Chapter 30 Portrait of Cao Xueqin

Jia Baoyu's Imaginary Journey into the Void Realm Cao Xueqin's portrait, Mr. Tao Yiyuan said before, saw two kinds in Shanghai: (1) the Jiang family's portrait, and (2) the Li family's hand scroll.After Tao Fu met with Jiang, Jiang Zeyun did not collect this painting at the beginning.There are photos of Li Zang's hand scroll.According to Mr. Tao, the two frames look the same, so they are credible.The portrait is fat, with a slight beard and drooping eyebrows.Yurui's "Zaochuang Leisure Pen" says: It is heard that there are some relatives of the elders who have made good friends with him. He has a fat body, a broad head, and a dark complexion.Hearing Qi's strange talks eloquently makes people tireless all day long, which is why his books are wonderful and exhaustive.

The recorded description is also consistent with the portrait, which can help to prove the authenticity of the portrait. The picture scroll of Li Zang was painted by Wang Nanshi, but there is no inscription "Xueqin" on the painting. There is only one label. The small portrait of mourning Hongxuan written in Ming Dynasty is inscribed by later generations. There are many postscripts after hearing it, but none of them have been obtained. See.From Mr. Ye Xia'an, I read Li Zu Han Jun's note to Xia Lao, describing the portraits and various inscriptions and postscripts, which are excerpted below:

Cao Xueqin's portrait volume was inscribed in the past years, but it was borrowed for a friend for a long time, so it was impossible to record it.The photo submitted last time was a reprint of the negatives taken by the "Art Weekly".At that time, Han Fu had an inscription saying: "This small portrait sitting alone in a secluded bamboo map was painted by Wang Nanshi for Xueqin. Nanshi Minggang, a native of Nanhui, Jiangsu, a disciple of Huang Benfu, died in the year of Qianlong and Gengyin (see "Paintings") "Historical Biography"). Nearly people say that Xueqin was born in Kangxi and died in Qianlong about 30 years ago. Guoer, Xueqin should be in her late age when she painted this portrait. Da Xin, Ni Chengkuan, Na Qi, Mu Li, Qian Zai, Guan Bao, Cai Yidi, Xie Yong, etc. were all well-known at one time. Recently, they have been passed by Fan Fanshan, Zhu Cun, Feng Xu, Chu Deyi, Ye Gongchuo, etc. The postscript is especially valuable."

Although his words are unknown, we can know the painter's life, age and the name of the person who wrote the postscript. This picture is definitely not a fake.