Is the posture of the ancients holding a pen when writing calligraphy and painting Chinese painting the same as modern people?
The ancients only asked for convenience, but today's people only want the difficulty of writing, and they can't help but admire the lofty insights.
Today, let's take a look at how the ancient calligraphy heroes hold pens, let us look at the "calligraphy education images" of that time through the millennia.
1. The pen holding posture of the Eastern Han Dynasty
In the Eastern Han Dynasty, most of the writing images are in the style of holding the tube. The holding method is the open method of writing,
and there must also be the existence of the two-finger single-hook method. The two-finger or three-finger single-hook method can be regarded as a literati And the general writing method of the folk.
In the picture, Cangjie holds the pen with his left hand, his big finger is tilted on the barrel, and the four fingers hold the pen, which is a gripping style. The front of the pen is thick and the tail tip is thin.
The gripping method in the picture may be regarded as the legacy of the popular gripping method in the Han Dynasty.
2. Jin Dynasty's pen holding posture
In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the popular posture for holding a pen was the two-finger single hook method. Therefore, the method of holding the pen of the book sage Wang Xizhi is very likely to be the two-finger single hook method.
The pen-holding method of this statue is a tube-holding method, which can be regarded as a continuation of the mainstream pen-holding method in the Han Dynasty.
The method of holding the pen in this picture is that the big finger and index finger hold the pen, but it is difficult to determine if the middle finger does not hold the pen shaft.
As can be inferred from the method of holding the pen in the "Pu Qin Tu" by the same author, the middle finger should not be used to hold the pen shaft, which can be judged as a two-finger single-hook pen holding method.
The holding pen in Gu Kaizhi's "Tu Qin Tu" clearly shows the method of holding the pen with two fingers and a single hook.
The pen used may be a pen made of bamboo. However, it is very likely that the brush holding method is the same as that of the bamboo brush.
3.How to hold a pen in the Northern and Southern Dynasties
The limited pen-holding images in the figure paintings of this period show that the pen-holding style of the Southern and Northern Dynasties was unified as a single-hook pen-holding method. Inferring from the pen-holding methods that appeared in the former Jin and later Tang dynasties, there must also be a two-finger single-hook pen-holding method at that time.
What needs to be explained is that most of the limited pen-holding images in this period can easily confuse the distinction between two-finger, three-finger and four-finger pen holdings. Not only do we need to make an in-depth discussion, but also look forward to new image data. It was found to be corroborating evidence.
The thumb and index finger of the person holding the pen in the picture should undoubtedly hold the pen. Whether the middle finger is involved is difficult to determine, and it is possible to hold the pen with two fingers and three fingers.
4.The method of holding a pen in the Tang Dynasty
The method of holding a pen during this period was roughly the same as that of the Jin Dynasty and the Northern and Southern Dynasties.
The method of holding the pen was mainly the single hook method, and the two-finger single hook was the main method, and the three-finger single hook was supplemented.
In addition, there are also pen holding methods such as grip tube method and top shot method. It should be noted that these images are almost all of calligraphy (writing), and paintings of pen holding images have not yet been found.
This is a pen holding image for calligraphy. In the picture, the official thumb and index finger hold the pen, the middle finger,
ring finger and little finger resist each other, and also help the index finger without holding the pen holder. This is a typical two-finger single-hook (single-bud) style of holding a pen.
In the picture, the person holding the pen is thinking and writing. The thumb and index finger hold the pen to confirm, but it is difficult to confirm whether the middle finger touches the pen barrel. Therefore, both two-finger single hook and three-finger single hook are possible.
5.The Method of Holding a Pen in the Five Dynasties
During the Five Dynasties, the tradition of holding a pen was inherited in the Tang Dynasty. The method of holding a pen seemed to be mainly two-finger single hook, supplemented by three-finger single hook.
Li Yu of the Southern Tang Dynasty discussed the writing of calligraphy holding a pen in "Shushu", and for the first time proposed the "seven-character method" of holding a pen to press, hook, expose, resist, reject, guide, and send, and was connected with the "pull stirrup". together.
The author believes that this view can be regarded as the theoretical basis of five-finger pen writing, but this does not mean that it is the theory of five-finger pen holding that is advocated in modern times.
There are four pen holding images in the picture, all of which are single-hook holding pens, but it is difficult to determine whether they are all three-finger single-hooks.
6.The method of holding a pen in Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty can be said to be a major turning point in the way of holding a pen. From the considerable number of pen-holding images in the Song Dynasty,
it can be seen that while the Song Dynasty inherited the mainstream pen-holding methods of the Tang and the Five Dynasties, the single-hook method (two-finger, three-finger),
the double-hook method of holding the pen gradually appeared, and finally showed two fingers. , Three-finger single-hook and three-finger double-hook gripping in parallel.
The most famous of the theory of holding a pen in the Song Dynasty is Su Shi (Dongpo)'s famous saying, "There is no way to hold the pen, but to make it empty and wide."
How Huang Tingjian himself writes, he said in "On Shu", "The method of using the pen is to use the pen to hook back to the wrist, the palm is empty to point to the real, and the ring finger to lean against the pen is powerful."
The picture above shows a typical two-finger single-hook pen holding method.
In the picture above, the pen holder’s thumb, index finger, and middle finger hold the pen, and the ring finger and little finger are bent without twisting the pen shaft. This is a typical three-finger double-hook pen holding method.
In the above picture, the person holding the pen with the index finger single hook, the middle finger, the name finger and the little finger are bent together without twisting the pen barrel, which is a typical two-finger single hook holding pen.
7.The method of holding a pen in the Yuan Dynasty
Like the historical position of the Yuan Dynasty between the Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, the holding of the pen in the Yuan Dynasty also belonged
to the transitional period when the two-finger single hook was better than the three-finger double hook and the later three-finger double hook prevailed over
the two-finger single hook. A new situation in which two-finger single hook and three-finger double hook alternately hold the pen in parallel.
In the above picture, the person holding the pen adopts the double-hook method of index finger and middle finger. The little finger obviously does not hold
the penholder, and the first finger is curved so that the penholder is not curved when bending, so it is judged to be the three-finger double hook method.
The method of holding a stroke in the picture above should be a two-finger single-hook type of holding the thumb and index finger at the same time.
8.The method of holding a pen in the Ming Dynasty
In the picture above, Xiang Shengmo is a famous painter and calligrapher in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. The way of holding the pen in the
self-portrait is that the thumb and index finger are held together, and the middle finger, ring finger and little finger are idle without holding the pen. It is a typical two-finger single hook style Hold the pen.
The book writer on the left side of the picture above holds the pen with his thumb, index finger, and middle finger, while the ring finger and little finger are idle without sticking to the pen holder.
This is a typical three-finger double-hook pen holding method. The author on the right should hold the pen in the same way, the same three-finger double-hook pen holding method,
but the angle is different, it is difficult to judge whether the ring finger and the little finger are holding the pen shaft?
According to the analysis of the general situation of holding a pen in the Ming Dynasty, it can be seen that the ring finger and little finger should not hold the pen shaft.
9.How to Hold Pens in Qing Dynasty
Chingdai’s holding pen or discovering and inheriting the traditional pen method, such as two-finger single hook, three-finger single hook, three-finger double hook;
or advocate the method of sharing four fingers and five fingers; or create a new method, how to Shaoji in his later years Switch to the wrist-grip method.
Therefore, from the images of pen-holding in the fine art works of the Qing Dynasty, it can be seen that multiple pen-holding methods coexisted in this era, which was the most free and diverse period in the history of pen-holding.
Emperor Qianlong was not only an accomplished emperor, but he also liked calligraphy. There are many inscriptions and handwritings left in the world's historical sites.
Therefore, as the emperor and calligrapher, his pen holding is very representative. It can be seen from this work that Qianlong's pen holding should belong to the three-finger single hook method.
The famous Qing court painter Ding Guanpeng painted the image of Wang Xianzhi's writing "Mid-Autumn Tie". His holding pen was a two-finger single hook.
10.The method of holding a pen during the Republic of China
From the analysis of pen holding images related to the Republic of China, the pen holding in the Republic of China is different from the parallel phenomenon of multiple pen holding methods in the Qing Dynasty.
The three-finger double hook and the flat-wrist five-finger holding pen are the mainstream methods, and the single There are fewer and fewer hook grips.
At the same time, some people have adopted the palm-vertical five-finger grip pen method. The single-hook pen holding is gradually disappearing, and the five-finger holding pen with the palm upright is a newly developed writing method.
However, these two pen holding methods are still a minority phenomenon compared with the three-finger double hook and the flat-wrist five-finger holding pen.
Zheng Xiaoxu (1860-1938), a famous calligrapher who was once the prime minister of the Puppet Manchukuo and the chief of culture and education,
holds the pen with the big finger and the index finger and the middle finger. If you don't refuse, it is the three-finger double hook method.
The well-known archaeologist and epigrapher Luo Zhenyu (1866-1940) holds the pen with his wrist and arm not away from the tabletop, so he should hold the pen with five fingers upright.
11.Modern and contemporary way of holding a pen
After the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, the calligraphy and calligraphy methods were diverse, and it entered a new era after 1949.
In this era, it can be said that there has been an earth-shaking change in writing, that is, the five-finger holding pen method has been recognized and promoted unprecedentedly,
and it has become the mainstream writing method for the first time in a record. So modern citizens only know that from ancient times to the present, only the five-finger holding pen method is the most orthodox, best, and well-known method of holding a pen.
Lin Lan teacher of Lin Lan Painting and Calligraphy Education has rich teaching experience and was selected as the best excellent calligraphy and painting instructor.
Professional, serious, and continuous exploration, leading these students to make breakthroughs time and time again, stand out in the calligraphy and painting competition, and won the first prize and gold award in the cereal category.
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