Articles

The Tradition of Chinese Ink Rubbings (Ta)

Vostok/Oriens '2015, №1

 
The history of ink rubbings goes back for fifteen hundred years during which they were an important factor in the development of the Chinese art. The article describes the traditional technology of rubbings making, characterizes the main types of rubbings, elucidates criteria for the assessment of their quality, and relates the methods of rubbings assembly. The author examines the role of rubbings in maintaining the continuity of artistic experience in the Chinese calligraphy, painting and applied arts; explains the technical and esthetic differences between rubbings from copy-books (tie) and rubbings from stelas (bei) with which the main stylistic directions in the calligraphy of the eighteenth – nineteenth centuries were connected; analyses the national peculiarities of the culture of rubbings perception as well as the status of rubbings authenticity (zhen).

Keywords: ink rubbings ta, brushes zhongshua, swabs tabao, water rubbings shuita, powder rubbings fenta, rubbings wujin ta, rubbings chanyi ta, composite rubbings quanxing taben, calligraphic model tie, stelas bei, authenticity zhen

Pages: С. 53–68