxa艾叶,castor oil蓖麻油and a red pigment颜料、色素. Called the I "paste of eighttreasures八宝物膏", it produces brilliantly red prints. Paste of a stillhigher grade may contain pure gold and other rare materials and is so finely made that it may remain unchanged in hundreds of years. It also emits放出、散发a faint perfume微弱的香味, andits oil neither oozes渗出、泄露in summer nor congeals凝结、凝固in winter. Ink paste of this description类型、产品描述is greatly valued by painters and collectors.。