The standard of women's beauty in each period of ancient China is different, reflected in the aesthetics of figure painting, in the paintings of the two Han Dynasties, women's looks simple and pursue artistic conception; during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, women wore wide sleeves to set off their beautiful and handsome; the Tang Dynasty was highly open to society, and they were beautiful with "abundance" and beauty; and in the Qing Dynasty, the women in the paintings of ladies were slender and pitiful, showing a weak and sad "weak" style. The image of the woman is also reflected in literary works, such as the novel "Dream of the Red Chamber", which describes Lin Daiyu as "delicate and slight", "acting like a weak willow wind", "sick like Xizi sheng three points".
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, due to the development of the commodity economy, the emergence of capitalism, and the proliferation of secular culture, the purpose of creating female paintings also underwent fundamental changes. The paintings of ladies in the Ming and Qing dynasties have a strong ornamental nature, their faces are beautiful, their posture is beautiful, their costumes are gorgeous, and visually speaking, they give people a kind of beauty enjoyment. As far as painting techniques are concerned, the proportions of women's bodies exceed the normal range, and most of them are elongated or even deformed, which gives people the feeling that the ladies are thin and boneless, weak and weak. In the creation of the painting background, the painter also matched them with the scenery of mountain stones, clear streams, willows, etc., especially the willows that can highlight the weak willows of women, which are often used by painters. In addition, in the choice of clothing, female painters are good at borrowing flowing skirts to reflect the slimness of the figure.
The series of scenes depicts the laid-back lives of the women
Qing Dynasty painter Jiao Bingzhen's "Catalogue of Ladies" is a "Royal Dictionary" book, and there is a kind of literacy such as "Xiaochen Jiao Bingzhen Gong Painting". According to the four seasons, this book depicts the life of aristocratic women in different environments. In the picture, the environment is comfortable and elegant, the utensils are exquisite and expensive, the costumes are gorgeous and gorgeous, and the women's posture is dignified and quiet. They either swing in the bright courtyard of spring, or freshen up in the shade of the pavilion trees, or enjoy the lotus on a cruise ship, or simply chat, the plot is full of leisurely and cheerful colors, obviously wanting to show the royal idle court life. However, it is worth noting that the ladies in the painting are all dressed in Han costumes, and the background is not like the Inner Court Palace Garden, so it is not a true portrayal of the life of the concubines of the Qing Palace, but a picture of a lady in the usual sense. The purpose of these figures is to shape female beauty, but because they are created for the court, they are mixed with a strong atmosphere of wealth to adapt to the aesthetic requirements of the royal family.
《Katsura Kogetsu》
In the "Lady Album", "Guixiang Maoyue", the author depicts the scene of the ancient noble ladies standing or sitting in front of the mirror to dress: exquisite and elegant high-legged square tables, gorgeous round bronze mirrors, exquisite large makeup, and small powders scattered on the table. The restrained and delicate beauty of the woman in the painting seems to be able to smell the strong aroma of fat powder through the painting paper.
Qing Dynasty Chen Mei "Yueman Qingyou Tu" volume
Similarly, Chen Ming's "Yueman Qingyou Tu" volume, written in the third year of Qianlong (1738), depicts the 12 months of deep palace life of the concubines of the court: "Cold Night Plum Exploration" in the first month, "Yang Liu Dangqian" in February, "Idle Pavilion Confrontation" in March, "Courtyard Flower Viewing" in April, "Water Pavilion Dressing" in May, "Bichi Picking Lotus" in June, "TongYin Beggar Qiao" in July, "Qiongtai Playing Moon" in August, "Chongyang Appreciation chrysanthemum" in September, "Literary Window Embroidery" in October, "Irori Bogu" in November, and "Walking on Snow in Search of Poetry" in December. The woman in the painting has a slender figure and a light posture, giving people a feeling of "leaning on the wind and being weak". The colors of the picture are vivid and bright, the lines are smooth and fine, the pavilions and pavilions are represented by boundary paintings, and the flowers and stones are dyed with fine brushes. From the picture, you can clearly see their rich and leisurely palace life, but you can also understand their extremely poor spiritual world.
"Bogu in the Hearth"
The picture of "Iulevous Furnace Bogu" in the book "Moon Man Qingyou Map" shows that in a hall separated by wood carvings, a guqin hangs in the study room, a brass stove is placed on the bed of Luohan, and there is a Buddha hand offering next to it. The floor is paved with green bricks, and on the ground is a charcoal basin with incense charcoal burning inside. Some of the women in the painting are admiring the paintings, and some are appreciating the bronze incense burner. There are also two large smoke cages in the house, and the tables are displayed with yao, vases, scrolls, books, etc., which can be described as "the ancient famous piano full of room Chen". Also entering the picture is a plum outside the court, which is in full bloom and protrudes through the leaky window. The fruity aroma of bergamot, the incense cake in the oven and the dark fragrance of plums, these fragrances gathered in the warm pavilion, it seems to block winter out of the door.
The image of a woman painted in a Qing Dynasty figure bowl
The image of a woman painted on a mallet bottle in the Qing Dynasty
After the painting of the "Yueman Qingyou Map", it was deeply appreciated by the Qianlong Emperor. At that time, Chang Cun (good at inlaying skills), Chen Zuzhang (good at ivory carving), Xiao Hanzhen, Gu Pengnian and Chen Guanquan's father and son and other outstanding craftsmen used Chen Ming's album as a drawing to carve on ivory and jade. A fine ivory carving with 103 people is called "Baimeitu", and the Qianlong Emperor personally inscribed poems for it and named it "Yueman Qingyou". It can be seen that the image of the lady depicted by Chen Mei fully meets the aesthetic requirements of the royal family.
The female figure has a goose egg-shaped face, thin eyebrows and phoenix eyes, and cherry red lips
After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the development of jiangnan printing industry was very prosperous, and books could be printed in large quantities, which also made the female figures depicted in the Ming and Qing dynasties quite similar. The Changshu Mao family had a collection of more than 84,000 books, and set up a printing house with 100,000 pieces; Nanjing Bookstore had twelve families with the surname of Tang and eight with the surname of Zhou; there were thirty-seven bookstores in Suzhou in the Ming Dynasty; the Ling clan of Huzhou and the Min clan were the alliance of the Qin and Jin dynasties of the book industry at that time, and the color overprint was a must at that time. The rapid development of the printing industry has also made the paintings of ladies who express women's lives very popular in the folk.