Recently, the "Qing Palace Beast Genealogy" exhibition jointly created by the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum and the Palace Museum opened. Through the comparison of specimens and paintings and the development of Chinese mammal science painting, the exhibition displays the most representative 31 high-definition paintings of divine beasts and real animals in the Qing Palace "Animal Genealogy" with the specimens closest to the Qing Dynasty specimen making process, and also compares the same animal drawings in the most representative encyclopedia-like animal atlases in ancient China, and reinterprets the Qinggong "Animal Genealogy" from the perspective of modern mammalology with the help of 3D modeling of mythical beast multimedia and interactive exhibits. Let modern zoology be combined with traditional Chinese culture and art, understand the beauty of these animal paintings from the perspective of natural science, and further excavate the connotation and extension of the "Qing Palace Animal Genealogy" culture.
The exhibition is divided into three exhibition sections: "Opening the Door of Imagination and Curiosity, The Beast of Reality, and Dancing with the Divine Beast". The first section, "Opening the Door of Imagination and Curiosity", selects the most mass-based divine beasts among the 107 legendary beasts, and considers the elements of the New Year of the Tiger to interpret 7 representative divine beasts such as Qilin, Bai Ze, and Nine-tailed Fox. Combined with modern mammalology, these sacred beasts are introduced through high-definition map pictures, graphic versions and large-scale interactive multimedia "Bai Ze Awakening" and "Mountain Realm", so that the audience can understand the divine beasts that account for nearly 70% of the "Animal Genealogy" and understand the beautiful meaning of the Chinese nation's expectation of the people to live and work in peace and contentment.
The second section, "Beasts of Reality", selects 24 animals with biological "species" significance in the "Animal Genealogy", as well as the corresponding 7 orders and 27 animal specimens, so that the specimens and paintings are directly compared, so that the audience can see at a glance; each painting is interpreted through the two aspects of "Interpreting the Illustrations from the Perspective of Natural Science" and "Interpreting the Drawings from the Perspective of Scientific Painting", and appreciates these paintings from the perspective of modern mammalology; at the same time, the image of each animal appearing in the encyclopedia of ancient atlases is compared with the Qinggong "Animal Genealogy" Compare the image in the middle with the animal image on the modern mammal primary color atlas to explore the development of Chinese mammal science painting.
The third section, "Dancing with The Sacred Beasts", reviews and affirms the historical status and value of the Qing Palace's "Animal Genealogy", clarifies the long history of the development of zoology of the Chinese nation through interactive multimedia "Pen and Ink Life", and further deepens the audience's intuitive impression of the sacred beasts rooted in our national spiritual homeland.
The Qing Palace "Animal Genealogy" is a huge literary and historical project in the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, with a total of 180 paintings of animals, painted by the famous court painters Yu Shengsheng and Zhang Weibang, and proofreaded by the military ministers Fu Heng, Liu Tongxun and others. "Animal Genealogy" is a collection of predecessors, combining the traditional Chinese realistic style and Western painting light and shadow techniques, it explains the name, habits, habitat and culture of each animal drawn, providing us with valuable first-hand information for us to explore the understanding of mammals and the development of mammalology in that era, as well as the communication of mammals in the world at that time.
The exhibition creates a "Qing Palace" atmosphere by imitating the "Forbidden City" building palace wall scene, with red, yellow, brown and brown as the basic colors, especially red and yellow as the main tone of decoration, and maintaining the unity of tone with the original "Animal Genealogy". At the same time, the exhibition adopts the overall darker and locally illuminated lighting arrangement, focusing on paintings and specimen exhibits.
(CCTV reporter Dou Junyun Zhang Junhe)
Source: CCTV news client