"The wind is strong in the middle of winter, the hundred flowers are withered, the clear window is sitting right, and the eyes are brighter, which is the joy of the years." In ancient China, the first day of the first lunar month was always the "year dynasty". On this day, flowers, vegetables and fruits, and cultural play are offered in front of the case, in order to seek good luck and spring in the New Year, which is called "the year of the Dynasty".
As an important theme of traditional literati painting, "Year Dynasty Map" has always been loved by painters, either depicting the old and welcoming the new Year, or painting with "Qing offerings" such as playing with vegetables and fruits, and showing the good wishes and expectations for the New Year through the harmonic sounds, historical allusions or folk allegories of the names of the scenes and customs, reflecting the quaint mood of the literati and inkers.
1
Gong Tingya Fun Years Of Joy
When it comes to the origin of the "Year Dynasty Map", researchers mostly believe that it originated in the Song Dynasty. There is a legend that because it is difficult to see rare flowers in winter, the elegant Song Huizong ordered the painter to paint them for enjoyment in the spring.
However, in the early history of Song and Yuan paintings such as the Xuanhe Pictorial Notation, the Illustrated Chronicle of Seeing and Hearing, and the Illustrated Treasure Book, there is no record of the "Year Dynasty Qing Dynasty Offering Map".
A painting now in the National Palace Museum in Taipei, which is said to have been made by Zhao Chang in the Song Dynasty, is the earliest visible figure of the "Year Dynasty Map". Its color is magnificent, the composition is special, and it has a very decorative effect. The picture is painted with cinnabar, white powder, rouge, stone green into plum blossoms, camellia, daffodils and ivy flowers and lake stones, and then filled with stone blue, the color is thick, neat and serious, covering the whole picture, appearing beautiful and gorgeous.
Zhao Chang's "Year of Dynasty Map"
Although the word "Chenchang" of Zhao Chang is famous for "Chenchang" on this "Picture of the Dynasty", some studies believe that the painting style and painting method are not similar to the Song Dynasty style. And the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty on the Shitang also inscribed: "The cover of the painting is large, or there is damage, it is cut off for Yongjia, do not sign the fake money, and the deposit is not complete." Therefore, the unnatural cut from the edge of the frame, and compared with the recognized works of Zhao Chang, there should be this possibility. Nevertheless, this does not affect the warm and festive New Year atmosphere of his "Year Dynasty Map".
It is said that Zhao Changshan painted flowers and fruits, often in the early morning to the sun, to watch the flowers, depict the scene, and depict it immediately, because he called himself "SketchIng Zhao Chang". The Xuanhe Pictorial Notation records 154 of his works, and the Song Zhongxing Pavilion Collection of Paintings records 27 of his works. However, due to his straightforward and arrogant temperament, he was just and upright, and in his later years, his self-esteem was often hidden deeply, so his works were rarely passed down from generation to generation, and it was difficult to confirm his painting style.
As a traditional subject of Chinese painting, the real popularity of "year dynasty map" was in the Ming and Qing dynasties. According to incomplete statistics, Wen Jin, Zhou Wenjing, Shang Xi of the Ming Dynasty, Zou Yigui, Dong Bangda, Dong Yu, Jin Tingbiao, Yao Wenhan and other well-known painters of the Qing Dynasty have all passed down the "Year Dynasty Map". Even Emperor Mingxianzong Zhu Mishen, in the seventeenth year of Chenghua, also created a "Good Omen Of the Year Dynasty".
This "Year Dynasty Map", now in the Palace Museum in Beijing, uses a tough and smooth brushwork as a bell, holding a ruyi in his hand, looking at the bat, and a small ghost standing next to him holds a tray, and the plate contains cypress strips and persimmons, which means "Pepsi Ruyi". The imperial title was: "Kashiwa Ruyi." A pulse of spring back to the heating, the wind and clouds are worth the time. Draw a picture today to be a good sign, as expected every year and a hundred things. ”
Zhu Jianshen's "Year of Dynastic Good Omen"
In addition, the "Qianlong Emperor's Journey to the Dynasty" now in the Palace Museum in Beijing is a work depicting the day when the Qianlong Emperor celebrated the new dynasty. It is understood that this painting was painted by Ding Guanpeng, Lang Shining, Shen Yuan, Zhou Kun and other Chinese and Western painters, and there are "Treasures of the Eight Signs of Immortality", "Treasure of the Ancient Rare Heavenly Son of the Five Blessings and Five Dynasties", "Treasure of the Emperor Taishang" and other seals.
In terms of composition, this "Qianlong Emperor's Year of Dynastic Music" is composed of two courtyards, separated by a central wall, and in the foreground courtyard sits and holds Ruyi is the Qianlong Emperor, with a number of royal children standing on both sides, and the children in the back scene or snow lions, or watching in the long corridor, have different shapes.
"Qianlong Emperor's Dynasty Journey"
In addition to this work, in the Qing Palace's "Each Work of the Construction Office to Do Work And Qing Archives", a number of "year dynasty maps" are also recorded, for example, on November 15, the Qianlong Emperor once passed on the instructions: "Tang Dai, Lang Shining, and Chen Meishang deliberately painted a pair of "Year Dynasty Maps", which was completed on December 25" and can be seen that the "Year Dynasty Map" drawn by the Qing Palace was drawn by the emperor.
2
Qing offerings dust-free years of spring
Since ancient times, the "year dynasty" refers to the first day of the first lunar month, that is, the first day of the new year. In China's most important traditional festival, the Spring Festival, the people painted by the new spring pen or the people who hang on the occasion of the new year and the dynasty are more or less collectively referred to as the "year of the dynasty".
That is to say, in terms of content, "year dynasty map" can be divided into two categories, in addition to the above mentioned general depiction of new year celebration scenes, mostly to paint landscape figures, the other type is based on fairy flowers, seokusa, jiaguo, literary play, and beautiful utensils, mostly in the name of "year dynasty Qing offering".
The so-called "Qing Offering", also known as Qing Play, refers to the elegant offering. The ancients were in awe of nature, so they offered sacrifices to save them from misfortune and blessing. After the introduction of Buddhism, the ritual of "Offerings of Fragrant Flowers and Fruits in the Zen Room" replaced the cattle and sheep of Shuo, and gradually developed into all the literary and toy items that can be appreciated by the desk, including calligraphy and paintings, ancient artifacts, bonsai, and strange stones, which are collectively called "Qing Offerings".
The ancient "Qing Offering" culture is rich in connotation, which is not only an important part of the festival etiquette, but also a synthesis of a variety of traditional arts such as cultural relics appreciation, painting, flower arrangement, calligraphy, decoration, and even room decoration. Although the matter of "Qing Offering" originated from the practical instrument, because it has long been separated from the practical category and has become a pure aesthetic elegant thing, therefore, the literati ya fun such as "style and elegance" and "meaning" are very emphasized, and it has also become an important performance theme of "Qing Offering".
According to records, during the Southern Song Dynasty, Jin Shi Lin Hong wrote two volumes of "Mountain Family Qing Offering", which specifically recorded how to pick, cook, preserve and even eat and heal the effects of melons, vegetables and mushrooms in the mountains. In these two volumes, the admiration of mountain food, coarse tea and light rice, and the idea of quiet and inactive are no longer the realm of ordinary recipes, but the elegant and quiet classical cultural affairs.
There are many more similar stories. During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, he entered the priest Huang Yu, was young and orphaned and poor, and later became an official to Shangshu. Chinese New Year's Eve night, he talked to his wife, recalled the cold and faint old days, and said that "if you buy spring for a hundred dollars, you can be old enough, and you will have the pleasure of eating poor and living in the lowly", so he took up his pen to paint, painted a "Picture of the Qing Dynasty of the Years", entered the painting with the penmanship of the literati, asked him to support his words and admonish future generations, and warned his wife and children that they "will not forget the style of the cold warriors and children".
3
Elegant and popular to write the dynasty
"Cold clouds send remnants of the night, and the face is swirling and the kasper gathers the years." For literati painters, scroll calligraphy and painting, gold and stone rubbings, not only to celebrate the New Year, but also to support the words of the people, express the chest of the first choice.
It is particularly worth mentioning that since the middle and late Qing Dynasty, although the painting in the Jiangnan region began to appear in the trend of secularization of subjects, due to the painters' control of traditional culture and the aesthetic spirit of traditional painting, and through the introduction of gold and stone calligraphy into the painting, trying to maintain the painting pattern and quaint mood of the literati painting, so that the painting concept of this period is not only summarized as "elegant and customary appreciation", but also makes it have a deeper connotation.
This can also be seen from the "Year Dynasty Map" created by Ren Bonian, Wu Changshuo, Qi Baishi and other painters in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China. The paintings he depicts are often mellow in ink and pale in color, which is full of festive and auspicious atmosphere, slightly secular in catering to market demand, and does not lose the meaning of literati Yaxing and self-entertainment, a clear and beautiful, spring-like atmosphere.
In the "Year Dynasty Qing Dynasty Offering", persimmons, oranges, lychees, pomegranates, peaches, and cabbages often appear, which mean "ruyi, auspiciousness, smoothness, multi-son, longevity, innocence" and other contents, respectively; plum blossoms, peonies, lilies, and daffodils respectively symbolize primrose and "five blessings" (plum blossoms have five petals), wealth, century-old good union, auspiciousness.
Chrysanthemums, pine cypresses, ganoderma lucidum, etc. have the meaning of longevity, expressing similar charms to literati paintings such as "Three Friends of the Cold Year". In addition, bats, magpies, quails, roosters, and sheep respectively mean the meanings of fu lai, annunciation, abundance, auspiciousness, and auspiciousness.
For example, Qi Baishi once painted cabbage in the "Year Dynasty Qing Offering". In fact, for cabbage, the ancients have a lot of understanding, the ancients loved cabbage, painted poems for cabbage, and even published a book called "Vegetable Root Tan", which means "chew the root of the vegetable, Pepsi can be". Because China is an agrarian society, farming and reading heirlooms. As an official, children must not forget their roots, but "scholars and doctors must not know this taste for a day."
Wu Changshuo's "Confession of the Qing Dynasty"
In Wu Changshuo's "Picture of Qing Offerings in the Dynasty", the flowers and fruits depicted in the Qing Dynasty are both daffodils and plum blossoms, and its meaning is that everything is as expected, and it is full of festive and auspicious atmosphere. The ink in the whole picture is mellow, the color is ancient, and it is a beautiful and thriving weather.
The above mentions are combined and reappeared, and in fact, they have superimposed meanings, such as cypress branches, persimmons and ruyi to form "Pepsi Ruyi", three halberds inserted in the vase symbolize "three levels of flat ascension", firecrackers, bottles and quails indicate "bamboo newspaper peace" and so on. The introduction of these elegant objects with profound meaning into the painting not only shows the tendency of the "Year Dynasty Map" in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, but also makes the "Year Dynasty Qing Offering Map" have the aesthetic taste of elegant and popular appreciation.
◎ This article was originally published in the "Digest Newspaper" (author Fu Yu), the source network, the copyright of the picture and text belongs to the original author, if there is infringement, please contact to delete.