Riding the wind of rebirth

"It's just an official seal, isn't it? Big but useless." Master Ma put down his court beads and reached for the seal. "If it were a scholar's seal, it wouldn't be this big..."

"Why does this material look like Tianhuang stone to me?" Since calligraphy, painting, and seal carving are inseparable, Yan Zhenwei had already noticed something was wrong.

“Tianhuang? It’s impossible for a Tianhuang to be this big…” As soon as Master Ma’s hand touched the large seal, and considering the feel of it, his expression immediately turned serious: “Wait a minute… It seems, it seems to really be Tianhuang! And it’s the best quality Tianhuang, with radish-like veins, orange-peel color, and amber-like texture, it has all three!”

Zhou Zhi continued with a sneer: "Master Ma, please take another look."

"A little more careful?" Master Ma's hands were trembling. He had Mai Xiaomiao take an ancient book from the shelf, then carefully placed the seal on it. "Isn't Tianhuang stone enough to prove its value?"

“It shouldn’t be an official seal; the knob is wrong.” Yan Zhenwei laughed. “An official seal knob wouldn’t be a ball of hemp rope. The shape of this seal combined with the rope makes it look more like…”

The entire top of the seal is covered in skin, which resembles the color and texture of oxidized amber. The cracks on the top of the skin, which should have been flaws, have been carved into a knotted rope.

"A weight?" Yan Zhenwei said his guess with some uncertainty.

"That's right. In ancient times, the weight was called 'quan'. Adding a rope makes it 'shengquan'. That was the nickname of the designer of this seal."

"Hmm? Never heard of it before, it must be some obscure story." Master Ma frowned.

On the leather under the button, following the pattern, is carved a scene from Tao Yuanming's "Returning Home" poem, which describes the imagery of "Clouds drift aimlessly from the mountain peaks, birds weary of flying know to return home." The scene also includes two small seal script characters, "Qian'an."

"This should be a phone number, right? It looks like it. Qian An, Mr. Qian An? His nickname is Sheng Quan. Who is it?" Master Ma still couldn't guess.

"However, the calligraphy style is unique, resembling that of Huang Tingjian," Yan Zhenwei said.

“Yes, it’s even more obvious here.” Master Ma turned the seal over, revealing the side with the exposed stone skin. The other side had been artistically processed using the “leaving the green” technique of bamboo carving, and a poem was carved on it.

The night is clear and dust-free, the moonlight like silver. When pouring wine, fill it to the brim. Fame and fortune are fleeting, causing only vain worry and toil. Alas, life is like a fleeting moment, a spark from a stone, a dream.

Though I possess literary talent, who will befriend me when I speak? Let me revel in carefree joy, indulging in childlike innocence. When will I return to my carefree life, to be a leisurely man, with a zither, a pot of wine, and a stream of clouds?

“Su Dongpo’s ‘Xingxiangzi: Expressing My Feelings’.” Yan Zhenwei became even more certain: “The calligraphy is Huang Tingjian’s style.”

When you see the inscription at the bottom in ancient Han seal script: "Righteousness makes people more intimate."

The seal weighs eight or nine taels, and its size is definitely large for a Tianhuang stone. The material is also the top grade, which makes Master Ma even more surprised: "Such a thing is definitely not something that ordinary people can afford. If the seal design is created by the author, then just by having such good materials, using such good craftsmanship and an extraordinary design, the author must also be of extraordinary status."

“That’s not necessarily true. The craftsmanship of this seal is more like that of a Song Dynasty imitation of a Han Dynasty seal,” Yan Zhenwei said. “Song Dynasty stone seals favored bluish-green colors, such as the Fengmenqing of Qingtian stone and the Aiye green of Shoushan stone. The amber-yellow color of this seal was only valued during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.”

"This also proves another point," Master Ma said. "This seal is from before the Ming Dynasty. Before that, it would have been impossible to make such a large piece of Tianhuang stone. It would have either been made into a small scholar's seal or a large jade seal. Only the Song Dynasty, which had just discovered this kind of seal material, could afford such luxury."

“That’s from the Song Dynasty. His nickname was Shengquan, and his pen name was Qian’an. He liked Su Dongpo and was skilled in Huang Tingjian’s calligraphy…” Yan Zhenwei was still pondering.

"Could it be Huang Tingjian himself?" Master Ma suddenly thought of a possibility: "This old man liked to collect strange stones and cleverly make them into useful things. The Palace Museum even has a 'stone bamboo shoot inkstone' made by him from Sinian cephalopod fossils!" "What if it was a seal designed and used by Huang Tingjian himself..." After saying the idea, Master Ma was startled by his own words.

"My fourth cousin examined it and believed that the seal was designed and used by Huang Tingjian himself. Huang Tingjian's name contains the characters 'Huang' and 'Jian,' which matches the characteristics of this Tianhuang stone. This may be the original intention that inspired his design."

“His childhood name was ‘Shengquan,’ a rather obscure piece of knowledge, but it just happens to match the shape of this seal.”

"The name 'Qian'an' was the pseudonym Huang Tingjian used after he was demoted to Fuzhou and exiled to Qianzhou."

"After that, Huang Tingjian often traveled between Rongzhou, Fuzhou and Qianzhou, and my hometown was just in the middle of the three places, a transit point for those who abandoned their boats and went to land."

"The phrase 'moral righteousness makes people more affectionate' comes from the elegy he wrote for Su Xun."

"Is it appropriate to use a eulogy as the inscription on a seal?" Master Ma asked, frowning.

"My fourth cousin said that this poem was particularly appropriate when considering Huang Tingjian's situation at the time."

"When Huang Tingjian was demoted, his elder brother Huang Dalin traveled a long distance to see him off to Qianzhou. Huang Tingjian wrote the famous farewell poem 'Responding to Yuan Ming's Farewell Poem in Qiannan' for this occasion."

"The following year, his younger brother Huang Shuda led his entire family, his sister-in-law (Huang Tingjian's wife, Shi), his nephew Huang Xiang, and other relatives from Wuhu, traveling thousands of miles until they arrived in Qianzhou the following year. When the brothers met, Huang Tingjian wrote the famous poem 'Visiting the Golden Gate - Showing to My Brother Zhiming'."

"The preceding line to the inscription 'righteousness fosters closer kinship' is 'knowing the origins of the source.' This seal was made at that time, and the use of this inscription was, firstly, to show that he valued righteousness and did not care about the success or failure of his official career, and secondly, to identify himself as a member of the Su family, and to express his pride in the deep brotherly affection and righteousness within his family, which he inherited from the two role models of Su Shi and Su Zhe."

“In that case, it couldn’t be more fitting,” Yan Zhenwei said. “So this is not the ‘big but useless’ official seal that Xiao Ma mentioned, but a rare and elegant piece for the scholar’s ​​study, a refined object for the scholar’s ​​studio!”

"Incredible. You actually still have this thing? When did you get it?"

“My second brother from my hometown, Dajing Township, helped me collect these things,” Zhou Zhi said. “He knew I liked these things, so when he was delivering coal in the countryside, he kept an eye out for them and collected a whole bunch of random stuff. When I went back to the countryside for the Spring Festival, he gave them all to me.”

"Most of them are rural folk kiln porcelain and woodenware from the late Qing and Republican periods, which are not very valuable. However, we also found this Tianhuang seal and that Tongtian rhinoceros pen holder. He couldn't say where they came from. I guess they were received from Kujing Township, near the ancestral hall of Zhou Xicheng, the warlord of Qianzhou."

“This one, and that one,” Master Ma pointed to the Tianhuang seal and then to the rhinoceros horn brush holder on the painting table: “How much did your second brother spend?”

“It didn’t cost any money, only two hundred catties of coal.” Zhou Zhi could only laugh awkwardly when he talked about it: “My second brother had a serious illness when he was a child, and his speech became a little unclear afterward, but he is known in our hometown for never doing business that loses money.”

Master Ma rubbed his forehead: "Two hundred catties of coal! It's really not a losing deal! Have you two seen this before?"

"Speaking of you two elders, there is something I need to ask of you, Master Ma," Zhou Zhi said with a shy smile, cupping his hands in greeting.

"Tell me what it is, but since your parents spoil you so much, there's no need for me to relay your message, is there?" (End of Chapter)