Printed Calligraphy or Hand-copied Print? The Interplay between Manuscripts and Woodblock Prints in Seventeenth-Century China (LIN Hang)

During the eighth century woodblock printing was invented in China. Text and illustrations were reproduced by carving characters and line-drawings onto woodblocks in relief; ink was then applied to the woodblocks and a mirror image of the woodblock impressed on paper. Despite the expansion in the quality and quantity of printing from the late-sixteenth century onwards much late-Ming printing did not observe the artistic standards established in the Song period (960-1276), in particular with regards to the nondescript and impersonal character of the script styles (e.g. mingti, jiangti etc.) used for woodblock prints. At the same time, literati publishers and artist printers tried in two major ways to counteract the increasing standardization and dullness of the mediocre script: by hand-copying facsimiles of Song dynasty block prints (yingsong chao) and by cutting printing blocks from pages written in distinctive calligraphy (xieke). Based on a group of manuscripts and block prints (and their hand-written copies) dating from the Ming (1368-1644) and the Qing (1644-1911), this talk aims to explore the active interplay between manuscript and print that was taking place in late-Imperial China, in which both block prints in imitation of handwritten calligraphy and hand-copied facsimiles of block prints were widely produced. The focus will be on an examination of the factors that impact the demarcation of and interaction between these two basic forms of knowledge transmission, taking into consideration factors that differentiate the history of printing in China from that in Europe.

“以写为印”抑或“以印为写”?十七世纪中国写本与印本的相互影响(林航)

雕版印刷于公元八世纪左右在中国发明,它通过用刻刀雕琢出字体突出的阳文并涂上墨汁以翻印在纸上以实现文字的复制。尽管十六世纪后期以来,印本的质量和数量都在不断扩大,但很多晚明的印本并没有遵循宋代确立的艺术标准,特别体现在它们所使用的相对刻板生硬的字体(如明体、匠体等)。与此同时,一些艺术家和文人出版商们逐渐摸索了出两种方式来抵制这些字体所带来的平庸,即手工誊抄宋代印本(影宋钞)和写实化雕刻书法字体(写刻)。本文依据明代晚期和清代早期的一组写本和印本(及其手抄本),旨在探讨十七世纪时写本与印本之间广泛的相互影响和相互作用,特别是其中雕刻模仿手写书法和手工复制前代印本。在此基础上,本文重点讨论影响二者区别和相互作用的因素,并考虑以此略论中国印刷史与欧洲印刷史的相关问题。


OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
MJF (January 7, 2019). Chinese-European Lecture No. 195. European Research Centre for Chinese Studies. Retrieved May 12, 2025 from https://doi.org/10.58079/oh94


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