The National Palace Museum in Taipei is exhibiting a special exhibition of "Palace Zoo". The exhibition selects 45 pieces (groups) of animal paintings from chinese past dynasties, divided into three units: "Zodiac", "Rare Birds and Exotic Animals" and "Aquatic Leisurely Tour", using simple and easy-to-understand texts and relaxed and lively designs to introduce the content and meaning of various animal paintings in Chinese history one by one, so as to create an exclusive summer vacation art and leisure place for primary school children. Among them, the title of Hu Kemin's "Crab Diagram" axis (Figure 1) is quite interesting, so it is selected as a research article to feast on the same good.
1. Hu Kemin, "Crab Diagram" Axis, 1981, National Palace Museum, Taipei
You and I should have had the experience of eating crabs, although there are various types, but their body shape, taste, and even the way to distinguish males and females should be no stranger. The "Ci Hai" defines the word "crab" and provides a basic understanding and explanation of crabs, which is: "Animal names." It is a crustacean of arthropods. The cephalothorax is flat and broad; the breastplate is large with a serrated leading edge; the mouth is in front of the breastplate; the thorax is five pairs, the first pair of claws, large in shape, and the end is pincer-like. The abdomen is segmented, bent under the thorax, commonly known as the umbilicus, the male is narrow and long, and the female is round and broad. The fat of the male, that is, its sperm nest, the yellow of the female, and its ovaries also. Both salty and light water are produced, there are many types, and the practitioners are crabs, cockroaches, worms, cockroaches, etc., which are divided into details. ”
In the Northern Song Dynasty, Fu Qiu (year of birth and death unknown) once made a special arrangement and investigation of crabs, and wrote a book "Crab Genealogy", such as the origin of aliases such as "Guo Suo" and "Gongzi without intestines", which can be known from it. Prologue: "Although the crab is not the noble of the ascendant, it is found in the scriptures, quoted in the transmission, in the history of the child, in the hidden, in the song of the poet, mixed in the novel, all intentionally said ... It can be seen that crabs have been closely related to people's lives since ancient times, and many literary works have been derived from them. Nowadays, there is an increase in research, and most of them are accompanied by physical photos for comparative reference, which is of great benefit to identification. Mr. Qian Cangshui's book "Talking about Crabs" covers the history of fisheries, food, culture, folklore, etc., with a wide range of topics and detailed content. Ms. Xie Yizhen's master's thesis "Research on Ancient Chinese Crab Eating Culture" starts from the perspective of "eating", and quotes the poetry stories of past dynasties to explore the connotation and evolution of crab eating culture, which is also very enlightening in this article. So, how do we use these historical materials to understand the "Crab Diagram"? First of all, it is necessary to go back to ancient times and borrow the eyes of the ancients to see the connection between crabs and life, which is discussed in four aspects.
In the Han Dynasty, the selectors were divided into A, B and B or A, B, and C; the Sui Wen Emperor Yang Jian (541-604) established the imperial examination system, and after the Tang and Song dynasties, the jinshi were divided into A and B sections, and the keju was called "kejia", which was the way and goal for the ancient common people to get ahead and shine the lintel; the Ming and Qing Dynasties tried to admit jinshi into three grades, and the first one took three, in order of "Zhuangyuan", "Bangyan" and "Tanhua", and the first of the second rank was called "Chuanjia", and the four were collectively called "Dingjia". So in some drawings, crabs are commonly paired with reeds, sometimes one, sometimes two. (Fig. 2) This is because the crab body has "a", and "lu" and "胪" are pronounced the same, which is intended to wish for the title of the gold list, and is not limited to "Ichijia Chuanxun" or "Erjia Chuanjiao". The protagonists in the painting are hairy crabs (also known as river crabs, lake crabs, rice crabs, hairy crabs, etc., scientific name is Chinese river crabs), and there are also such patterns on blue and white porcelain and temple seats descending from the Ming Dynasty.
2. Anon., "Painting Flowers and Birds" book, "Reeds", National Palace Museum, Taipei
As the saying goes: "September is the tip of the navel of October, holding a crab and drinking chrysanthemums." "Perhaps for the sake of livelihood, the ancients had a keen observation of the crab's growth environment, cycle, habits, etc. They believe that crabs are the most fertile in autumn and winter, and crab eating wine, gathering flowers, and chanting poems at this time is a great joy in life. This tradition can be traced back to the Eastern Jin Dynasty, when the famous scholar Bi Zhuo (date of birth and death unknown) said: "Holding a wine glass in your right hand and a crab claw in your left hand, it is enough to shoot in a floating wine boat." ”
One of the seven laws of the Northern Song Dynasty Su Rui (1039-1112) "Ciyun Zhang Jun's Illness" reads: "In the prime of life, you can support the disease, and do not waste the frost claw in your left hand." Gradually happy a cup of good stay, not should be five buckets like at that time. Further use of the "frost fall" in the twenty-four solar terms to point out the seasons, for the crab claws to put a beautiful coat, "frost claws" has thus become synonymous with crabs. Most of these paintings are freehand and colored, ren Bonian (1840-1895), Qi Baishi (1864-1957), Zhu Qizhan (1892-1996), etc. are among the best; the crabs in the paintings are hairy crabs, reflecting the crab-eating varieties and general situations of the folk at that time. (Figure 3)
3. Qi Baishi, "Wine Pot Crab Plate Diagram". Photo source/ "Beijing Academy of Painting Secret Collection Qi Baishi Collection: Four", Guangxi Education Publishing House, 1998,
Crab sketches have been seen and circulated in the Northern Song Dynasty, such as the "Xuanhe Pictorial Notation" contains Yuan Ling (birth and death year unknown) "Fish and Crab Diagram", Li Yanzhi (birth and death year unknown) "Double Crab Diagram", etc.; in physical objects, the Palace Museum has collected the Southern Song Dynasty without a model "Lotus Crab Diagram" (Figure 4), with a delicate and delicate pen, the writing scene is real, and it is judged according to its characteristics as a hairy crab. The creative performance depicted with lotus flowers, lotus leaves and crabs is speculated to be the same as the connotation of the aforementioned "Keju Shi", because the pronunciation of "lotus crab" is similar to "harmony", which is intended to take its harmonic pun, symbolizing harmony and harmony. In addition, the Tang Dynasty Duan Chengshi (about 803-863) "Youyang Miscellaneous Tricks" said: "Crabs have mangoes in the belly of August, and mangzhen rice mangs are also." Long inch, to the east to lose with the sea god, not lost inedible. Sometimes I see painters of rice with crabs, which may be related to the background of this "loss". However, because rice is also called "he", it is speculated that it should be the closest to the pictorial meaning of the aforementioned "Lotus Crab Diagram" harmonic pun, and it is also the expression of rice ripe crab fertilizer in autumn. In fact, crabs also have negative connotations such as "rice crabs do not leave their seeds" and "shrimp and crab chaos", but at present, there is no such pictorial performance. Whether it is a double claw sandwiching a rice ear, or millet or other grain, it is a depiction of autumn.
4. "Lotus Crab Diagram" page, partial, Southern Song Dynasty, Collection of the Palace Museum. Image source: "Paintings of the Jin and Tang Dynasties, Flowers, Birds and Animals", The Commercial Press of Hong Kong, 2
There is also a category of simple sketching, that is, the "cockroaches" (Fig. 5) in Ming Shen zhou's (1427-1509) book of sketching. The crab in the painting is purely stained with ink color, and there is not much sketching, which is very different from the "Lotus Crab Diagram". This painting converges the dynamics of the pike crab into stillness, with a clear texture, a subtle portrait, and a strong pen and ink interest. The name "cockroach" comes from the "Shiqu Baodi Continuation", which allows a glimpse of the Qing people's understanding of crab species.
5. Shen Zhou, Sketching Volume, "Cockles", Ming, National Palace Museum, Taipei
Liu Jie (date of birth and death unknown) painted "Fish and Crab Diagram" (metropolitan museum of art collection), placing a pike crab on the slope shore, the details of the limb shape are very clear, and the swimming fish in the water are distinguished, revealing that the author observed that crabs can move on land, and also declares the change of the crab painting activity field. But the pike crab is a sea crab, and how to walk on land seems contradictory. In addition, Li Cheng (919-967) and Guo Xi (active in the 11th century) painted dead branches of trees with unique expression techniques, because their shape resembled crabs' claws and foot, so they were called "crab claw branches", and "crab claw cold forest" became one of the characteristics of the school. (Figure 6)
6. Guo Xi, "Early Spring Map" Axis, Partial, Song, National Palace Museum, Taipei
In the ancient Chinese Buddhist taoist beliefs or texts, the combination of gods and animals is common. Some are part of the body, some are accompanied by attendants, and some are transformed into mounts, which can fly across the sea for the gods to travel. Dragons, phoenixes, turtles, cranes, etc., are all familiar to everyone. When the crab became a divine mount with divine power is not recorded before the Song Dynasty. However, one of the ancient poems of Li Bai (701-762) says: "Crab claws are gold liquid, and bad hills are Penglai." The so-called "golden liquid" should be the elixir of immortality in Taoist alchemy, and the Tang Dynasty has seen the connection between the two. Paintings appeared as late as the late Ming Dynasty, with Qiu Ying (c. 1450-1535) painting the Jade Cave Burning Dan volume (Figure 7, the collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei) and Wu Bin (active in the Ming Dynasty) painting the Eighteen Ying Zhen volume (the collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei), respectively, showing the patterns of Zhong Liquan and Luo Han wading in the water. The authenticity of these two works is controversial, but both mean that the status of crabs in folk immortal beliefs has risen. The mount in the painting is judged to be a hairy crab, and it seems that there seems to be a tacit understanding between the authors. According to the Classic of Mountains and Seas, "The country of Gu is in the sea. Genus Liegu shoots. southwest. Mountain ring. Big crabs in the sea. "I don't know if it has anything to do with this background. It is conceivable that crabs can wade in the water, and the double claws have the function of predation and defense, or be deified because of it.
7. Qiu Ying, "Jade Cave Burning Dan" volume, partial, Ming, National Palace Museum, Taipei
Mr. Hu Kemin (1909-1991) was a native of Wujin County, Jiangsu Province (now Wujin District, Changzhou City), known as The Iron Bone Weng and Yang Bixuan Lord, all of whom were exquisite in books, paintings and seal carvings, and the types of works were diverse and rich, and Yu Theory emphasized the "Six Laws" and was one of the members of the "Eight Friends Painting Society". His life activities, creative ideas, style history or artistic characteristics are mainly found in the album catalogues published with the exhibition in the past, and the special research is rare, as are crab paintings. There are eight crab paintings painted by Chahu, spanning 20 years. The earliest "Caged Crab" (Figure 8), painted in 1969, was already settled in Taiwan. Although the age and theme of the creation may be different, according to the fall of the model, it can be known that the time of the painting fell in autumn, and the crab painted was judged from its morphological characteristics as a hairy crab. Sometimes it is accompanied by reed grass, bamboo cages, rice, chrysanthemums and wine bottles, or write scenes to explain the seasons, or are the patterns of poetic imagery in ancient Chinese food culture, with the traditional meaning of ancient Chinese crab painting.
8. Hu Kemin, Caged Crab, 1969. Photo source/ "Hu Kemin's Painting Collection", Calligraphy and Painting Monthly, 1968
Crab nails and crabs are sufficient for concise and vigorous pen and ink presentation, with a clear and distinct posture and sufficient shapes. In the use of ink, it is basically color painting, sometimes using vermilion ink, indicating that it has been steamed and waiting to be eaten, and the villi, eyes, abdominal nails, and the tips of the foot of the claw are colored separately to distinguish them from the crab nails. Sometimes it is expressed in ink, using the change of ink color to create different levels of changes in the carapace concave and convex light, and the shape is both freehand. Interestingly, the crab belly armor in the paintings of "Yellow Flower Purple Oyster", "He Crab Figure", and "Chrysanthemum Yellow Crab Zheng Fat" all make a "king" character, which hides the humor and ingenuity of the author, and directly paints the characteristic habits of the crab "Mo Dao is not afraid of thunder and lightning, and the sea dragon king is also rampant" into the painting. Regarding the techniques or experiences of painting crabs, Hu Shi did not have a monograph on the narrative, but once said: "Everything about flowers and feathers, grass worms and water genus, etc., is only how to use the simplest brushwork to write out their looks." "The truth is already in detail.
The five crabs in the "Crab Chart" have their own positions and postures, and rice grains and rice ears are interspersed with them. As mentioned earlier, this is clearly a traditional painting of "harmony" when the autumn rice is ripe. The uppermost person is the "king" in the abdomen, facing the other four crabs, as if he is giving orders, and the rice spikes and rice grains instantly become supporting roles, like dust and sand, giving people the feeling of being handsome on the battlefield. Hu Kemin was 73 years old at the time, and his pen and ink were skillful and refined. The "Kemin Painting Record" has appeared on Hu Kemin's "Turquoise Map" and "Year Dynasty Qing Dynasty Offering Map" (both collected by the National Palace Museum in Taipei), which can be seen from its origin. The "Biling" (Biling) in the book is the ancient name of Changzhou and the birthplace of the Hu clan. The Biling school is quite famous in the history of painting, especially the sketches of grass worms and flowers, and Yun Shouping (1633-1690) can be represented. Yun is famous for his boneless floral paintings and crabs (Figure 9).
9. Yun Shouping, Ouxiangguan Freehand Volume, Reed Crab, Qing, National Palace Museum, Taipei
And Hu's early paintings were deeply influenced by Yun Shouping, and Mr. Yao Menggu once pointed out: "Since childhood, I have been friends with the descendants of another local noble family, Yun Nantian. Taking this opportunity, he browsed the treasures that the Yun family had passed down through the generations, that is, in terms of Yun Nantian, he had seen more than a hundred authentic works. "Maybe it's from this. In addition to Shen Zhou, Xu Wei (1521-1593) was also a master of boneless crab painting, the difference being that Xu Wei painted hairy crabs (Figure 10). The techniques and methods of Hu's boneless crab painting are similar to Yun's, and the two should have a certain inheritance relationship in style; but whether it is from the perspective of "Crab Diagram" or from the overall crab painting performance, Hu's theme is diverse, the rendering power is strong, and it is not inferior to Yun's, and has created its own painting style.
10. Xu Wei, "Rice Crabs" book, Ming. Photo source/ Beijing Poly 2017 spring auction "Yang Zhi MiGao - Ancient Chinese Calligraphy and Painting Night Show" auction drawing
brief summary
Starting from the life experience of the ancients, this article is preliminarily sorted out into four types: the examination of the scholar, the food culture, the shape of the object, and the mount of the gods according to the content and meaning of the crab paintings of the Chinese dynasties. "Crab Diagram" belongs to the category of attachment to the shape, because the pronunciation of "he" and "crab" is similar to "harmony", symbolizing harmony and coordination, and it is also a suitable work for autumn. The crab in the painting has bone and flesh, rich ink, and boneless freehand technique performance, which is different from the song dynasty's crab painting context that pays attention to realism and brushwork, and is speculated to be related to Yun Shouping, and can even be traced back to Xu Wei and Shen Zhou, supplementing the understanding of the origin of their painting. Hu's calligraphy and painting art is exquisite, which can be described as one of the representative figures of the Maritime School of Painting in Taiwan, but there are still many researchers to be studied, and it is still waiting for continuous excavation and discussion in the future.
Wen | Chen Jianzhi
The picture | the National Palace Museum in Taipei, and the data room of this journal
Chen Jianzhi is an assistant researcher at the National Palace Museum in Taipei, a Ph.D. in art at the Department of Human Sciences at the University of Tsukuba, specializing in Zhao Mengfu calligraphy
This article was published in the July 2019 issue of Collector's Collections of Ancient Art. Original title: "Exploring the Source of Crab Painting From the Axis of Hu Kemin's "Crab Diagram"".