Chapter 16 Section 3 Wildflowers and Rare Birds Incorporated into Paintings

Chinese flower-and-bird painting was formed later than figure painting and landscape painting.According to the history of painting, there were many painters who became famous for their paintings of flowers and birds in the middle and late Tang Dynasty.Such as Xue Ji, Bian Luan, Teng Changyou, Diao Guangyin and so on.Although their works have disappeared, according to the records, the flower-and-bird paintings at that time had already got rid of the supporting status of figures and landscape paintings, and became an independent branch.By the Five Dynasties, flower-and-bird painting developed rapidly, and the first climax of the development of Chinese flower-and-bird painting appeared.Two main factions, represented by Huang Quan and his sons and Xu Xi, emerged. The so-called "Huang family is rich and noble, and Xu family is wild and easy" in the history of painting refers to the difference in their painting styles.

Huang Quan, Huang Jucai (cai Cai), Huang Jubao and his son are painters of the Xishu Academy of Painting.They mostly painted rare birds, rare birds, exotic flowers and rocks, and used the meticulous double-hook coloring method. The pictures are rich and colorful, which is very suitable for the appreciation of court nobles.Later, it was regarded as a standard by the court painters of the Northern Song Dynasty, and its painting style lasted for a hundred years.Huang Quan's authentic work handed down to the present is "Sketch of Rare Birds from Life", which is 41.5 centimeters in length and 70 centimeters in width, and is now in the Palace Museum in Beijing.There are more than a dozen kinds of insects and birds and two turtles in the painting, which are neatly and realistically depicted.There are five characters "Fu Zi Ju Bao Xi" at the bottom, which may be a manuscript for his son Ju Bao.

Xu Xi is a literati from the south of the Yangtze River, with a quiet and indifferent temperament. He specializes in painting ting flowers, wild bamboos, birds, fish and insects in the south of the Yangtze River.Thick brush and thick ink, with a little miscellaneous color, the color does not hinder the ink, and does not hide the handwriting.After the Northern Song Dynasty, Xu Chongsi, the grandson of Xu Xi, evolved this painting method into the boneless method, which gained a great reputation.Unfortunately, Xu Xi's original works no longer exist. After entering the Song Dynasty, for a long period of time, Huang's painting style dominated the flower and bird painting circle.In the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, great painters such as Zhao Chang, Yi Yuanji, and Cui Bai appeared who paid attention to sketching, and raised flower and bird painting to a new stage.

Zhao Chang (AD? - 1016), styled Changzhi, was born in Guanghan (Jiannan), Sichuan.According to legend, he learned painting from sketching.Every morning, while the dew was still wet, he went to the flower garden to sketch flowers, and called himself "Sketch Zhao Chang".The broken branches and flowers he painted are specific and real, and are called "unparalleled in the past".There is "Sketch of Nymphs and Butterflies" (now in the Palace Museum, Beijing) handed down from generation to generation. Yi Yuanji (AD 1001-1065), styled Qingzhi, was born in Changsha.At the beginning, he also painted flowers and fruits. After seeing Zhao Chang's paintings, he was inspired and determined to get rid of the stereotypes of his predecessors and find another way.Therefore, he went into the deep mountains and wild forests, did not go home for several months, observed the living conditions of the monkey roe deer, and carefully recorded them.Later, he dug a pond behind the house, arranged rocks, planted flowers, bamboo and reeds, and domesticated waterfowl and mountain animals, so that he could often observe their swimming postures.After a lot of hard work, Yi Yuanji's paintings of flowers, birds and animals won a reputation that no one else had before.For example, Qin Guan, a famous poet in the Song Dynasty, said in "The Song of Viewing Yi Yuanji <The Picture of Roe and Ape": "Yi Zhi's brushwork is refined, the lake and the sea are pushed, and the painting is even more strange." He painted hundreds of apes on the west mural, and paid him the material fee in advance. Unfortunately, "only a dozen or so apes were painted, and he died due to illness."According to legend, there is a "Hundred Apes Picture", but unfortunately, it is no longer visible today.Only the "Picture of Gathering Apes" in the Osaka Art Museum and the "Picture of Monkey and Cat" in the National Palace Museum in Taipei are said to be the works of Yi Yuanji.

Cui Bai, courtesy name Zixi, was born in Haoliang (now Fengyang, Anhui). His birth and death are unknown, and he lived around the 11th century.According to records, he is erudite and fond of ancient times, has a relaxed personality and is very talented.In addition to being proficient in flower and bird painting, he can also paint figures and animals.During the Xining period (1069-1077 A.D.), Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty ordered Cui Bai and three other painters to paint the screens of the Chui Gong Palace.However, Cui Bai had a generous temperament and was used to indulgence. He didn't want to be restrained in the painting academy, so he insisted on resigning.Later, Shenzong allowed him to reluctantly take office "if there is an order before the imperial court, so don't do anything with it".At that time, most of the flower and bird paintings in the painting academy followed Huang's painting style of "double hook filling color" and "magnificent workmanship", but Cui Bai was able to sketch objects more deeply on the basis of absorbing the achievements of his predecessors, and boldly created A new style that is light, draughty, lively and natural.Cui Bai's works handed down from generation to generation include "Two Birds Playing with Rabbit", "Bird Sparrow", "Bamboo Gull" and so on.

"Two Birds Playing with a Rabbit" is 193.7 cm high and 103.4 cm wide, and is now in the National Palace Museum, Taipei.It depicts the scenery of late autumn.Frost and leaves are falling on the slopes, trees and bamboos are shaking, and withered grass is rustling.Two mountain birds, one perched in a tree and the other flew in the sky, chirping in the cold wind.It seems to be saying that winter is coming, there is no nesting, nowhere to live, what to do.Their calls made a hare, which was hunting for food, turn its head around in surprise... All this is so real, vivid and interesting, adding vitality to the bleak autumn scenery.The two birds and the hare in the painting are accurate in shape and vivid in posture, and are drawn with fine and powerful strokes; the dead branches and decayed grass are drawn in a relatively unrestrained and flexible half-work and half-handwriting and small freehand brushwork.The color is light, and the use of strong and gaudy colors is less, making the picture appear more sparse.Compared with Huang's painting style, which is courtly, Cui Bai devotes more enthusiasm to wild scenes.He is better at describing the beauty of birds, flowers and plants in motion, so he is more full of interest in life.

Huizong Zhao Ji, the subjugated king of the Northern Song Dynasty, loved calligraphy and painting very much.He reigned for 25 years, was politically incompetent, and was helpless in the face of the invasion of the Jin soldiers. In 1125 AD, he abdicated to his son Qinzong Zhao Huan, who called himself "the Supreme Emperor".In November of the following year, Bianjing fell, and 3,000 people, including Zhao Huan and his clan concubines, were taken captive to Jin, where they were humiliated and died imprisoned in Wuguocheng (now Yilan, Heilongjiang Province) in 1135. Zhao Ji is an incompetent emperor, but a famous artist.He loved calligraphy and painting since he was a child. Before he succeeded to the throne, he got close to some famous painters at that time and was deeply influenced by them.After succeeding to the throne, his interest in painting and calligraphy far exceeded his concern for the country's military and political affairs.He collected more than 10,000 famous paintings from ancient and modern times, compiled them into "Xuanhe Ruilan Collection", compiled 20 volumes of "Xuanhe Painting Book", perfected the establishment of the Hanlin Academy of Painting, personally prepared examination questions, and recruited painting talents to enter the Academy of Painting; Personally supervise creation, advocate sketching, etc.As an emperor, such personal practice played a certain role in the prosperity and development of Song Dynasty painting art.Zhao Ji is versatile, loves literature, likes to write lyrics, and is good at calligraphy and painting. His artistic achievements are various.He can embrace different styles of painting, and his works often show very different styles.Judging from the works that have been handed down, his flower and bird paintings have a colorful, rich and luxurious painting style, and also have a simple and refined mountain and wild taste mainly based on ink. "Golden Pheasant in Furong" is his representative work of the former style.

"Golden Pheasant with Hibiscus" is 81.5 cm high and 53.6 cm wide, and is now in the Palace Museum, Beijing.A beautiful golden pheasant landed on a branch of hibiscus, causing the leaves to bend slightly and the delicate flowers to sway.It was attracted by a pair of flying butterflies before it could get a firm foothold, and stared back at it.In the lower left corner, there are a few frost-resistant small chrysanthemums, blooming in full bloom in the wind.In this close-up frame, people can feel the interest of natural life.This picture adopts the fine brushwork painting method of double hook coloring, and accurately and vividly depicts the posture and expression of flowers and birds with refined pen and ink; the colors are gorgeous and delicate, showing a graceful and luxurious artistic style.Zhao Ji inscribed a five-character quatrain on the upper left of this painting: "Autumn Jin resists frost, and Eguan Jinyu chicken. Knowing all five virtues, An Yi wins Fuyi [fuyi takes medicine]." The poem praised the golden pheasant Possessing the five virtues of Confucianism, there is no merit in trying to beautify the peaceful and prosperous Zhao Dynasty.However, his slender, vigorous, reserved and unrestrained calligraphy called "thin gold body" is a whole by itself.In the lower right corner, there is the words "Xuanhe Palace Imperial System Bingshu".The following is his unique cursive signature of the four characters "one person in the world" put together.It has become a special symbol to identify Zhao Ji's works.

In terms of artistic creation, Zhao Ji advocates "sketching from life", pays attention to "laws", and requires "both form and spirit".There is such a record in "Hua Ji" written by Deng Chun of the Song Dynasty: Longde Palace was first completed, and the murals painted by many masters of the painting academy failed to attract Zhao Ji's attention. rose.The reason is that he learned through careful observation that the flowers, pistils and leaves of rose flowers are different in four seasons, and this painting of rose is the shape at noon in spring, which is real and vivid.Zhao Ji's uniqueness and remarkable achievements in painting art may have an important relationship with his attention to observing things and feeling life.