Chapter 3 Chapter Two Pre-Qin Paintings (21st Century BC-221 BC)

According to the "Confucius' Family Talk·Guanzhou" written by Wang Su of Wei Dynasty, Confucius, who lived in the late Spring and Autumn Period, once visited the "Mingtang" (the auditorium for entertaining meritorious officials, envoys, selecting officials and holding sacrificial ceremonies) of the Zhou Dynasty. , I saw on the surrounding walls, "there are the faces of Yao and Shun, the images of Jie and Zhou, and each has the appearance of good and evil, and the precepts of ups and downs."Guo Moruo also believed in the "Yagui Gui [gui Gui] Inscription Research and Interpretation" that there were murals in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty that "the map of King Wu and King Cheng conquered merchants and the map of patrolling the province of the East".

The depiction of images on the walls of stucco buildings began in the Neolithic Age, but the depictions at that time were all related to painted pottery.Their significance lies in the discovery and fabrication of new carriers—first, a layer of grass-soil mixed mud is applied on the wall, then a layer of mortar, and finally white ash, a method that has been adopted by future generations.From the above records, we can see that the temple murals developed to a considerable scale in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and they can even depict the "good and evil" of the characters. The development of murals became more prosperous in the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period.According to the preface of Wang Yi of the Eastern Han Dynasty's "Chu Ci Zhangju · Tian Wen": "Chu has the temple of the former king and the ancestral hall of the public minister, with pictures of heaven, earth, mountains and rivers, gods, Qi Wei 僪佹 [yu gui jade ghost], and the actions of ancient sages and monsters." It is said that the poet Qu Yuan "stop tired and rest. Looking up at the pictures, because of the walls of the books"-faced with all kinds of strange pictures, he asked them, and then he became a famous masterpiece.One can imagine how rich and colorful the images in the temple murals were at that time.According to the widely circulated story of "Ye Gong loves dragons", Ye Gong, an aristocrat of the Chu State, liked dragons, and "the inscriptions on the house and house were all written about dragons." The second is also carved beams and painted walls.It can be seen that painting was already a relatively common phenomenon in social life at that time.

So, what about the production process and creators of these paintings?The Eastern Zhou Dynasty's "Zhou Li · Kao Gong Ji Preface" contains: "The work of color design: painting, silk [huihui], bell, basket, scarf [mang busy]." It means that the process of painting is from drafting to writing. Color, there are at least five steps, and each step is completed by people with different skills.It seems that most of the paintings at that time, especially the murals, were created collectively.However, we can infer from the two stories of "Undressing Panzheng" and "Respecting the Emperor and Painting His Wife" that there were some individual painters with independent creative spirit in the Warring States Period.

The story of respecting the king and painting his wife comes from Zhang Yanyuan's "Famous Paintings of Past Dynasties".Speaking of the Qi State in the Warring States Period, the country was very powerful.The king of Qi built a nine-story high platform and summoned painters from all over the country to paint large-scale murals.Among them was a painter named Jingjun, who missed his wife very much because he could not go home for a long time.So he silently drew a portrait of his wife and hung it by his side to watch at any time to relieve the pain of missing him.Later, King Qi saw this portrait and knew that Jingjun's wife was beautiful, so he gave Jingjun a million dollars and took his wife away.

The code of "Jieyi Panzheng" comes from "Zhuangzi·Outer Chapter·Tian Fangzi" written by Zhuang Zhou in the Warring States Period.In the Warring States Period, Song Yuanjun summoned the painters in the palace to paint, and all the painters came on time. After saluting Yuanjun, they stood respectfully aside, studied ink and paper, and prepared to paint.At this time, a painter came late, walked up to Mr. Song Yuan in a calm manner, saluted, turned around and went to another room.Yuan Jun was very surprised, so he sent someone to see what happened.It turned out that the painter was taking off his clothes, barebacked, and painting as if no one else was around.Yuan Jun said with emotion: "Yes, he is a real painter!" Although Zhuangzi's original intention was to use this story to tell the truth of "letting nature go" and "returning to simplicity", it can also be seen from it that some painters at that time had already In the pursuit of spiritual independence and freedom, but also get people's appreciation, known as a true painter.