胡婷
“兼長翰墨世俱欽,一襲征袍萬里心,艷說胭脂鮮血代,誰知草檄有金音?!?944 年, 郭沫若在重慶參觀明末女英雄秦良玉文物展時, 揮毫寫下了《詠秦良玉詩四首》,這即是其中之一。
在這首詩中,郭沫若作了一個注釋,“石柱有金音石,可作硯,傳秦良玉草檄用之?!?/p>
意思是說石柱縣有一種金音石,可以制作成硯臺,傳說秦良玉就曾經(jīng)用金音石硯來草擬過檄文。
金音石硯的來頭可不小,它與重慶的夔硯、峽石硯并稱“巴渝三大名硯”。由于歷史上金音石硯制作時斷時續(xù),流傳于世的精品更是鳳毛麟角,漸漸地不為人熟知。
不過,在古硯收藏家、鑒賞家汪海的家里,我們有幸一睹金音石硯的風(fēng)采,了解到金音石硯背后的諸多故事。
"Admired by the public, she's so adept at fancy writing; Wearing a coat armor, her heart is concerted with the homeland far away; The welling blood is her makeup; Who ever knows that she once drafted official calls with the gold-tone inkstone." Guo Moruo wrote the "Four Odes to Qin Liangyu" in 1944 when visiting the exhibition of Qin Liangyu, a female general of the late Ming Dynasty, in Chongqing. This poems is one of the four odes.
Guo Moruo made a note for this poem: "There are gold-tone stones in Shizhu County which can be used as inkstones. Legend has it that Qin Liangyu, a well-renowed female general in the Ming dynasty, used
in Bayu". Due to the intermittent production of gold-tone inkstone in history, the fine works circulated in the world are exceptionally rare, so they gradually became unknown.
Fortunately, at the house of Wang Hai, an inkstone collector, we had the honor to see the elegant demeanour of gold-tone inkstone and learn the stories behind it.
硯 中 傳 奇 Legendary Inkstone
汪海家里,各種硯臺琳瑯滿目,都是他收藏的川渝地方硯。
其中一方收藏桌上,幾十余方墨黑色硯臺在燈光照射下,散發(fā)出細(xì)膩的光澤。“這就是金音石硯,硯石產(chǎn)于重慶石柱鳳凰鄉(xiāng)硯臺灣。”汪海拿起一方硯臺,示意我們用手輕輕敲
打,果然有鏗鏘之聲,如金石入耳?!斑@種石頭聲音清脆,所以被叫做金音石,也有叫金云音石的。”
汪海是安徽人,十幾年前,因工作調(diào)動來到重慶。在川渝古玩市場發(fā)現(xiàn)金音石硯后,他愛不釋手,開始了對金音石硯的收藏。他自豪地說,他收藏的金音石硯已有 30 余方,“金音石古硯典型形制、精品大多收藏在我手上?!?/p>
關(guān)于金音石硯,石柱至今還流傳著一個傳說。相傳詩仙李白流放夜郎時,曾在石柱萬安隱居。他在當(dāng)?shù)匕l(fā)現(xiàn)金音石硯后,十分喜愛, 吟詩作賦常伴左右,離開石柱時還不忘帶上幾方石硯作留念。
不過,傳說終歸是傳說,明代以前金音石硯并沒見于典籍文獻(xiàn),直到明末才因秦良玉而名揚(yáng)天下。
汪海指著一塊硯臺上“太保金音石”字樣的題刻說,“金音石硯因此又叫‘太保金音硯’?!蓖艉Uf,相傳石柱女將軍秦良玉有隨身二寶: 武有白桿槍,文有金音硯。她兩次率家鄉(xiāng)子弟兵“白桿兵”進(jìn)京勤王,后來被南明隆武帝封為“太子太?!薄爸邑懞颉?,并賜有“太子太??傛?zhèn)關(guān)防”金印。石柱人引為自豪,故常在金音石硯上鐫刻“太子太保總鎮(zhèn)關(guān)防金印”或“太保金音石”字樣。
Wang Hai's house is overwhelmed by a wide variety of inkstones, all of which were collected from Sichuan and Chongqing.
On one of the collection tables, dozens of black inkstones emitted delicate luster under the light. "This is gold-tone inkstone, which is produced in Yantaiwan, Fenghuang Township, Shizhu County, Chongqing."
Picking up one of the inkstones, Wang Hai asked us to tap it gently with our hands. As expected, there's a sonorous sound, just like that of the gold stone. "This kind of stone has a clear and crisp voice, so it is called gold-tone stone, or gold-cloud-tone stone." Wang Hai is from Anhui Province. He came to Chongqing more than ten years ago due to job transfer. Stumbling across the gold-tone inkstone in Sichuan and Chongqing's antique markets, he fell in love with it and began his career as a collector. He said proudly that he had collected over 30gold-tone inkstones, "Almost all the gold- tone inkstones in Chongqing are here with me."
There's a whole legend around the gold- tone inkstone in Shizhu County. It has that when the poetic genius Li Bai was exiled to Yelang, he lived in seclusion in Wanan, Shizhu. He couldn't be more in love with the gold-tone inkstone when first discovered it in the local area, and made the utmost of it when compiling poems. When he left Shizhu County, he also took several such inksotnes as souvenirs.
Yet legend is legend. No such inkstone can be found in ancient books and records before the Ming Dynasty. It got the nation- wide fame until the end of the Ming Dynasty, thanks to Qin Liangyu.
"Gold-tone inkstone is also called by some as 'Taibao Gold-Tone Inkstone'" said Wang Hai, pointing at the inscription on an inkstone, which reads "Taibao Gold-tone Stone". He told me that Qin Liangyu, the female general of Shizhu, has two treasures with her: a white spear and a gold-tone inkstone. She led the "white spear army" from her hometown to the capital city twice to show loaylty to the throne and was later dubbed "Tutor to Prince" and "Duke of Loyalty" by Emperor Longwu of the Southern Ming Dynasty. She was also given the golden seal of "General Town Guard of the Tutor to Prince". The people in Shizhu were proud of her, so they often engraved the words "General Town Guard of the Tutor to Prince" or "Taibao Gold-Tone Stone" on the inkstone.
硯中故事
Story behind the Inkstone
金音石硯雖自明末開始盛名,但早期作品流傳極少。汪海所藏,都為民國年間所制,他十幾年前倒是曾在古玩市場見過許多大約晚清民國時期的金音石硯,以民國早年居多。
通過收藏,汪海也展開了對金音石硯的系統(tǒng)研究,銘文是研究的重要內(nèi)容之一?!昂玫某庛懲俏淖?、書法、刻工三者俱佳的結(jié)合, 會增添硯的藝術(shù)與審美價值。銘文題刻一般是詩文或贈語,有題刻的硯臺多為定制,制作也相對精良?!?/p>
研究銘文還有一個樂趣,汪海稱之為“為歷史存檔”。
“現(xiàn)代人基本上不寫毛筆字,但我們?nèi)阅軓某幣_中挖掘古人的智慧?!蓖艉5臅苌嫌泻芏嗌婕俺幣_及川渝地方志的書籍,“硯銘不僅可以了解不同時期、不同產(chǎn)地的風(fēng)貌特點(diǎn), 還可以鑒古知人,幫助我們考定硯的確切年代、產(chǎn)地和曾經(jīng)的主人,探尋關(guān)系人的歷史文化價值,其樂無窮?!?/p>
汪海拿出一塊硯臺,硯銘上有這樣一段文字:“勁益縣長法家雅存。明太保秦良玉之故里產(chǎn)金音石,質(zhì)瑩潔而聲清越,類端溪產(chǎn)。蘇公知沆宰斯邑,余追隨蒞任將屆三年,以久客思?xì)w,爰用制硯,面刋秦良玉舊日關(guān)防,用以志古,呈置案頭以供清玩。甲申三月,書于古南賓石砫。雷祥光敬贈?!?/p>
汪海解釋,硯銘記述了雷祥光獻(xiàn)金音石硯的故事,也記錄了金音石硯的產(chǎn)地和特征。為了這段硯銘,汪海專門翻閱了《石柱縣志》, 縣志上記載,蘇知沆在 1941 年擔(dān)任石柱縣長。
硯銘里的“甲申年”也就是 1944 年,想來大概是雷祥光見蘇知沆任期將滿,在積極為自己找出路。
汪海又拿起另一塊硯臺,指著上面的銘文解釋,“這段銘文記載的故事也很有趣,說的是一個叫炳文的軍官駐守石柱,正值大旱,他看到農(nóng)民生活很苦,于是就用當(dāng)?shù)亟鹨羰屏艘环匠帲徒o遠(yuǎn)方的孩子,其中有‘硯田無惡歲’ 之語,意思說只要勤學(xué)苦讀,就一定有收獲?!?/p>
在父親對孩子的關(guān)切之外,這段銘文也記載了一段歷史。汪海為此查了《石柱縣志》, 里面記載了這場發(fā)生于 1930 年的旱災(zāi),“收獲僅十分之一二”。
The gold-tone inkstone, though got a great reputation at the late Ming Dynasty, the early works were rarely known to thepublic. Wang Hai's collections were made during the Republic of China. He did see works of the Qing Dynasty in the antique market more than ten years ago.
Besides his collection, Wang Hai also launched a systematic study on the gold-tone inkstone. Inscriptions are one of the important resources of his study. "A good inscription on the inkstone is often acombination of great writing, calligraphy and engraving, which adds artistic and aesthetic value to the inkstone. Inscriptions are usually poems or parting words of advice or encouragement. Inkstones with inscriptions are mostly customized and relatively well-made." said Wang Hai.
There is also a pleasure in studying inscriptions, which Wang Hai calls "archiving history".
"Most of modern people seldom practice calligraphy, so we can dig out the wisdom of the ancients from inkstones." On Wang Hai's bookshelves, there are a great deal of books about inkstones and Sichuan and Chongqing local chronicles. "Inkstone inscriptions can not only help us understand the features of different periods and producing areas, but also enable us to confirm the exact age, producing area and former owner of inkstones, exploring the historical and cultural values of that owner. It's incredibly fun."
Wang Hai took out an inkstone which reads: "Collected by the magistrate of Jingyi County. The gold-tone stone produced in the hometown of Qin Liangyu, a Tutor to the Prince of the Ming Dynasty, is pure in quality and clear in sound, similar to that of Duanxi. Mr. Su Zhihang was the governor of the region. I have been assisting him on government affairs for three years. Suffering from homesickness, I hereby make this gold- tone inkstone once used by Qin Liangyu to pay tribute to the old times. Please put it
on your desk for enjoy. Written in March, the year of Jiashen in Shizhu. Respectfully presented by Lei Xiangguang."
Wang Hai explained that the inkstone inscription recorded the story of Lei Xiangguang offered the gift (gold-tone inkstone) to someone, and also the origin and characteristics of the gold-tone inkstone. To figure out what this inkstone inscription meant, Wang Hai read the Records of Shizhu County, which writes that Su Zhihang served as the Magistrate of Shizhu County in 1941. The "Year of Jiashen" refers to 1944. It was probably that Lei Xiangguang, seeing that Su Zhimian's term of office was about to expire, was looking for a way out for himself.
Wang Hai picked up another inkstone and explained the inscription on it: "The story recorded in this inscription is also very interesting. It is said that an officer named Bing Wen was stationed at Shizhu County during a severe drought. He saw that the farmers' life was very hard, so he made a inkstone out of the local gold-tone stone which reads 'As you sow, so shall you reap' and sent it to his children from afar, aiming to tell them that as long as you work hard, you will definitely get something."
In addition to a father's concern for his children, this inscription also records a history. For this reason, Wang Hai checked the Records of Shizhu County, and found that a drought occurred in 1930, leading to very poor harvest.