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In Chinese history, the Tang Dynasty is known as the era of the Renaissance, known for its prosperous economy, open social atmosphere, and aesthetic standards for the pursuit of beauty.
In particular, the figure paintings of ladies in the Tang Dynasty, with their exquisite painting skills and unique aesthetic concepts, showed the beauty and charm of the Tang Dynasty women at that time.
So, how amazing was the aesthetics of the Tang Dynasty people, and what were the characteristics of the facial features in the Tang Dynasty lady figure paintings?
[▶> Facial features of characters in Tang Dynasty figure paintings<◀]
In Tang Dynasty figure paintings, the facial features of the characters are represented differently in different subjects.
The Tang Dynasty was at the peak stage of the development of figure painting, and the characters in the early Tang Dynasty still had the legacy of the previous dynasties, and in the Tang Dynasty, they formed a unique character expression style of their own era, and after the Tang Dynasty, the characters were affected by the social environment to present different character images.
In terms of the image of the facial features, the facial features of the characters in different themes of the Tang Dynasty are different, and stylized performance images have been formed in some themes.
The development of figure painting in the Tang Dynasty reached its heyday, and both painting ideas and concepts have been summarized for a long time, thus forming a situation of "splendid preparation and brilliant color".
In fact, the Tang Dynasty was not only a figure painting, but also the art of painting as a whole was in a stage of rapid development, due to the new changes in politics and society, the aesthetic taste and artistic expression had the characteristics of the times.
The facial features of the ladies' theme characters appear with obvious characteristics such as "plump and round", "Emei", "cherry mouth" and "Qiluo characters", and the modeling methods of "face eyebrows and plump cheeks, fat body" and "three white faces" are used.
Zhang Xuan, Zhou Fang and the murals of the same period are somewhat similar, although the content of the performance is different from the story to be expressed, but in the character modeling methods have the appearance of "plump and fat", which can reflect the aesthetic standards of the Tang Dynasty for female characters.
The image of ladies in the early Tang Dynasty has many characteristics of the facial features of the previous dynasties.
For example, in Yan Liben's "Walking Diagram", the female figures do not yet appear in the fat and iconic shape of the Tang Dynasty ladies' paintings, and the overall face is still thin and thin, but the face is slightly rounded, that is, "thin face and thin waist, slender figure".
Among them, there are some similarities between the figure painting of ladies in the early Tang Dynasty and the ladies in Gu Kaizhi's "Luo Shen Futu", which can be said to be a transitional stage from the painting characteristics of the previous dynasty to the prosperous Tang Dynasty.
In the Tang Dynasty, the program painting method appeared, resulting in the image of the facial features is also very similar.
The picture of the lady figure, and even the entire figure modeling, shows the plump image of the lady painting.
Represented by Zhang Xuan and Zhou Fang, among them, Zhang Xuan is based on the standard of "plump" in portraying the image of ladies, and most of them are round faces, and the eye shapes are mostly phoenix eyes, long and beautiful, with long eyes and long tails, and eyes like paint.
Generally, if the nose part is front or side, there will be a little white powder to smudge out the structure, although it is not three-dimensional, but it can also reflect the realistic skills, no matter what the shape of the mouth is small and ruddy, although the ears are often covered by hair, but the structure can be clearly seen in the female figures, etc., which also reflect Zhang Xuan's realistic skills.
In the late Tang Dynasty, the modeling methods of the female figure paintings did not change and develop much, but were only influenced by the social environment at that time.
Although it expresses the wealth and magnificence of the picture, the instability brought about by the various social environments behind it, and the emotional uneasiness and sorrow are also expressed through some subtle pictures of the face.
In Zhou Fang's "Lady Waving a Fan", the facial shape of the character changes slightly, the eyebrows become "one-word eyebrows", and the eyebrows are slightly curved upward, like "eight-character eyebrows", and the tail of the eyebrows is upward.
The shape of the mouth has not changed, it is still small, the color is not so ruddy, and the corners of the mouth are not curved upwards as before, but mostly downward, so that you can see the sad appearance of these ladies.
So, among these characteristics, what kind of aesthetics can we see for women at that time?
[▶> "Thin Beauty" <◀]
In the early Tang Dynasty, the painting of ladies had not yet formed a climate, and still followed the painting style of the Wei and Jin dynasties.
In the early Tang Dynasty, it was in the situation of restoring the economy, stabilizing the border defense, and steadily developing the society, and the stable and safe social environment enabled the development of painting art, which not only inherited the painting thought tradition of the Han and Wei dynasties, but also accepted the new factors of painting thought since the two Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties, and coupled with foreign ideological and cultural exchanges, the unique painting thought of the Tang Dynasty was formed.
Lady figure painting is no exception, in the performance of the facial features image both retain the characteristics of the Wei and Jin dynasties, and have their own changes, in the transition stage to the style of the Tang Dynasty, in general, the early Tang Dynasty lady figure painting in the figure image of the facial features for the "thin beauty".
In the early Tang Dynasty, the images of ladies mostly appeared in the picture as a foil, and there were few works that appeared in the painting as independent figures.
Whether it is the image of the facial features of the ladies in Yan Liben's "Bu Yuan Tu" painting, the ladies behind the emperor in the "Picture of the Emperors of the Past Dynasties", or the image of the facial features of the ladies in the "Ladies Music and Dance Screen" unearthed in the tomb, there is not much difference in the performance of the facial features of the characters.
From the analysis of eyes, nose, mouth, ears and eyebrows, the facial features of the characters in the paintings of ladies in the early Tang Dynasty are as follows:
The eye image is mostly "Danfeng Eye", the eye is very long and beautiful, with single eyelids, and the tail of the eye is long and slightly upturned.
The eyebrows are basically in the middle of the forehead, short and delicate, the eyebrows are upward, the nose is small, and the bridge of the nose is straight.
The shape of the mouth is small and cute, which is typical of cherry small mouths, and most of the corners of the mouth are slightly raised, giving the impression that you are smiling.
The ears are half obscured by the hair, but the earlobes are also visible as larger but not shoulder-hanging.
On the whole, they are all thin faces and thin waists, but the faces are slightly rounded, and there is no "plump" style painted by ladies in the Tang Dynasty.
Although women are beautiful and slightly chubby in the "Emperors of the Past Dynasties", it is because they are in the transition stage from the "beautiful bones and clear images" of the previous dynasty to the "autumn beauty and fatness" in the Tang Dynasty, so there will be this image, and the overall image of the facial features of the ladies in the early Tang Dynasty is still dominated by "thin beauty".
In the early Tang Dynasty, the image of facial features in the portrait of ladies can vaguely see some characteristics of Buddhist statues, first of all, the image of the eyes is the same as the "lotus petal" eye image in the Buddha statue, which is based on the "Danfeng Eye" and the corner of the eye is slightly upward.
Secondly, the image of the mouth is also the same as the image of the mouth in the Buddha statue, which is in a state of "smiling", that is, the corners of the mouth are slightly raised.
Throughout the pictures of ladies in the early Tang Dynasty, you can feel the difference between the pictures and the later Tang Dynasty women's pictures, most of the women in this period are still thin and beautiful.
So, what kind of beauty can we feel in the pictures of ladies in the Tang Dynasty?
[▶> "Magnificent Beauty" <◀】
The rapid development of politics and economy in the Tang Dynasty and the rise of women's consciousness directly promoted the research of painters on women's images at that time, and formed aesthetic Xi corresponding to women's clothing such as "broad eyebrows", "plump" and "peach blossom makeup".
In terms of the expression of the facial features of female figures, I thought that the straighter the nose bridge of the women in the female figure paintings, the better, and it was weaker than the male image, and there was not so much attention.
The nose contour, or the treatment of short shapes, may be relatively better for the treatment of female characters with higher status, but most of the characteristics are small and short noses, which is said in the "Great Unification" that "the small and sluggish person is a child servant", which means that a person with a small and sluggish nose may be suitable for being someone else's child servant.
Analysis of Zhang Xuan's "Pounding Diagram", in which the nose of the woman is not very large, although there is white powder, but it can be seen from the lines that her nose does not exceed the forehead, or it is Yintang, which basically stops under Yintang, which is actually very short.
There is a difference in the work "Mrs. Qiuguo's Spring Tour", in which the nose image of Mrs. Qiuguo is relatively straight.
However, the nose and nose wings are still not so full compared to the male figures, and they still seem very small, although the nose of the characters is not very large, but there are many changes and differences in shape.
It seems that the nose in the facial features of female characters in the Tang Dynasty is not as rigorous and vivid as the nose image of male characters.
This may have a lot to do with the social thought at that time, because there is a cloud in the "Book of Photos" on the nobility and cheapness of women, and it is mentioned that "a woman's body is delicate and complete, with long eyes and a straight nose and a straight mouth", and it is believed that a woman's perfect appearance is that her eyes are long and the bridge of her nose is straight, so she draws a good bridge of the nose very straight.
Although these are feudal superstitions, it has to be said that the painters at that time incorporated them into the norms of painting when they painted, and reflected them in the picture.
Secondly, the image of the eyes and the image of the mouth have not changed much.
Among them, the eyes are mainly based on the image of "Danfeng Eyes", the upper eyelids are hooked with heavy ink, and the lower eyelids are painted with light ink, the eyes are like black lacquer, the eyes are slender, and the corners of the eyes are slightly upward.
In fact, the image of the eyes has not changed much compared with the early Tang Dynasty, which can be regarded as the inheritance of the eye image of the early Tang Dynasty.
The mouth is still based on the "cherry mouth", and in the female figures, the shape of the mouth is mostly a cherry mouth, the mouth is small and slightly pointed, the lips are thick and round, and the color is ruddy and fresh.
However, when the characters are modeled, they are mostly like two petals, the expression is very simple, and then slightly colored, in which the midline of the lip is outlined with heavy ink, and the outline of the upper and lower lips is drawn with light ink, and finally attached to light color or light ink to separate the color.
It's just that the mouth image is changed according to the different status and age of the characters.
There were many types of eyebrows in the Tang Dynasty, mainly "broad eyebrows" and "slender eyebrows".
"Broad eyebrows" is also called "moth eyebrows", this kind of eyebrow shape appeared in murals and other themes in the Tang Dynasty, in the painting reflects the deep color of the eyebrows, the tail of the eyebrows gradually fades, the eyebrow shape is like the tentacles of a moth, and does not belong to the strict sense of "moth eyebrows", it is on the basis of "moth eyebrows" to make the eyebrows thinner.
The "slender eyebrows" are as slender as a crescent moon, which is very clearly reflected in Zhang Xuan's "Pounding Practice" and "The Lady of the Kingdom of Qiu".
In the paintings of ladies in the Tang Dynasty, the ears were blocked by the influence of women's hair, and some of the ladies did not appear in the paintings of the ladies or the ears were not very complete, but the exposed parts were also quite realistic, and they could show different ears according to the status and changes of the characters, the size of the earlobes and the height of the ears.
According to the status of the lady to determine the position of the ears in the figure, such as in "Mrs. Yu Chun Tu", the ears of Mrs. Guo are painted higher than the eyebrows.
The size of the ears is expressed according to the age of the child, for example, the ears of the children in "The Lady of the Kingdom of Qiu" are treated as smaller than the ears of other female characters.
After understanding the characteristics of the ladies in the early Tang Dynasty and the prosperous Tang Dynasty, let's take a look at the late Tang Dynasty and what kind of beauty it embodies?
[▶> "Graceful Beauty" <◀]
In the process of inheriting the facial features of the ladies in the Tang Dynasty, the figure painting of ladies in the middle and late Tang Dynasty was still looking for its own development path.
The painters of the middle and late Tang Dynasty began to shift their aesthetic taste from "luxurious and abundant" in the prosperous Tang Dynasty to "graceful and introverted", and the content of the paintings mainly expressed the unfortunate and depressed mood of aristocratic ladies and the monotonous life mood.
He is especially keen to express the leisurely lifestyle and monotonous life mood of aristocratic women, which is represented by Zhou Fang's portraits of ladies and gentlemen.
The image of the mouth did not change much in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, and the female characters were basically all images of cherry mouths, but in order to show the depressed mood of the maids, the trend of the corners of the mouth was processed slightly downward, so as to deepen the expression of the inner spiritual world of the ladies.
In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, the eyebrow image was dominated by "Ewing eyebrows" and "eight-character eyebrows".
This kind of eyebrow shape is high in the forehead, and the eyebrows are towering and showy, in physiognomy, this kind of eyebrow is more majestic and powerful high-ranking officials, which is why this kind of eyebrow shape appears in the "Hairpin Lady", but not in the "Fan Lady".
In fact, the eyebrows of the ladies in the two paintings are actually the same popular eyebrows, but the painter changes the thickness of the eyebrows, the tail of the eyebrows and the tilt of the eyebrows to change the different inner momentum of the same aristocratic ladies, so as to reflect the inner state of women in different eras, so as to express and distinguish the characteristics of the characters of ladies in different time periods.
In the subjects of ladies' paintings, the female figures are mostly like this, with small changes depending on the figures, the background conditions, and all the overall painting situations that need to be represented.
For example, in Zhou Fang's "Insider's Shuanglu Picture", two aristocratic women sit against each other in chess, and then a lady responds on one side.
The overall picture is very leisurely, but because the corners of each character's mouth are slightly raised, and at the same time, on the basis of the cherry mouth, the tilt of the corners of the mouth is adjusted upward, and finally the mood of the whole picture is brought out, rendering a seemingly relaxed and leisurely environment.
In another of his works, "Ladies Waving Fans", the corners of the mouths of some female figures are slightly processed into downward inclined angles, and the overall state of the characters becomes another atmosphere.
The image of the nose and ears also follows the image characteristics of the Tang Dynasty, the nose is straight and small, the ears are covered by hair, the image is not very complete, but from the exposed part, the position of the ears should be higher than the eyebrows and the earlobes are not small.
The aesthetic standards of the Tang Dynasty can be called beautiful, and through the facial features of the female figures, we can get a glimpse of the brilliance of the beauty of the Tang Dynasty women at that time.
These exquisite paintings not only show the Tang Dynasty people's understanding of beauty, but also reveal their unique appreciation of the beauty of human nature, natural beauty, and leisure and long-term development.
The aesthetics of the Tang Dynasty occupy an important position in the long history of culture, and its influence has continued in the art of later generations, and it still shines brightly.
Through the appreciation of the portrait paintings of ladies, we can not only appreciate the posture and demeanor of the Tang Dynasty women at that time, but also feel the aesthetic wisdom and cultural excellence of the Tang Dynasty people.