Stone abrasion

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kuixing , the god of exams (a companion of Wenchang , the god of literature) - stone rubbed off the stele forest of Xi'an

Stone abrasion (Chinese 榻 本, Pinyin Tàběn) is the process and the product (this itself is also somewhat imprecisely called stone imitation ) of a stone carving, stone engraving or relief using color pigment, which has been practiced for many centuries in East Asia (especially in China and Korea) on paper . The method of rubbing on paper, which is regarded as the forerunner of woodcut and book printing in East Asia, is also used in a modified form to depict artistic surface treatments on other materials ( bronze , jade , wood).

Unlike the pressure comes in beating the original with paint in contact, the copy is true to side and must also always made by hand.

In East Asia, stone rubbing is not only regarded as a (in the broadest sense graphic) process, but as an independent art form at least since the Ming dynasty . Opinions are divided on this in the West.

history

The assumption that there had in the in the Annals of the Eastern Han Dynasty described "copies" (摩寫Moxie) of stone classic of Xiping era (175-183 n. Chr.) To stone rubbings traded is doubted today. Most sources point to an invention of stone attrition during the Northern Wei Dynasty or the Liang Dynasty . The earliest extant stone rubble was found near Dunhuang by archaeologist Paul Pelliot and dates from the Tang Dynasty .

The history books of the Tang period report that a limited number of selected specialists, who, however, only had the rank of lower employees, were responsible for the stone scrubbing.

During the Ming Dynasty , stone abrasion achieved such a high level of appreciation and technical perfection that stone work was already designed with regard to its later abrasion.

From the earliest times stone abrasion was primarily used for the reproduction , transport and archiving of texts carved in stone ( classics , inscriptions, poems, etc.) as well as for calligraphic and sculptural stone carvings. Even centuries after the invention of block printing , which served similar purposes, the stone rubbing method remained alive.

The missionary Matteo Ricci (1552–1610) brought his knowledge of stone abrasion with him to Europe from his stay in China. However, the technology did not become at home there because the corresponding originals (especially inscriptions) were rarer and letterpress printing with movable letters had already been invented.

Through the use of the stone rubbing technique and the conservation of the stone stelae, large collections of scriptures could be handed down that would otherwise not have survived that long. An example of this is a collection of Buddhist sutras from Hunan , which comprises a total of 4,200,000 words.

technology

The paper made from plant fibers or from mulberry bark , which has to be stretchable but tear-resistant, is soaked in a lye ( rice flour slurried in water with the addition of alum ) and placed on the stone area to be depicted. The softened paper is then tapped onto the stone with "the ball of the hand , a leather mallet or a short-haired, hard brush, whereby [it is important that] it hugs the surface and the shapes of the stone" and "as evenly as possible into the incised lines penetrate ”or that the raised areas of a relief are clearly contoured.

After drying, a bale of cloth moistened with a paint solution is wiped across the paper over a large area, whereby the paint covers all the paper zones lying on the high surfaces of the stone, but does not wet the paper tapped into the grooves or cracks, so that the furrows close Use black ink to contrast white against a black background.

After the “abrasion” with paint that takes place in the second phase, the entire process (or the product) is called “stone abrasion”.

Dry rub

In the case of dry rubbing, which is rarely practiced , flat stone or metal structures are transferred to tightly fitting paper by rubbing with black oil pastel (made from hard wax and lamp soot).

In the 20th century, the artist Max Ernst used a method analogous to dry rubbing, which he called frottage , to integrate the patterns of organic structures into his pictures.

Today's dry rubbing of stones is done with graphite or colored chalk.

Artistic evaluation

When coloring, there are many possibilities for artistic differentiation due to variations in the type of paper, the color pigment (mostly black, rarely other colors, especially red) and especially the rubbing technique. For this reason, stone rubbers in East Asia are also regarded as real works of art ( unique pieces ). The services of the stone cutter and the stone scraper cannot be separated from one another.

Replenishments

With this method (in contrast to printing processes such as lithography ) the color does not come into contact with the surface of the stone. Gradual mechanical damage to the surface structures of the original through frequent knocking on the paper is possible, however. In the case of old and valuable stone tablets, people have therefore started to rub off an exact copy of the original or to copy the first rubs off by hand. If the quality is good, these reproductions are also assigned an artistic value, even if they are not scientifically usable.

application

A stone rubdown ( graphite on paper to document a petroglyph ).
  • In modern times, the abrasion of artistically processed stone surfaces play a role in the exploration of foreign cultures.
  • In the USA, grave stone rubbings became popular, either for scientific motivation ( genealogy , local history) or simply for aesthetic reasons.

See also

literature

Catalogs

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Robert Henry Mathews: Chinese-English Dictionary. Shanghai 1931, American repr. Cambridge 1943, sign no. 5968.
  2. ↑ Also 拓本 Taběn, Mathews: Chinese-English Dictionary, character no. 6460.
  3. ↑ In modern dictionaries 拓片 Tapiàn (cf. Wilfried Fuchsenberger: Chinese-German universal dictionary. Publ. F. Foreign-language literature. Beijing 2001.).
  4. ↑ a b Lexicon of Art. Revision. Leipzig 1994. Vol. 7, p. 24.
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g Gerhard Pommeranz-Liedtke: The wisdom of art. Chinese stone rubs. Leipzig 1963.
  6. ↑ Roger Goepper: Calligraphy, in: Werner Speiser: Chinese Art: Painting, Calligraphy , Stone Abrasion, Woodcuts . Atlantis Verlag 1965.
  7. ↑ Kenneth Starr: Black Tigers. A Grammar of Chinese Rubbings. University of Washington Press 2008, p. 6
  8. ↑ Kenneth Starr: Black Tigers. A Grammar of Chinese Rubbings. University of Washington Press 2008, pp. 8-12
  9. ↑ Kenneth Starr: Black Tigers. A Grammar of Chinese Rubbings. University of Washington Press 2008, p. 13
  10. ↑ Kenneth Starr: Black Tigers. A Grammar of Chinese Rubbings. University of Washington Press 2008, p. 17
  11. ↑ Roger Goepper: Calligraphy, in: Werner Speiser: Chinese Art: Painting, Calligraphy, Stone Abrasion, Woodcuts. Atlantis Verlag 1965.
  12. ↑ Kenneth Starr: Black Tigers. A Grammar of Chinese Rubbings. University of Washington Press 2008, pp. 243, 266
  13. ↑ Matthew Battles: The World of Books: A History of the Library . Artemis and Winkler, Düsseldorf 2003, ISBN 3-538-07165-9 , pp. 50 .
  14. ^ Werner Speiser: Chinese art. Painting, calligraphy, stone rubbing, woodcuts. Atlantis Verlag 1965.
  15. ↑ If the bale is soaked, the color may run. U. in the paper furrows!
  16. ↑ Kenneth Starr: Black Tigers. A Grammar of Chinese Rubbings. University of Washington Press 2008, p. 145
  17. ↑ Up to 2008 4 volumes in 5 sub-volumes were published (Vol. 1, Vol. 3: Text; Vol. 2, Vol. 4/1, Vol. 4/2: Addenda and illustrations.)

Web links