段玉裁楷书七言联

A Calligraphic couplet Scroll by Duan Yucai

段玉裁(1735年～1815年),字若膺,号茂堂。江苏金坛人。时人因此称之为“金坛”。且因其斋名“经韵楼”,人亦以“经韵楼”称之。乾隆二十五年(1760年)举人,官四川巫山县知县。以文字学和经韵学方面的重要贡献闻名于世,与桂馥、王筠和朱骏声合称清代四大文字学家。著作有《说文解字注》,是研究训诂学的重要参考书。此楷书七言联,绢本,单条尺寸纵124.6、横27厘米。文曰:“未央树色春中见(“见”同“现”),茂苑莺声雨后闻”(图一)。钤“段玉裁印”白文印及“茂堂书画”朱文印各一方。两印间有段玉裁自署款:“钱竹汀说文解字叙,茂堂作楙堂楙本字。”其中“本字”二字间钤“小宋”(连文征的别号)朱文印一方。

A linguistic of the Qing dynasty, Duan is noted for his accomplishments in studies of Shuowen (Analytical Dictionary). The present scroll, in the collection of the Tianjin Museum, is one of the few calligraphic survivals of Duan' s. It is a couplet written in kaishu script and shows a strong influence of the Tang dynasty calligraphy. A rare work of art by a famous scholar, it contains as many as eighteen inscriptions of total 1400 Chinese characters. The eighteen inscribers include quite a few big names.