Why is Qiu Ying's "Qiu Jiang To Be Crossed" in the Ming Dynasty one of the national treasures of the history of Chinese painting and calligraphy? What superb painting skills does "Autumn River to Be Crossed" show? Who in the past has collected "Autumn River to Be Crossed"? The surging news learned that on April 2, the "National Treasure Focus" room of the National Palace in Taipei ushered in a change of exhibition, and the "Autumn River to Be Crossed" on display gave answers to these questions.
"Autumn River to Be Crossed" is the only large-scale panoramic landscape masterpiece of the Ming Dynasty painter Qiu Ying that survived about 500 years ago. Since the Northern Song Dynasty, most of the "landscape paintings" have taken mountain views as the main body of expression, but Qiu Ying's "Autumn River to Be Crossed" has created a grandeur similar to the huge landscape of the Northern Song Dynasty with its open river surface and the main mountain in the distance.
Qiu Ying, "Autumn River to Be Crossed", collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei
The calligraphy and painting cultural relics collected by the National Palace Museum in Taipei are divided into three grades: "national treasures", "important antiquities" and "general antiquities" according to the high artistic nature. In order to show its achievements in promoting the grading of antiquities, from 2020 onwards, the National Palace Museum in Taipei will select the 107 showroom of the main hall as a special room for "National Treasure Focus", and each time two components of national treasure-level calligraphy and paintings are selected, and the exhibition period is based on the principle of three months, and the exhibits are replaced regularly. If it is a "70-piece limited exhibition of calligraphy and painting essence", the exhibition period is limited to 42 days.
All national treasures on display are well-known in the history of art. The objective of the exhibition is to enhance the audience's understanding of national treasure calligraphy and painting through the focus of famous works, and to strengthen the emphasis on the topic of antiquities maintenance.
Why is Qiu Ying's "Autumn River to Be Crossed" a national treasure?
"Autumn River Waiting to Be Crossed" depicts the autumn scene of travelers waiting for a ferry by the river. This is the only large-size panoramic landscape masterpiece in the world of the great painter Qiu Ying about 500 years ago.
New style of panoramic landscape - "Mighty River Surface" + "Distant Main Mountain"
Most of the "landscape paintings" take mountain views as the main body of expression, but "Autumn River to Be Crossed" focuses on water features. The mighty and tortuous river surface structures the main theme of "Autumn River to Be Crossed", leading the audience to tour in the water-colored mountain light, and also connecting the slopes of the river, presenting a vast pingyuan scenery. The majestic main mountain in the painting adds to the grandeur and grandeur of the overall scenery. Dominating the picture with a huge main mountain and emphasizing the all-encompassing panoramic composition is a classic practice of landscape painting in the Northern Song Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, such compositions seemed rare except for the imitation of court painters to create royal momentum. However, "Autumn River to Be Crossed" uses the open river surface and the main mountain in the distance to create a grandeur similar to the huge landscape of the Northern Song Dynasty. Qiu Ying, who has copied many Song and Yuan drawings, is good at adding new ideas to the old pattern tradition. "Autumn River to Be Crossed" is a new style of panoramic landscape painted by Qiu Ying, which is refreshing.
Qiu Ying "Autumn River to Be Crossed" (partial) Collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei
The scenery on the slope of "Autumn River to Be Crossed" is near and far small, presenting a reasonable visual effect. For example, the reeds in the same growth Tingzhu are different from Qiu Ying's painting methods in close-up, medium-range and long-range scenes.
A jasper-like clear mountain
The axe splitting and water-saturated brush dyeing used on the rocks of "Autumn River to Be Crossed" are reminiscent of the angular and transparent texture of the Southern Song Dynasty Xia Jue's "Xishan Qingyuan". Qiu Ying applied a light and quiet turquoise color on the surface of the mountain, making the mountain stone as clear as jasper. The waterline of the mountain is interspersed with red and green trees, highlighting the texture of the mountain stone and adding more color.
Southern Song Dynasty Xia Jue "Xishan Qingyuan" (partial) Collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei
Vivid characters
The characters in "Autumn River to Be Crossed" are also full of drama. The white-clad scribe sitting on the edge of the rock in the foreground looked happy and thoughtful; the passengers waiting for the ship on the other shore were discussing something, the elder frowned and told, and the other listened intently; the young man striding on the shore with his luggage should have rushed to the ship in a thrilling way, laughing; even the boatman had the vivid back of the young man shouting at the young man to board the ship. Regardless of the protagonist or supporting role, Qiu Ying gave these characters the appearance, expression, shape and posture, so that the mood of the people waiting to cross the river became rich and wonderful.
"Autumn River to Be Crossed" reflects Qiu Ying's appreciation and reinterpretation of the landscape paintings of the two Song Dynasties, and shows superb painting skills in all aspects such as figures, mountain stones, composition, etc., which should be a masterpiece of its deeply ambitious maturity period. It was designated as a national treasure on May 5, 2015.
Who is Qiu Ying?
Qiu Ying (c. 1494-1552), literally the father of shi shi, was active in the early sixteenth century and was listed as one of the "Four Great Masters of the Ming Dynasty". His painting achievements broke through the class barriers, and he was the only outstanding suzhou professional painter among the four people who did not belong to the literati class.
Ming Dynasty painter Qiu Ying (c. 1494–1552)
Qiu Ying's life is not clear, according to scattered records, he was originally a painter, and later learned to paint. Judging from the existing paintings and documentary records, Qiu Ying can paint various subjects such as figures, buildings, landscapes, flowers and birds, and is proficient in many techniques such as white painting and color setting, and is an "all-round" painter. His works are exquisite but elegant, and are generally popular, so there are many professional painters who learn Qiu Ying's painting style, and even become a style often used by counterfeiters of ancient paintings.
Who has ever collected "Autumn River to Be Crossed"?
Due to the habit of "plutonium printing" and "inscription" on Chinese calligraphy and painting works, it is possible to find traces of authors or collections directly from the works. "Autumn River to Be Crossed" does not have Qiu Ying's signature, but it has the seal of Qiu Ying of the three parties. In addition, the other seals on the painting are all stamps left by collectors. The earliest collection belonged to the ming dynasty collector Xiang Yuanbian (1525-1590), who wrote a total of six square seals. Qiu Ying once had a record of being commissioned by Xiang Yuanbian (1525-1590) to imitate the collection of ancient paintings, speculating that "Qiu Jiang To Be Crossed" was likely to be a painting ordered by Xiang Yuanbian to Qiu Ying. Judging from the collection seal, this painting was collected by Cai Qi (1667-1721) in the early Qing Dynasty, and then transferred to another collector, An Qi (1683-1744). After An Qi's death, his collection was scattered, and many of them entered the Qing Palace and became the collection of the Qianlong Emperor, and "Qiu Jiang To Be Crossed" may be one of them. In addition to the emperor's seal, there is also an inscription poem of the Qianlong Emperor: "When the Maple of the Wu River falls, the water ripples in the autumn of the long day, beckoning boats to cross the pond, and the body and materials are thoughtful." After examining the poetry collection of the Qianlong Emperor, it can be seen that this poem was written around the Qixi Festival in the thirteenth year of Qianlong (1748). It is speculated that at that time, the Qianlong Emperor once took "Qiu Jiang To Be Crossed" to enjoy. This work has been left in the palace since then, and the seals of the collection of Jiaqing and Xuantong Emperors can also be seen on the painting.
(This article is compiled from relevant materials such as past reports from the National Palace Museum in Taipei and The Paper.) ）