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略谈宋徽宗《草书千字文》及其它
杨仁恺
一
《千字文》是我国六朝以来盛行最久的一种字书，用以教授学童，是读书识字的启蒙读物。在《千字文》流行以前，早就有类似的字书出现过。东周时期，有《史籀篇》问世，通行於秦国的领域之内。秦始皇统一六国，有李斯的《苍颉篇》、赵高的《爰历篇》、胡毋敬的《博学篇》流传全国各地。西汉之际，有司马相如的《凡将篇》、扬雄的《训纂篇》和史游的《急就篇》相继流传过，对每个时期帮助学童识字，推进文化的发展，起过一定的启蒙作用。
历代流传的字书，到了後来，只剩下西汉史游的《急就篇》和六朝周兴嗣的《千字文》两种，而一千多年来，最具深远影响的，惟独周氏的《千字文》。作为封建社会意识形态的产物，《千字文》所反映的内容，必须存在忠君、孝亲、甚麽节义的伦理道德观念，但当它涉及到自然科学、人文历史、日用器物诸内容时，虽然仅说到一些现象，确有它一定的朴素唯物史观的认识，总算是沙裏淘金，多少有可取之处。还有另一种版本所谓的古千字文，虽不见刻本流传，确有墨迹传到今天，即所谓东晋王羲之所书《魏太尉锺繇千字文右军将军王羲之奉勅书》，标题说是三国曹魏锺繇编撰的，如果属实，则南朝梁周兴嗣的千文必然是出自抄袭。可是反覆推敲，经多方面考察，版权应属於周氏。然则锺繇之名，为後人强行加在他头上的。後人是谁，不便妄断时代当在周代之後，至迟不得晚於唐末。就书法而论，已是五代时期的风貌，与《兰亭叙》、《圣教序》书风相去甚远。很难理解龙大渊之流竟将其收入《宣和书谱》之中，也许是根据原题签有宋徽宗赵佶书而出此。此卷《千字文》流传自北宋宣和年间历经金昌明内府，再转入南宋权相贾似道，明晋府，项元汴，清初梁清标迄於近代壮涛阁诸家递藏，并载之著录，对之咸无荐议，殊乃咄咄怪事。我之所以在涉及到千文的问题上特地将传为王氏一卷略加考辨，以备参酌，或非赘词。
这卷《千字文》为北宋徽宗赵佶所书，书法属於狂草一类。从一代帝王的角度来衡量作者，他无疑不能与其祖先赵光义同日而语，相提并论。如果单就这卷草书进行评价，剖析它的艺术素养，在书法史上的作用，仍有它的现实意义。因此，就书法艺术的品评看来，赵佶草书《千字文》值得推荐给广大读者。它代表
一个作者的艺术成就以及时代的风貌，从而对研究我国狂草书法前後发展的脉 络，窥测它演变的迹象，是十分必要的。
二
赵佶擅长书画，独具风貌，对後世起过相当重大的影响。在书法的艺术实践，他早年曾一度学过同时人黄庭坚的字迹，随後改学唐人薛稷、薛曜兄弟。通过对薛氏兄弟书法的临习，心摹手追，持之以恒，在他廿岁前後，真书即已形成一种“新”的面貌，後人不察，以为是创自赵佶本人，美其名日“瘦金体”或“瘦筋体”，贵则出自薛曜《夏日游石淙诗》，由於它断了流传已达四五百年，一旦由赵佶写出，於是就显得新颖了。行书则保存薛稷的前规，间架紧密，笔锋遒劲，传世的《方丘敕》和《蔡行敕》黑迹，就具有这种风骨。至於赵佶的草书，世不多见，从上海博物馆所藏十四字题画七绝两句『掠水燕翎寒自缚，堕泥花片湿相重』的草书团扇，连同此卷考察，其法当出自张旭、怀素狂草一派，瘦劲挺拔，使转奔放，不离规矩，与怀素更为接近些。此外，再也没有看到他的草书流传下来，也可以说是仅见的孤本。
赵佶与所有的书家一样，也喜欢书写《千字文》，他一生不知写了多少卷，
流传至今，仅存两件。其一为瘦筋书本，现藏上海博物馆，写於崇宁三年（公元
1104年），时年二十二岁。卷後的“赐童贯”题字，当是他为那时正供奉明
金局的童贯所书。卷为朱丝栏，素笺本，字大寸许，每行十字，前後百行，书法
已基本定型，不过此时尚嫌瘦弱拘谨，不如晚年的肥润刚韧，心手一致的好。此
卷草书怪怪奇奇，大大小小，有的如“腾猿过树，逸虬得水”；有的“或连或
绝，如花乱飞”；有的“若枯松之卧高岭，类巨石之偃鸿沟”；有的“如飞鸟出
林，惊蛇入草”……真是不一而足。此卷书於宣和四年（公元1122年），是
年作者恰好四十岁，已是他短短一生中的接近於晚年，正是其书法大成之时。他
这两卷用真楷、狂草所书的千文，都是根据周兴嗣的版本，中间为避讳改了几个
字而外，概无差异，不见所谓魏锺繇千文的踪迹。
由於草书在书写中的制约较大，因此，历代书家在草书方面所作的建树，除
王羲之父子和张旭、怀素诸人外，很少有自辟蹊径，突破前规的，唐宋以来的草
书，尽管名家辈出，他们师法传统， “非王即张”。至於章草的书写，皆法皇象
《急就篇》，未闻有独创新意之说，却有画虎类犬之讥。故我们对於草书的评
价，以应著重观察作者运腕、使笔以及气势如何而定高下。所谓“草即纵心奔
放，复腕转蹙，悬管聚锋……起伏连卷，收揽吐纳”，“或体雄而不可抑，或势
逸而不可止，纵於狂逸，不违得寸进尺意。 ”此处所说的“纵心奔放”和“纵於
狂逸，不违得寸进尺意”，对草书来说，极为重要，是我们据以评论它的准则。
也正由於草书与楷书在书写上不尽相同，“真以点画为形质。草乖使转不能成
字，真亏点画犹可记文。”所以草书的书写较难，求工尤难，其症结所在，正在
於“使转”这一点上面。
此卷草书《干字文》，其所以可贵，在於作者掌握了狂草的基本法则，“使
转”不违笔意，基本上达到了“纵心奔放”，所谓“『意先笔後，潇洒流落”的艺
术效果。有人以为这卷草书写得如此精妙，怀疑它不是赵佶自运之作，有可能是
临写怀素之本。他们的根据认为此种草法出自怀素和尚，兼之宣和内府藏有怀素
《千字文》有四轴之多，完全有条件从事临摹，我们以为这种怀疑不是毫无根据
的，但不一定完全符合实际情形。可以肯定，赵佶草书出於怀素，不仅平时临摹
过怀素的草书《千字文》，而且还临过其它有关的草书帖。从时代风格上讲，两
宋的草书，大都师法张旭、怀素，不但名家黄庭坚、赵佶是如此，就是南宋的大
诗人陆游诸人，亦莫不如是。凡属临写之本，不管其技巧如何精到和高超，一经
深入观察，会多少流露出矜持、板滞的运笔痕迹。再说草书难摹，尤其是狂草更
是如此。此卷草书行笔飞动，全长数丈，一气呵成，几无败笔可寻。值得提出留意的地方，卷中草书的字裏行间，夹了少数几个行书字，如“伊尹”、“圆”、
“用”诸字书法。已露出薛稷的影响，与怀素的面貌迥然有别，倒是赵佶本人原
有的特色。明末孙承泽在所撰《庚子消夏录》中，著录此卷时，指出“徽宗千
文，书法怀素”，这裏用的“书法”两字，意义相当明显，是师法而非临摹，不
好理解为“临摹”之意。这一点，想必不会引起读者对它有甚麽误会的。
三
这卷笔翰飞舞的《千字文》，是写在全长达三丈以上的整幅描金云龙笺上
的。一幅长达三丈余的手工麻纸，今天看来，似乎不算是多麽新奇。可是，在八
百年前的北宋时期，已经制造出这样长尺度的精美用纸，不能不使我们为之惊
讶。从纸的质量考察，主要原料以麻的成分为主，表面光滑而无帘纹，吸墨的效
果很好。造纸技术创始於我国西汉，即两千多年前。文献记载说是东汉蔡伦造纸
不足为据。我国考古学界在陕西省西安近郊灞桥折柳送别的地方，发掘出西汉时
期使用过的纸张，说明我国造纸技术历史悠久，并且随著时间的推移，在使用材
料的精挑细选，根据使用性质的各种加工，都在不断地改进中。北宋的造纸术已
相当发达，而此卷用纸，固然属於特制一类，据专家推算，可能在江边把船舶排
列成行，然後浇上纸浆使之均匀，自然乾燥而成。由於历代收藏家对它倍加珍
惜，得以纸墨保持完整如新，给我们提供北宋造纸技术空前发达的宝贵资料。元末明初的曹仲明在他所著《格古要论》裏，有以下一段记载：“予尝见宋徽庙御书千文，其首尾长五丈有奇，信乎匹纸三丈也”。《格古要论》中所说“五丈有奇”，当是“五”为“三”之误，即指此卷而言。由此可知，就元明之际的人看
来，对这幅整张长三丈余的宋纸不能不感到惊奇。还值得我们珍视的，在这长达三丈有余的描金云龙笺上，那种精工的图案，不是用的雕板印刷而是以能工巧匠
就纸面一笔一笔地描绘出来的。据实物原卷观察，描金图案的能工巧匠，就是宫中不知名画师用尖毫画笔蘸金粉描绘而成。从整体画面的完整看，不可能分段拼
接，而是由一人自始至终一气呵成，如此高头长卷，如此繁缛的云龙图案，所花
的精力之巨大，可想而知!云龙图案的组织形式是这样的：每组由四条龙和二十
四层云纹组成，每组前後连绵不断，显得特别紧凑，表现出整体划一的效果。尽
管图案精工有余，但毫无板滞之弊，这是北宋图案装饰承唐代之余绪，从而有所
发挥的一个特点，在同一时期的《营造法式》和《博古图》的—一些器物中，却是
难於看到的，值得我们加以珍视!因此说，不仅赵氏狂草千文具有极其珍贵的艺术价值，同时有关的各项工艺，也几乎是空前绝後的希世杰作!
一九六二年三月初稿一九九六年重修於盛京之沐雨楼中
"Thousand-Character Essay In Cursive Script"
By Song Emperor Huizong And Others
1. "Thousand-Character Essay"
is one of the most ancient textbooks
in China since the 3rd century. It
was an elementary reading material
teaching young children simple
words and basic knowledge.
Although there were other
similar kind of books in earlier
centuries, only "Thousand-Character
Essay" and another one, "Essay Of
hnprovisation" by Shi You of the
Western Han Dynasty, had been
past down. And "Thousand-
Character Essay" was the most
influential elementary textbook in
China in the past thousand years.
Produced in a feudal social
environment, the essay's contents
have to involve a series of ethics
and moral principles such as loyalty
and obedience to the ruler, filial
piety and righteousness. Anyhow,
it also has some wdue serving as an
introduction to basic knowledges
such as general science, history and
social life.
The scroll in question was
written by Emperor Huizong of the
Northern Song Dynasty. 'It was
written in a kind of" wild" Cursive
Script. It has its artistic and practical
value in the history of calligraphy.
It represents the calligrapher's
artistic achievement as well as
reflects the style of that time, hence
it plays an important role for the
study of the development of Chinese
calligraphic art.
2. Emperor Huizong was an
expert in calligraphy and painting.
He developed a unique style which
had great impact on succeeding
artists. In his early years, he had
studied the style of Huang Tingjian,
later he turned to study after Tang
calligraphers Xue Ji and Xue Yao.
When he was around 20, his
calligraphy had evolved an
"innovative" look which was
mistaken to be originated by
Huizong and was named "slender
gold ". It was indeed derived from
Xue Yao's" Visit To A Stony Creek
On A Summer Day '.
Huizxmg's writing in Cursive
Script was seldom seen. There was
the two lines of poem inscription
on a round fan collected in the
Shanghai Museum. Along with this
scroll, we can see that Huizong's
style originated from the" wild
Cursive Script" school of Zhang Xu
and Huai Su. It was slender, firm
and thrusting, it flowed freely and
yet did not depart from the
principles, showing a closer link to
Huai Su's works.
Like all other calligraphers,
Huizong favoured writing
"Thousand- Character Essay" and
had produced an unknown number
of scrolls. Only two of them
survived. One of them, dated 1104,
is now collected in Shanghai
Museum. That was done when he
was 22. The writing was a little weak
and rigid, not as good as his works
in later years. The scroll we are
discussing was done in 1122 when
Huizong was 40. It was when his
calligraphic skills had fully matured.
This "Thousand-Character
Essay" in Cursive Script reveals that
the writer, having observed the basic
principles of ~ wild" Cursive Script,
was able to exert his strokes freely
within the roles. He had attained
the artistic effect of" .with concepts
leading forward, the strokes follow
smoothly and unrestrained ". Some
critics queried if it was Huizong's
own creation and doubted that it
was perhaps a copy of HUai Su's
works. It was not totally groundless.
It was certain that Huizong derived
his style learning from Huai Su.
Other than Huai Su's "Thousand-
Character Essay" in Cursive Script,
Huizong had also copied other
related Cursive Script models. In
this Cursive Script scroll, the strokes
flow smoothly and vividly, showing
a sense of coherence and unity. It
is close to absolute perfection.
There is one thing worth noticing
thoughl in the scroll there are places
where the characters were written
in Running Script, for instance the
characters "Yi Yin", "Yuan" and
"Yong". This showed the influence
of Xue .Ii which was totally different
from Huai Su's style. It was
Huizong's personal characteristics.
3. This exquisite "Th:us:nd-
Character Essay" was written on a
gigantic sheet of flax paper. The
paper measures over ten metres
long which was amazing taking into
account that it was manufactured
some 800 years ago, Judging from
the quality ()f the paper, it was made
mainly fr()m flax. It had a smooth
surface, and was very absorbent.
Recent archaeological discoveries
has confirmed that the techniques
of paper-making in China started as
early :is the Western tian l)ynasty.
By the Northern Song 1)ynasty,
pat>er-making techniques had
developed to a very advanced st'we
as could be seen in this current
scroll. As collectors through()ut the
centuries had cared fi)r and resen,ed
it extremely well, the scroll is kept
intact and like new. It provides us
precious information about the
.advanced paper-making skills of the
Northern Song Dynasty.
Moreover, on this gigantic flax
paper which is dec()rated with
gilded patterns of dragons al-id
clouds, the motif was meticulously
hand-painted by skilled craftsmen.
Form the unity of the complete
sheet, the entire sheet should be
drawn by one single person , and
we should appreciate the immense
efforts put in it. The structure of
the dragon-cloud pattern runs tike
this - each set is formed by four
dragons and 24 layers of clouds.
The sets link together continuously
and form a compact picture with a
strong sense of unity and continuity.
The patterns are refined and precise,
without becoming rigid and
monotonous. In conclusion, this
scroll of Cursive Script is a great
treasure not only for the artistic
value of Emperor ttuizong's
calligraphy, the paper itself is also
a great unprecedented and
unrepeatable masterpiece.