Yu Zhiding 1647-1716 Hand scroll with a lotus hoe set color silk
Yu Zhiding (禹之鼎), courtesy name Shangji (上吉), was a famous figure painter during the Kangxi Dynasty, whose paintings were enshrined in the Zhichang Spring Garden and the Guanhongxu Temple. He was once an envoy to Ryukyu and became famous, and celebrities invited him to paint portraits. Wang Shichen is naturally no exception, and has asked Yu Zhiding to paint many portraits for him.
The protagonist of this volume, Yu Zhiding's "Drawing with a Lotus Hoe", is Wang Shizhen, who is famous for the poetry of the early Qing Dynasty. Wang Shizhen, formerly known as Wang Shizhen (王士禛), zizhen (字子真), ruan ting (阮亭), also known as Yuyang Shanren (虞洋山人), was known as Wang Yuyang (王禹洋). As a master of classical Chinese poetics, Wang Shichen not only influenced the poetic fashion of the early Qing Dynasty in the past hundred years with his poetic advocacy and creation of "Shen Yun Theory", but also established his poetic status of "resembling a middle stream" with his prominent political status and long-term meticulous management. During the more than forty years of his main alliance kangxi poetry, his poetry was so admired by the heavenly writers that "the Grand Master of the Prince of Hainei was not respected as Taishan Beidou", and the disciples were called disciples, and "no less than thousands of people". Step by step, Wang Yuyang ascended to the top of the alliance that marked power and prestige.
From Yu Zhiding's inscription on the "Lotus Hoe with The Sutra", it can be seen that the direct origin of this painting is because kangxi gave the forehead "with the scripture hall", which is the ability of this "Belt Sutra Hoe Diagram". In the year of Kangxi Gengchen, that is, in 1700 AD, the Kangxi Imperial Book of The Great Character "Belt Scripture Hall" was given to Wang Shichen, which made Wang Shichen's lifelong favor reach its peak, around this event, he asked Yu Zhiding to paint the "Lotus Hoe Diagram with the Scriptures" to record its situation, led many disciples to sing and congratulate his encounters, and crowned his poetry collection in the name of "Belt Scripture Hall", thinking that the flow was permanent. In this year, Yu Zhiding successively painted personal portraits of Wang Shichen with different themes and backgrounds, such as "Drawing with a Lotus Hoe with a Sutra", "Letting Go of the Crane", "Zen Silence Diagram", "Dai Kasa Statue", "Snow Creek Diagram", "Yu Huang Sitting And Whistling Diagram", etc. However, the painter did not write the grace of the "Yellow Gate Purple Pavilion" into the drawing, but in accordance with Wang Shichen's instructions, using Du Shi's poem "Drizzle Lotus Hoe Standing, Jiang Ape Yin Cuiping" as a proof, he used freehand brushwork to draw a picture of the Yuyangshan people of "green and green baskets".
"With the Lotus Hoe" was once the old collection of Xiang Hanping with the rank of general in the Republic of China Army. In front of the painting, there is an introduction to the title of Huang Yuanzhi's book, and after the volume, there are inscriptions by as many as thirty people, and the inscriptions are all disciples of Wang Shichenmen, which can be described as a victory in the literary world. Among them, there are many well-known people such as Cha Sheng, Qian Mingshi, Wang Shifeng, and Gao Fenghan. As an intangible cultural capital, the generous and complex cluster of disciples is also one of the most prominent signs that Wang Yuyang is able to stand on his own in the literary circles of the early Qing Dynasty.