Ink prints make up a significant part of the art market in modern China. The number of prints created annually is not exactly calculated. The price of ordinary quality prints makes them accessible to a wide segment of the Chinese population, as well as to foreign tourists and trainee students coming to China from all over the world. At the same time, the price of high-quality and historically remarkable prints on the antique market is comparable to original works of calligraphy and painting. The history of prints dates back one and a half thousand years, during which they were an important factor in the development of Chinese fine art. Chinese experts of past and present times have studied in detail the history and technology of imprints, 1 while Western sinologists have recently drawn attention to this unique phenomenon of Chinese culture.2 The article aims to fill this gap in Russian Sinology.

Key words: ink print ta, Zong Shua brushes, tabao swabs, water prints Shuita, powder prints Fent, prints Wujin ta, prints Chanyi ta, composite prints Quanxing Taben, prescriptions te, stelae Bei, reliability Zheng.

Ink impressions on paper allow reproducing inscriptions, ornamentation, and relief images found on artifacts made of stone, metal, wood, and ceramics. To get an impression from famous calligraphic or pictorial works, originally created on silk or paper, their compositions were engraved in the intaglio technique on stone or wooden blocks, from which the impressions were then removed. The emergence of prints became possible due to the development of the production of high-grade thin and strong paper. A careful analysis of the scanty and indirect information from written sources led to Starr concluded that the first impressions appeared most likely at the turn of the fifth and sixth centuries in the era of the southern and northern dynasties (420 - 589), probably almost simultaneously in the territories subject to the state of Northern Wei (386-534) and the southern Liang Dynasty (502-557). The need for prints arose in connection with the need for reliable reproduction of canonical texts (Confucian, Buddhist and Taoist), which were engraved.-

1 Among the numerous contemporary publications, Ma Ziyun's monographs "Technology of removing impressions from inscriptions on bronze and stone monuments" [Ma Ziyun, 1988] and Ji Hongzhang's "Technology of Impressions" [Ji Hongzhang, 1991] stand out.

2 The first European specialist to pay attention to the prints in the 1950s was R. A. Kropotkin. Van Gulik, who devoted a section to them in his monograph "Chinese Fine Art in the Perception of Connoisseurs" (Van Gulik, 1958). This was followed by sections of catalog articles by Bai Qianshen (1999), Tseng Yuho (1981), and Lothar Ledderose (1981), as well as a short article on Wu Hung's prints (2003). The first and so far only comprehensive study of prints is the recently published monograph "Black Tigers: Fundamentals of Chinese Prints" by American scientist Kenneth Starr, who has been collecting materials on the history and technology of prints for fifty years [Starr, 2008].

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They are famous for their calligraphy on stone slabs and mountain slopes. Under the Sui Dynasty (581-618), the production of prints is documented, and under the Tang Dynasty (618-907), typos have become commonplace [Starr, 2008, p.8-18].

The rapid spread of printing during the Song Dynasty (960-1279) did not reduce the need for prints in the field of plastic arts, where they gained wide popularity among antiquities experts. Since then, collections of prints have become an integral part of the imperial and all private collections and libraries. Some collectors specialized in collecting impressions of specific dynasties, others - on impressions made in certain regions of China, and still others-on impressions of a certain technology. The maximum value was represented by primary impressions taken when an ancient monument was discovered, the preservation of which later either significantly deteriorated, or the original was lost for some reason. Over time, the price of primary prints only increased. The cost of prints was also influenced by the man-made inscriptions of their owners, which, in addition to information about the original, provided information related to the circumstances of the purchase of the print. The owners put their own personal seals on the prints, the artistic quality of which, together with the historical fame of the owner, directly increased the price of the impression.

In the written sources of the Tang and Song dynasties, two terms ta and ta , which are occasionally used in modern literature, in which the later term ta , which is homonymous to the first two, prevails. Among collectors of the XVII-XIX centuries and modern collectors, the prints are often referred to as" black tigers " (hei laohu ). According to K. Starr, this is due to the fact that the acquisition of fake or erroneously estimated prints, like a tiger, destroys the family's finances [Starr, 2008, p.198].

It seems incorrect to translate all three ta terms as "prints". The technology of making prints involves printing from a base on which the image is mirror-inverted. The technology of Chinese prints is fundamentally different: paper in a wet state is pressed into depressions on the surface of the monument, after which the outer color of the paper is produced, which does not affect its deepened parts. This distinguishes prints from printing and engravings, where the mirror-inverted printed elements protrude above the background. There is no need to turn the image over in the prints, but its color scheme turns out to be the opposite of its original appearance. For example, elements of calligraphy and painting originals written in ink appear white in the print, while light backgrounds turn black.

Prints are divided into simple and composite. In the first case, the impression is made in one cycle of work from a flat surface with a relief made by means of a recess (intaglio) or in the form of a weak elevation above the background. These are impressions from bay stelae (Fig. 1), from stone or wooden slabs of te inscriptions (Oshanin, 1984, N 2064), from samples of Mo-yai rock calligraphy(Fig. 2), from tomb or temple reliefs, from the backs of ancient mirrors, from divinatory bones and turtle shields of the Shan state (XVI-XI centuries BC), from ancient coins and other artifacts with flat surfaces. Composite impressions are made in several stages from monuments that have three-dimensional curved or concave shapes, such as bronze ritual vessels, bells, weapons, etc. 3). All types of prints have a two-color solution. The mandatory white color is created by the paper itself, and procrastination is most often black, less often red, blue, green, and very rarely yellow.

The oldest surviving prints date back to the Tang 3 and Song dynasties. A comparison of these impressions with samples from subsequent epochs is given by China-

3 In the Buddhist caves of Mogao (Dunhuang) five prints from the reign of Emperor Taizong have been preserved. 626 - 649).

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Fig. 1. Leveling the paper on the stele with a brush. Museum complex "Bei Lin". Photo by D. Yegorova Street.

Some researchers concluded that, despite all regional and historical variations, the technology of impression removal has not changed dramatically to this day [Ma Ziyun, 1988, p. 10; Ji Hongzhang, 1991, p.4]. Due to the fact that the production of prints was considered a craft business, in the old treatises information about them is rare and very brief. It was only in the sixteenth century that Chinese intellectuals began to cover the subject of prints in more detail in their writings. Thus, the outstanding polymath Wen Zhenheng (1585-1645) devoted an entire section of the fifth volume of his 12 - volume work "Zhang Zhi" ("On things that please the Eye") to impressions (Wen Zhenheng, 2005). The most detailed information about the prints is provided by the authors of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries, who wanted to preserve this national tradition in the context of the introduction of Western technologies for visual fixation of monuments. The authors of the two main works on the subject of prints were the scholar, official, major collector and famous master of prints Chen Jieci (1813-1884), who wrote the treatise " Chuang beilu " ("Notes on extant ancient stelae") [Chen Jieci, ch. 28], and a prominent expert on Chinese paleography

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2. Impression of a fragment of the Yan Zhen-qing (709 - 784) rock calligraphy "Da Tang ch.rong Xing Song "("Praise for the prosperity of the Great [dynasty] Tang"), 771; handwriting of Da kai-shu; dimensions 416.6 x 422.3. See: 21 columns with 21 characters in each; impression from the Gugong Museum, Beijing (Sui Tang, 1989, p. 150, Fig. 66).

Ye Changji (1849-1917), author of the ten-volume work Yu Shi ("Reasoning about Stones")4 [Ye Changji, 1956]. Now, as in the old days, the experience of making prints is passed by word of mouth from the master to the student. Traditional knowledge goes far beyond the information provided in old treatises and modern publications. They include the nuances of the texture features of monuments, the degree of their pollution, differences in seasonal and daily humidity, and consideration of indoor and outdoor air circulation.

All Chinese antiquities experts and collectors were well versed in prints, and some of them had a great command of their manufacturing technology. Nevertheless, the social status of most masters was not particularly high, although the profession implied knowledge of hieroglyphics. The names of printmakers have been mentioned in written sources since the Song Dynasty (Starr, 2008, p. 179). During the Ming and Qing dynasties.-

4 Ye Changji's work" Yu Shi " describes 8,000 stone-engraved calligraphy monuments dating back to the third century B.C. Ye Changji's use of the term shikae (carved stones)is widespread in traditional literature and refers to all calligraphic works engraved on stones, without distinguishing between bei and te.

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3. Composite impression of the Ding cauldron of the Shang Dynasty (XVI-XI centuries BC) by the printmaker Zhou Siding (1891-1961) [Starr, 2008, p. 131].

some masters put personal seals on their prints. Within the profession, there was a specialization in masters of stone impressions (stelae, rock calligraphy), called tagun , and masters of impressions from ancient bronzes, called Zhuangjia . The life of the former was spent traveling around monuments located in different places, and remuneration was made in accordance with the square footage of the prints taken. Masters of ancient bronze impressions also had to travel around the country, because large collections of bronze utensils were located not only in the capital's collections, but also in private estates in the provinces. Large Buddhist and Taoist monasteries had their own masters from among the monks.

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The main materials for making an impression are most often the same types of paper and ink that calligraphers and artists use to create original works. The commonality of materials helps to adjust the visual habit of Chinese cultural speakers to replace originals with prints. Only non-leavened paper is used for making prints. In each region, craftsmen usually use locally produced paper grades. The main thing is that the paper is thin, but at the same time strong and soft, uniform in texture, evenly white and hygroscopic. For prints from ancient bronze objects, the paper should have greater strength and ductility than for prints from stelae with a flat surface. When working with high relief, thicker paper is preferred, while for small hieroglyphs made in the intaglio technique, thinner paper is required.

High-quality prints have always been made from xuanzhi paper , which has been produced in Xuancheng County since the seventh century. Anhui). This variety is made mainly from the bark of mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera), less often - from the bark of yellow sandalwood (Dalbergia hupeana), sometimes with additives of bamboo pulp and other ingredients [Li Ch'iao-p'ing, 1948, p. 164; Van Gulik, 1958, p. 155]. There are several subspecies of this variety, among which the most commonly used stamps are loven ("Net Pattern"), mianlian ("stretched cotton"), yuban ("jade plate"), etc. To remove excess moisture and protect the main paper from damage when it is pressed down by brushes to the surface of the monument, an additional sheet of technical blotting paper is used.

It is important not only to choose the appropriate type of paper for the monument, but also to give it the correct format. For large stelae and monuments of rock calligraphy, several sheets are used, which are superimposed from top to bottom, so that the lower sheets go on top of the previous ones. Masters try to make sure that the overlap of the sheets is equal to 1 cm and does not fall on hieroglyphs or important places in the image [Starr, 2008, p.75]. Ideally, a high-quality impression should represent the entire surface of the monument. In the case of calligraphic and pictorial works, this applies to all seals, titles and afterwords on the originals, as well as all empty zeros; for relief images - their ornamental frames and inscriptions.5
To fix the paper on the surface of the monument, it should be evenly moistened with water. In some regions, a weak rice decoction is added to the water in combination with an insect-repelling decoction of orchid root growths to ensure paper adhesion [Starr, 2008, p.42]. There are several ways of moistening: either the paper is moistened beforehand, or after it is applied to a dry monument, or dry paper is placed on a wet monument [Ji Hongzhang, 1991, p. 30]. Insufficient moistening of the paper can cause it to dry out before the master finishes leveling it on the monument. At the same time, excess moisture can penetrate deeply into the pores of the material, which will cause the formation of smudges during staining. Craftsmen have to take into account seasonal humidity and air temperature. Summer heat dries the paper too quickly, and insects are more likely to leave their tracks. Winter temperatures slow down the drying of paper and reduce the skill of the master. Spring is considered the best time to take impressions from monuments located in the open air.

Wet paper is easily torn and forms folds at the slightest wrong movement. For leveling it, forcing out air bubbles and pressing it into the recesses of the thread, Zong shua brushes with short hair made from coconut palm fibers are used.

5 In commercial prints, the weight of the elements associated with the main image is usually reduced due to the saving of paper and working time.

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To soften the fibers, the palm brush is beaten off against a stone and washed in water. In special cases, the masters work with brushes made from horsehair, hair from the tail of a rhinoceros or goat, as well as from human hair. The sizes and shapes of brushes are selected in accordance with the format of the monument. In any case, the brush hair must be elastic to push through the paper well, but at the same time soft, otherwise the paper will break and the surface of the monument may be damaged. When taking impressions from bronze products and small objects, felt rollers with smooth or slightly rounded ends are used. To remove impressions from large stelae, in addition to brushes, wooden hammers are used, which are beaten on paper through felt and wool pads. Brushing stelae starts from the middle of their top, and the air is forced out from the center to the edges. Sensitivity to the force of blows, their rhythm, speed and accuracy are developed over the years. Only experience can tell the master the necessary brush pressure for a particular monument. It is particularly difficult to lay paper on the convex and concave walls of bronze vessels. Specially cut sheets of paper are moistened directly on the products, pressing them down with cotton pads and towels. In all cases, the art of the master consists in making the paper fill all the recesses on the surface of the monument without a single break or fold. The shocks and vibrations that accompany the stacking and pressing of paper inevitably threaten the preservation of monuments. If they are particularly dilapidated, it is recommended to replace the removal of the impression with a less traumatic calking [Ji Hongzhang, 1991, p. 46].

Before painting, the paper should be dry, but not over-dried 6. The most common dye is traditional ink, the main components of which are wood soot and casein. The mascara creates a moisture-resistant matte finish without smudges. If the size of the monument is small, the master himself rubs a thick ink stick on the inkstand, as calligraphers and painters do, with the difference that ink of a thicker dilution is needed for impressions. If the monument is large and you need to use a large amount of ink at one time, modern masters soak several ink sticks in buckets at once, which avoids differences in shades of black. Modern masters try not to use store-bought ink of ready-made breeding, since it contains chemical additives that negatively affect the safety of the impression paper and the monument itself. Yuyan mo oil ink is used for oil prints of yumo ta . Modern oil ink is made from lamp soot or any vegetable oil, and the binding solution is a decoction of pre-soaked wormwood seeds (Crossostephium artemisioides, family Compositae). The mascara is molded into a slightly soft stick. It is notable for its deep black tone and uniform gloss, but leaves a yellowish halo around the paper. Wax ink consisting of soft wax and lamp soot is rarely used for prints [Starr, 2008, pp. 50-52].

The coloring pigment is applied to the paper using special tampons tabao (or many ) - The forms of tampons are very different, but more often in the form of a mushroom cap. The masters themselves make tampons from plywood disks, on which they lay cotton fibers, sheep or camel wool, after which they are wrapped with 3-5 layers of fine silk or high-quality cotton fabric. It is necessary that there are elastic materials inside the tampon, and soft materials outside. Collected and wrapped with twine, the fabric forms the swab handle, which should not be too thin for the convenience of hand circumference. When making impressions from stelae

6 If the paper dries up, it will fall off. When the paper is not dried, it is easy to move it when painting, and the contours of the elements will be distorted. In addition, the ink will spread out on wet paper, and the outlines of the elements will become indistinct [Starr, 2008, p. 101].

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4. A fragment of ornamental decoration of an architectural element made of bronze from the Eastern Zhou period (770-221 BC): on the left - a water print of shuit, on the right-a powder print of fent (Starr, 2008, p. 35).

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a round tampon with a diameter of about 15 cm is convenient, and when removing impressions from fortune-telling bones, square tampons with a size of 3 cm or less are preferred. To obtain impressions from inscriptions located in hard - to-reach places of ritual bronzes, a small tampon is attached to a bamboo stick [Starr, 2008, p.53-56].

Impressions are divided into water shuyta ) and powder fengta (Fig. 4). In the first case, the color is made using ink solution, in the second - with powder prepared from a grated ink stick. The technology of Feng'tah powder impressions is simple and fast in execution: swabs with dry powder are applied to the half-dried paper. The impression is indistinct, its color is not uniform and differs in a light gray tone. Powder impressions are quite rare, and their origin has not yet been clarified [Ji Hongzhang, 1991, p.9].

The technology of water impressions has a local origin and is labor-intensive. Prints are characterized by a deep black color and clear contours of the image, which has provided them with a wide popularity since ancient times. In the process of creating water prints, it is important to fill the swab with ink solution correctly. If there is too much of it, then there is a high probability that the color of the deep places will be colored, as a result of which the image will merge with the background. The role of the palette is usually performed by a flat porcelain saucer or a wooden tablet. When the tampon is wrapped around, all the fingers of the right hand are used, the position of which remains unchanged, since only the wrist rotates. Since the Tang Dynasty, the low-angle oblique swab technique (tsata )has been used to work with large, smooth surfaces Since the 18th century, a less high-speed vertical impact technique (chuyta ) has been used to work with small surface sizes [Starr, 2008, p. 111-115].

In both cases, the master needs to quickly and at the same time smoothly transfer the swab from the palette to the paper, color the paper with successive touches so that it retains its white color in the recesses, and the contours of the elements come out clear and clean. The pressure of the tampon is another important point of the master's work: it should not be excessive or weak. The sound of slaps from blows with a swab is rhythmic and the right key indicates the correctness of the master's movements. The tampon is moved either forward or backward. After the first round of staining with a swab, they pass over the entire paper a second time, checking the uniformity of the black tone. The edges of the paper are painted more intensively, so that the glue contained in the ink composition fixes the paper more firmly on the monument. If the master is too slow in his work, then the simultaneous drying of individual sections of paper will provoke its sticking and deformation. Therefore, when making impressions from especially large stelae, two masters participate in painting at once. Ink seeps a little through the paper and stains the monument, which is why after repeated removal of impressions, all the ancient stelae and slabs turn black. After painting, semi-moist impressions are carefully torn off from the stelae in the direction from top to bottom, dried in a suspended state, and then leveled with brushes.

Even during the Tang Dynasty, water prints were divided into deep black ujin ta ("golden-black print")prints7 (Fig. 5) and impressions of the grayish-matte tone of chanyi ta ("cicada wing impression") (Fig. 6). Wen Zhenheng in his treatise "On things that please the eye" explains the difference between the impressions:

"In ancient times, [the structure of the fibers] of northern [production] paper was] horizontal, [the texture] was loose, thick, and [the paper] was not sufficiently soaked in ink. The ink of the northern [manufacture was] greenish in color and light in tone, as it did not contain oils or wax. The color of [the prints] was light, the texture grainy, which is why [the prints] were called "cicada wing print". The [fiber structure] of the southern [production] paper was] vertical. [When

7 The term ujin ta emphasized that the impressions of this type have a glossy sheen, similar to gold products.

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Fig. 5. Impression of ujin ta ("golden-black impression") with the image of an arhat from the series "Sixteen Arhats", engraved on stone slabs in 1764 from the original by an anonymous artist of the XVIII century.

in the production of] ink, oils or wax were used, [so that a deep] black tone with gloss was obtained, and therefore [the impressions] were called "golden-black" " [Wen Zhenheng, 2005, p. 182].

Wujin ta type prints are most often used to reproduce calligraphy monuments carved on wooden blocks. A thicker paper is used, which allows you to polish the areas painted with dark ink to give them a gloss.

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6. Changyi Ta print (cicada wing print) from the relief on the outer walls of a stone coffin of the Northern Wei Dynasty (386 - 534). The image illustrates the story of Sun Yuang's filial piety [Shih-ke, 1987, p. 18].

Chanyi ta prints are good for rendering relief images on monuments made of bronze and jade, as well as for reproducing inscriptions on fortune-telling bones. When creating these prints, strong paper of the mianglian variety is used. During coloring, the pale ink and swab should be dry rather than wet. Because of the effect of softening the contrast of black and white tones, such prints are called "snowflakes between [layers] of gas [fabric]" (xuehua jia sha ).

The technology of composite impressions, called "full-form impressions" (quanxing taben ), was developed in the late 18th century. 3). The impression was a composition of the inscriptions and individual elements of ornamentation present on the monument, inside the stencil outline of the vessel, supplemented by the completion of its three-dimensional foreshortening (Starr, 2008, p. 128-144).

Nowadays, sheets of ready-made cheap prints are sold and stored in folded form several times in branded packages of the manufacturer's workshop. Higher-quality prints are either mounted as scrolls (more typical for reproductions of monuments of painting), or, most often, they are designed in albums. Prints from large-scale calligraphy monuments are cut into parts of several hieroglyphs per column per album sheet (see Figure 2). The album covers were made of cardboard pasted with silk or, more rarely, brocade. Antique albums in the past were stored in two boxes: the outer one-made of cardboard covered with blue cotton, and

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the interior is made of precious wood or lacquer. Both boxes were placed in cloth bags-bags. Covers, boxes, and bags had labels indicating the dynasty under which the monument was created, the name of its author, the generally accepted name of the work, and the type of handwriting for calligraphic works; less often, the name of the printmaker, technique, and date of its manufacture were indicated. Collectors tried to preserve the old labels and re-paste them on new boxes and albums.

Impressions have played an important role in the history of the Chinese calligraphy tradition, where the creative experience of previous generations is still studied and mastered through copying. Before the advent of modern printing, prints were the main way to replicate calligraphic masterpieces. The copyist, using a brush and ink, transferred the calligraphic plastic of the original created by the author on a silk or paper basis to the surface of a stone slab or wooden block, while copying all the seals available on the scroll (by the author, collectors, experts), prefaces and afterwords of admirers. After that, the carver got down to business, whose skill depended on the accuracy of rendering the outline of the original forms of hieroglyphic signs in the intaglio technique. This is how prescriptions were created - those prints from which spread the image of the original that was in the imperial or private collection throughout China. A similar process took place when creating impressions from the bay memorial stelae and mo-yai rock calligraphy works, but there was a fundamental difference, which consisted in the fact that the author himself usually wrote hieroglyphs on the surface of the stone. The degree of reliability of reproduction of the author's idea in the stelae was higher than in the spellings of te.

If the scroll was particularly popular, then over the centuries it was engraved repeatedly, and each re-engraving, usually made from impressions without contemplating a hard-to-reach or completely lost scroll, accumulated distortions and moved more and more away from the original. The leader in the number of re-engravings is the famous creation of Wang Xi-zhi (IV century) "Lan ting xu" ("Preface [to poems written in] the Orchid Pavilion"). In some collections of the late 18th century, there were from 120 to 230 different impressions from inscriptions and copies of this monument from previous dynasties (Chang Leon, 1990, p. 282). For generations, Chinese experts have specialized in comparing versions of Lan Ting Xu prints and developing criteria for evaluating their authenticity. Before Wang Hsi-chih's masterpiece was lost in the seventh century, the prominent calligrapher Chu Sui-liang (596-658) made a copy of it called "Shen-lun ben"
The copy is a paper-based scroll, but when engraved, the scale of the work often changes arbitrarily.9 The level of calligraphic training of officials of all ranks was considered a matter of national importance, and the imperial court regularly supervised the distribution of prints from the works of famous calligraphers in its possession. Sung Emperor Taizong (right. 976-997) in 992 issued a decree on engraving on blocks of 10 calligraphic masterpieces from the Imperial Collection. So there was a ten-volume collection of prints "Chun-hua Ge te" ("[Collection of prints from] the Chamber of Inscriptions [era of government] Chun-hua " 11). Calligraphic masterpieces for engraving on blocks were copied by the famous court calligrapher Wang Zhu (who worked in the second half of the tenth century). Copies of the collection were given to ministers and sent to provincial centers as reference materials.-

8 The copy received its name from the seal impression with the motto of the reign of Shen-lun (705-707) Emperor Zhong-tsung (right. 707 - 710). The copy, which is traditionally considered the original by Chu Sui-liang, is now kept in the Gugong Museum in Beijing.

9 The size of Chu Sui-liang's copy is 24.5 x 69.9 cm; a modern print from this copy from the collection of the author of the article has a size of 38 x 128 cm.

10 According to one version, the blocks were made of wood, and according to another, they were made of stone (Bai Qianshen, 1999, p. 84).

11 Chun-hua era-990-994

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the list of legal prescriptions. When the blocks cracked from frequent use, silver wire was driven into the cracks, the stripes of which are visible in the impressions. Antiquarians of subsequent dynasties appreciated the rare edition of the Tai-tsung. All the originals reproduced in Chun-hua Ge te were lost by the beginning of the 18th century, but thanks to repeated reprints of the collection, they continued to participate in the life of the calligraphic tradition. Similar collections of manuscripts from the Imperial collections were created during all subsequent dynasties. Along with the primary prints, they included prints from repeated re-engravings, which made it difficult to distinguish them and gave rise to discussions among calligraphy experts.

In the second half of the 18th century, understanding of the problem of authenticity of impressions led to a split in the calligraphic tradition into the orthodox " direction of studying inscriptions "(te xue pai ) and the" direction of studying stelae " (bei xue pai ). Proponents of the second direction sought to study the calligraphic heritage from stele impressions and rock calligraphy, considering them more reliable sources of knowledge about the style of ancient masters than inscriptions that passed through the hands of several generations of copyists and carvers. Ye Changji in his opus "Yu Shi" ("Discourses on Stones") 1901 criticized contemporaries for their incompetence in distinguishing the impressions made from the stelae of bay and from the inscriptions of te. In his opinion, the impressions from the stelae capture the state of the monument at a specific time12, while the inscriptions create reconstructions [Ye Changji, 1956, tsz. 3, p. 85]. The modern researcher Wu Hung explains the preference of impressions as follows:" The impression has a temporal specificity: its imprint certifies a certain moment in the history of the stele - its specific state of preservation, which will not be repeated " [Wu Hung, 2003, p.40-41]. Ye Changji advises that when studying the calligraphy of stelae, you should use two impressions: one is solid, giving an idea of the overall composition of a large monument, the other is cut into fragments and dropped into an album, where it is more convenient to consider individual characters [Ye Changji, 1956, tsz. 10, p. 316]. In the interests of preserving ancient stelae, the surface of which was inevitably injured during the constant removal of impressions, copies of them were made. Replicas were not always of high quality, so the price of prints from them significantly differed from the cost of prints from the original stelae.

From the Tang Dynasty to the present day, the study and copying of prints is a mandatory element of professional training, which begins in early childhood and continues throughout the life of calligraphers. Contemplation of impressions is accompanied by mental writing of hieroglyphs, which requires special visual skills. When you copy your brush prints on paper, the white lines return to their original ink design, and the calligraphic plastic returns from the negative reproduction mode to the positive embodiment mode (Fig. 7).

The possibility of such a metamorphosis is inherent in the energy paradigm of calligraphic aesthetics, which allowed for an ambivalent coloristic solution of the plastic theme. The impression conveyed the outline of the author's channel of plastic dynamics, the reproduction of which allowed the copyist to capture and interpret the author's idea, the nuances of which remained beyond the threshold of the reproduction capabilities of the impression. The organicity of switching the visual mode of perception from positive to negative and vice versa was determined by the ontology of metamorphoses of polarities

12 For example, the writing on the ten stone drums of Shigu Wen, dating from the eighth and fifth centuries BC and found in the upper reaches of the Wei River at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, originally included about 700 characters (approximately 70 characters on each drum). During the Song Dynasty, there were 500 characters left, but now there are only 300. Prints from different dynastic periods capture these changes. The best quality prints are those made during the Ming Dynasty (collection of the Beijing Gugong Museum), on which there are 11 seals [Sui Tang... 1989, il. 24, p. 33].

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7. Su Shi (1037-1101) "Si lou te": N 1-fragment of an impression from the te inscription; N 2-a copy of a fragment by Wang Donglin (born 1945) (Wang Donglin, 1986, p. 24, ill. 18).

yin-yang, the graphic symbol of which was a circle divided into black and white halves.

Calligraphy prints from ancient bronzes became widely popular only in the middle of the XI century. 13 Previously, illustrators of treatises on rituals were limited to schematic drawings of the forms of bronze utensils. Leader of the movement for the study of ancient writings jinshixue ("study of [epigraphy on] bronze and stones") Ouyang Xiu (1007-1072) compiled a ten-volume catalog of inscriptions from his own Jigu Lu collection ("Records of the collection of antiquities"). It is noteworthy that this outstanding scholar, writer, calligrapher and politician began collecting not so much monuments as prints from them. His collection consisted of a thousand prints, and the chronology of monuments spanned the two preceding millennia of Chinese history. Ouyang Xiu was interested in impressions of ancient bronze inscriptions, as well as impressions from rock calligraphy monuments, tomb texts, and stelae from Buddhist and Taoist temples, and the author of the catalog had never personally seen many of the works [Chen Yun-chiahn, 2007, p. 50]. What was new was both the placement of impressions of inscriptions on bronze on a par with the inscriptions on stones, and the very method of their representation.

Ouyang Xiu published an impression of the ancient inscriptions on the bronze product, accompanied by a modern transcription of the charter and his own research comments. The lack of drawings of vessel shapes indicates that Ouyang Xiu was more interested in the content of inscriptions and their calligraphy than in the shapes of religious objects. Ouyang Xiu considered bronze prints optimal for collecting inscriptions, not so much because they were replicated and easy to store, but because they seemed to him more "authentic" zhen (Oshanin, 1984, N 13770) than ordinary handwritten copies. Copyists often do

13 Emperor Ren-tsung (1023-1064) presented his dignitaries with impressions with inscriptions on ancient bronze utensils from the Imperial Collection (Chen Yun - chiahn, 2007, p. 105).

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they made mistakes when copying inscriptions on ancient artifacts, especially when the writing of hieroglyphs was unfamiliar to them or when some elements of the signs were lost. Ouyang Xiu was the first to connect the authenticity of Zhen prints with the fact that they did not distort the signs and accurately recorded the state of preservation of the monument. All this, according to Ouyang Xiu, was the result of direct contact of the impressions with the surface of the monuments [Chen Yun-chiahn, 2007, p. 34].

Ouyang Xiu's initiative was continued by the prominent Confucian scholar Lu Da-lin (1046-1092), who published the collection Kaogu Tu ("Illustrations for the Study of Antiquities") in 1092. In it, he published 200 ancient artifacts from the Imperial Collection and 37 private collections. Lu Da-lin's collection established the tradition of a comprehensive presentation of the monument, which included a detailed drawing of the shape, an impression of the inscriptions and their modern transcription, a verbal description of the shape of the artifact and its state of preservation, measurements of the product and a research commentary. In the preface to Kaogu Tu, Lu Da-lin wrote:: "Looking at the artifacts and delving into the inscriptions [on them], you get into the lost atmosphere of the Three Dynasties, 14 as if you see the ancients themselves" [Hsu Ya-hwei, 2010, p. 146]. For Lu Da-lin and other intellectuals like him, the prints served as an important tool in the act of coming into contact with antiquity. 15 The culmination of the quality of bronze impressions achieved during the Song Dynasty was the Xuanhe - tu catalog of 1120-1123 ("Illustrated Catalog of the Collection of Antiquities from the Xuanhe Pavilion"), in which 800 bronze artifacts from the Imperial Collection were published on the model of the collection of Lu Da-lin. The popularity of bronze prints during the Song Dynasty led collectors to save valuable vessels and order their inscriptions engraved on stone slabs, from which the prints were then removed. When copying inscriptions from bronze to stone, masters often conjectured damaged features, which reduced the reliability of impressions.

In modern studies, there is no exact information about when copies of paintings began to be engraved on stone slabs in order to remove impressions. From the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), a significant number of plates with reproductions of vertical and horizontal scrolls of all major painting genres, including portrait, landscape, flowers and birds (huanyao ), etc., have come down. Works created not only in the technique of "quick brush" (subi ), the laconic strokes of which were convenient for reproduction in carving, but also in the technique of "diligent brush" (gunbi ), which was replete with carefully prescribed details, were engraved. The works of many eighth-century painting luminaries, whose originals have long been lost, are now known only from plate impressions that were engraved from handwritten copies from the Song Dynasty. Most often, the works of Wu Daozi (685?-758?) were reproduced. In the XVIII century, and possibly even earlier, paintings appeared that were specially created in order to replicate them in prints. These were widely sought-after portraits of prominent figures of Chinese culture, as well as Taoist and Buddhist saints (Figure 5). The calligraphic quality of Chinese painting allows it to successfully maintain the transition to the visual mode of the impression without distorting the spatial plans and compositional rhythm16. The same can be said for all low-relief tomb images, whose linear forms are closer to painting than to sculpture itself (Fig.

14 This refers to the first three dynasties of traditional historiography: Xia (XXI-XVI centuries BC), Shang (XVI-XI centuries BC) and Zhou (XI-III centuries BC).

15 Hsu Ya-hui's conclusion that Lu Da-lin and his contemporaries did not distinguish between the original and the impression is controversial [Hsu Ya-hwei, 2010, p. 146]. This issue requires a more correct and thorough study.

16 It is significant that neither Korean, Japanese, or European painting has this property.

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The impression is the result of the collective work of a copyist, carver, and printmaker. Chinese researchers emphasize that the quality of the impression depends not only on the technical skill of all three specialists, but also on the depth of penetration of each of them into the style of the monument [Ma Ziyun, 1988, p.112; Ji Hongzhang, 1991, p. 78]. A professional calligrapher's proverb says that "real [likeness] doesn't require much similarity" (zheng bu bi do si ). In terms of shape, texture, and color scheme, the prints were very far from reproducible originals. They did not transmit, but translated the features of the plastic dynamics of calligraphic and pictorial forms from one material to another and switched the viewer's perception from positive to negative mode. Transforming visual information, prints, on the one hand, successfully coped with the task of spreading and transmitting artistic experience for centuries, and on the other hand, they participated in its changes of both conservative and reformatory nature. The general fascination with typos has never reduced the priority of originals. Chinese experts understood that a desk study of impressions could not replace a personal visit to the stelae (fan bay ) and a direct inspection of antiquities (fan gu ).

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Chen Yun-chiahn. Pursuing Antiquity: Chinese Antiquarianism from the Tenth to the Thirteenth Century: PhD Thesis. Chicago: The University of Chicago, 2007.

Harrist R.E. The Landscape of Words: Stone Inscriptions from Early and Medieval China. Seattle-London: University of Washington Press, 2008.

Hsu Ya-hwеi. Reshaping Chinese Material Culture: The Revival of Antiquity in the Era of Print, 960 - 1279: PhD Thesis. Yale: Yale University, 2010.

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Ma Ziyun. Jin shi chuan to jifa (Technology of removing impressions from inscriptions on monuments made of bronze and stone). Beijing: People's Meishu chu, 1988.

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Shi-ke hsien-hua (Stone-engraved linear painting). Beijing: Renmin meishu chubanshe, 1987.

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