#NATIONAL TREASURE #From January 1 to April 6, 2021, "The Shape of Power: Special Exhibition of the Portrait of the Emperor of the Southern Kaoru Hall" was exhibited at the National Palace Museum in Taipei. 25 exhibits, 9 national treasures, the rest are all "important antiquities", which are extremely rare; the exhibits span the Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties. These include the Emperor's Album and the Scroll. There are busts, standing statues and seated statues. This is a concentrated exhibition of important images of the National Palace in Taipei, the most complete portrait of the Empress of the Song Dynasty, which is quite half the same as the full body portrait, which is an important image material for the study of Song Dynasty portraits.
Originally built in the Ming Dynasty, the Nanxun Hall is a separate courtyard located southwest of the Wuying Hall. The wooden structures and painted paintings in the hall are relics of the Ming Dynasty and are very precious. The hall is 5 rooms wide, and there are vermilion lacquered wooden pavilions in the hall, which are divided into five floors and enshrine the statues of the emperors of the past. The east room of the hall enshrines the statues of the empresses of the past, and the west room contains the treasures of the Ming Dynasty emperors.
In October 1747, Qianlong found a number of portraits left by the former Ming Dynasty in the treasury of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which were mainly the standard portraits of the emperors and empresses of the past, and also mixed with the portraits of famous courtiers and sages, all of which were exquisitely depicted and did not resemble folk works. They were uniformly collected and stored by the Qing government in the treasury of the Ministry of Internal Affairs after the Ming and Qing dynasties, and no one cared about them for decades. So the emperor ordered that the images be uniformly framed, and a few days after this order was issued, that is, on the sixth day of the first month of November, the images were sent to the secret hall of the construction office for re-mounting. Qianlong was very concerned about this matter, and instructed in detail the grade of mounting, materials, colors and other details. In just over a month, on December 20, the paintings were framed and enshrined in the renovated Nankao Hall.
To this end, Qianlong also wrote the "Record of the Images of the Southern Kaoru Hall", which was engraved in stone and stood in front of the temple. Therefore, this batch of portraits is also called the Nankao temple images by researchers.
In 1945, most of the portraits of the Nan kaoru Hall were transported to Taiwan Province of China and collected at the National Palace Museum in Taipei. The rest are scattered around the Palace Museum and the National Museum.
The whole picture is almost three meters, and you can only look up at Tang Taizong's face, and the huge figure creates a prestige that is difficult to ignore. However, the shape of the dragon on Tang Taizong's robe is closer to the Style of the Ming Dynasty. It is speculated that this axis, along with other statues of the same size as emperors and heroes, is a series of works of ming dynasty sacrifices to the emperors and sages of previous dynasties, and was once hung together for worship. It belongs to the imagination of later generations of painters to famous kings.
Looking at the portraits of the emperors and queens on display this time, we can find that each emperor and queen is sitting on the dragon bed, or standing on the dragon bed, or lightly crossing the dragon boat in the escort, their expressions are solemn, and their eyes are like torches. Although the Tang to Ming emperors sat or stood upright, the posture still underwent subtle changes.
Zhao Zhen, Emperor Renzong of the Northern Song Dynasty, wore a flat-footed head and a plain red robe, which at first glance looked quite simple. However, from the collar and cuffs that reveal the gold lines of the underwear, as well as the gorgeous chair shawls and stepping pads, you can feel that the luxurious things are nothing more than the consumables of life for him, showing the luxurious daily life that belongs to the peak of power.
In addition to the Song painting "Statue of King Xia Yu", Dayu holds a gui board and his hand is exposed. The hands of the Emperors of the Song Dynasty were hidden under the wide clothes, and only the corners of the shoes were exposed on their feet. The posture of the body is obscured, and the wide sleeves of the robe highlight the muscular body, giving people a sense of unfathomable and elusiveness.
This painting depicts Ming Taizu's appearance in his later years. Although the whiskers are completely white, the muscles around the eyes and the corners of the mouth are relaxed, but the eyebrow shape, cheeks and other characteristics are quite similar to the middle-aged "Ming Taizu Sitting Portrait". Both works, as thin as whiskers, are neatly arranged and perfectly curved, and must be faithful portraits drawn respectfully by court painters. Compared with the "ugly image", you can feel the true appearance of the empress, but it is not as good as the strange facial features, which can better satisfy the people's imagination of the particularity of the supreme ruler.
In terms of sitting posture, the sitting posture of the Emperors of the Ming Dynasty changed compared with the Song Dynasty. Although the song dynasty legs are together, although the form is also very majestic, but the portrait also seems to want to create a sense of humility, and from the full body portrait of the Ming Emperor on display, some of the Ming Emperor's legs are separated, they hold the belt with one hand, and the other hand is placed on the leg, the gentle and humble component disappears, and there is no mighty momentum.
It is worth mentioning that the seated statue of Ming Yingzong unveiled the prelude to the "full frontal portrait" of the Ming Dynasty emperor. In addition, the imperial statue was also replaced by a more formal and symbolic costume, creating a posture and momentum of sitting in the temple and listening to the government. The weight is untouchable, the mighty is inviolable, perhaps a shape of power.
Although the dragon has always been considered a symbol of imperial power, it does not run through the entire "history of royal power", and in the pre-Qin era, Xia Yu's "special coat of arms" was the pattern of the sun, moon and three stars.
This Song Dynasty court painter Ma Lin painted the "Standing Statue of The King of Xia Yu", Dayu wears a nine-fold crown on his head, and the robe reveals the coats of arms such as "Day", "Moon" and "Three Stars" that can only be used by emperors, and the lower clothes that hang down to the ground are opened, making Dayu of Zhigui look particularly slender and heavy.
In the costume heraldry of Song Yingzong, Song Renzong and other Song Dynasty emperors, the main part of the costume is still red, white and other solid colors, which look very simple at first glance, but the red narrow sleeves are covered with gold threads and finely woven dragon patterns, and the black boot surface is decorated with many dot patterns, although low-key but still can't hide the luxurious atmosphere.
In the painting, the emperor sets up an eagle and rides out to hunt. Although the figure is small, it still depicts the dragon pattern on the robe. The gilt arrow barrel mouth is circled with mink rats and decorated with colorful green harnesses, showing the luxury of royal items. This painting is signed "Ming Xuanzong Statue", and the left side of the canvas is floated with a small yellow note of "Xuande Xingle". However, compared with the ming emperor's eyebrow shape and beard, he is more likely to be Ming Xianzong. Ming Xianzong was obviously extremely interested in depicting and documenting his life, and there are still several surviving works of the Xingle Tu for reference.
Ming Xuanzong was the father of Ming Yingzong, who was also the father of Ming Xianzong, and the three generations of grandchildren looked quite similar. Compared with the eyebrow shape and beard of these three Ming emperors, which emperor do you think is closer to the protagonist of "immediately like"?
In the Ming Dynasty, the pattern of dragons increased, and the area occupied was also larger. In the "Seated Portrait of Ming Xuanzong", the chest and shoulders are decorated with dragon patterns, and even the carpet below the seat is also covered with dragon patterns; in "Akihito Seated Portrait", although Renzong's costumes are low-key, the hem does not have a cloud pattern, but the "double dragon play beads" on the carpet are still very eye-catching.
Dressed in dragon robes, Ming Xiaozong seemed to be listening to the government in the court, sitting in a delicately carved throne, with a huge screen standing behind him, and a gorgeous carpet on the ground, and the whole person was drowned in dazzling. In addition to the nearly fifty five-clawed dragon patterns on the painting, the "twelve chapters" on the robe symbolize the various qualities of the Son of Heaven.
The continuous increase and expansion of the dragon-style pattern in the portraits of the emperors and queens of the past may also mean that the power in the subject is constantly expanding, which may also be a characteristic of power.
If the Central Plains regimes such as the Song Ming dynasty could rely on proprietary clothing patterns and mighty sitting postures to express their power, then the Yuan Dynasty regime that occupied the Central Plains all the way south from Mongolia was not in the Confucian cultural system. So, how can they show their cross-racial, cross-regional power in the image? The answer lies in the way it is drawn.
Although only busts of the Emperors of the Yuan Dynasty remain, they can still clearly see the traditional Mongolian crown dress style, which is unique in the imperial costume system of successive dynasties and is very easy to identify. The portraits of Kublai Khan and Yuan Wenzong of the Yuan dynasty are small pieces of stubble exposed under the warm hat, and three-ring braids hang behind the ears, which is a common hairstyle of the Mongolian people. The robe on his body is also not ornately decorated, and there seems to be nothing special about it.
This statue mainly uses pigment light and shade to express the ups and downs of the facial features, which is a technique of Nepalese painters. The use of non-Han traditional painting methods to maintain the costumes of the native peoples shows the powerful power that cross-regional and cross-racial co-owners can have. This is most evident in the portrait of the Empress.
The painting only shows half of the dragon and phoenix crown, how many dragons, phoenixes and fairies are made of small pearls? It is said that there are 9 dragons, 4 phoenixes, and 15 fairies.
A pair of pheasant patterns are common on the queen's robe. It is said that pheasants "keep their males and females without dividing", so they can symbolize the firm and divided feminine virtues of the queen.
The Empress dowager of the Song Dynasty is also this "low-key and luxurious" temperament. Song Xuanzu wore a pale yellow tunic, a small pearl piping phoenix pattern xiapon, and a translucent skirt woven with a pattern to drag out of the painting. At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Queen of Song Guangzu, who continued to the standard form of the Southern Song Dynasty Empress Sitting Statue, also wore a dark blue robe embellished with multicolored pheasant patterns. The crown of the head is very gorgeous, and the large and small pearls are woven into a crown of dragons and phoenixes, and the face is decorated with beads.
Because of the inscription "Empress Yingzong" in the upper right of the picture, we probably know that she is the empress of Yingzong. However, even without the help of the inscription, through the "aunt crown" on her head and the luxurious gold thread fabric she wore, it can be inferred that she is a married aristocratic woman. The true appearance of the empress cannot be confirmed by future generations, and it is not necessarily so important. Their identity and symbolism at the pinnacle of power are the key to being depicted and preserved.
Empress Yuan Yingzong's robe is a red silk and gold-bottomed trim in the middle, with feathers on the top and a bird's beak with something on it below. The painter should realistically depict the popular pattern of weaving gold at that time.
Although the empress of the Yuan Dynasty wore a strong Mongolian character, she was also very gorgeous. The four back portraits on display, in addition to the red front of the forehead, there is also a rare translucent rosette material, the crown surface of the aunt crown is arranged with colorful gems and pearls arranged into flowers and butterflies, the crown is decorated with five-color feathers, and the body is woven with gold brocade robes in various colors, showing the luxurious and rich material life of the Mongolian Royal Family.
The costumes of the emperors of the Ming Dynasty continued the characteristics of the Song Dynasty, with an increase in the number of crown pearls on the head, and a large number of dragon-like ornaments appeared on the costumes. The vast wealth reflected in luxury clothing may be another shape of power. So, do you think that in these portraits, there are still those shapes of power?