Portrait of Empress Cao, Song Dynasty painting "Song Renzong's Recoil Portrait Axis".
"Song Renzong's Sitting Portrait Scroll" is an anonymous painting on silk created in the Song Dynasty, which is now in the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Format: vertical axis, specification, 172.1 cm long, 165.3 cm wide.
Empress Cao, a native of Yanbai Village, Ningjin County, her grandfather Cao Bin was the founder of the Northern Song Dynasty, her father Cao Xi, and her great-grandfather was Cao Yun, the king of Wei. Cao was canonized as empress in September of the first year of Song Jingyou (1034), and Song Yingzong and Song Shenzong ascended the throne one after another, honoring them as the empress dowager and the empress dowager. In the second year of Yuanfeng (1079), he died of illness at the age of sixty-four, and was nicknamed "Empress Cisheng Guangxian".
This painting paints a portrait of Empress Cao Renzong of the Song Dynasty, and the traditional composition is taken in the painting - the main is from a young age: Empress Renzong Cao is not allowed to live in the center of the picture, and the palace maids are separated on both sides. The characters are accurately modeled, solemn, beautifully colored, and dignified. It is an excellent work of portrait painting in the Song Dynasty.
Detail of "Song Renzong's Recital Portrait Axis".
Detail of "Song Renzong's Recital Portrait Axis".
Empress Cao folded her hands together, placed them on her chest, pasted beads on her face, curtained yarn, wore a nine-dragon pattern hairpin crown, two temples, Zhai clothes, ribbons, and rings.
Empress Cao's Nine Dragons and Phoenixes, according to the description of the Song Dynasty Queen's ceremonial crown in the ancient book "Jin Shi Yufu Zhi": "Flower plant crown, with Sheng Ziyi, Qingluo table, green silk lined with gold and red Rotori, with nine dragons, four phoenixes, a big dragon in front of the spike ball, and two out of ten flowers in front and back...... "The open collar of its Zhai clothes is low, and the background color of the embroidered trim of the belt and neckline and cuffs is red, which is more vivid, and the collar, crown and earrings are all made of a large number of pearls, and the cheeks of the portrait of Queen Cao are also pasted with beads of near skin color - three small beads.
Portrait of Empress Cao. There are two obvious differences from other queen statues: first, there are two dragon head decorations on the head of the seat, and a palace maid dressed in men's costume stands on the left and right. The hostess appeared younger than Empress Zhenzong, with a narrow face, thin cheeks, slender eyebrows and eyes, an average appearance, and a particularly solemn expression. (Professor, School of Humanities, Shanghai Normal University, "The Portrait of the Five Empress Dowagers in the Song Dynasty and the Gender View in Historical Writing")
Empress Cao is flanked by maids, one holding a spittoon, the other holding a scarf: wearing a small cluster of flower brocade robes, a white jade belt, and a crown of "One Year Scene" flowers, the characters look solemn and solemn, and the costumes are gorgeous and bright.
Ancient documents have a realistic record of the Empress of the Song Dynasty during her lifetime.
Part of the lid of the Northern Song Dynasty silver box, collected by the British Museum.
The lid of a silver box from the Northern Song Dynasty in the British Museum. A courtyard is painted in the center of the lid, a noble lady in the middle is facing a mirror self-portrait, opposite three maids, a maid holding a mirror, the three ladies are looking behind, and the outline of the figure has been seen on the canvas. This is supposed to be the earliest pictorial evidence of a woman's self-portrait.
There are also photorealistic records of the Empress of the Song Dynasty during her lifetime. At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, Taizu once ordered Wang Ai to "write the imperial appearance of Xuanzu and the Empress Dowager in Dingli Academy". According to the literature, the statues of emperors and queens in the Song Dynasty have both three-dimensional statues and flat portraits, and those who call "Shenyu" are mostly statues, and those who call "Yurong" are mostly paintings.
During the Jingyou period of Song Renzong, a monk bought the Bodhisattva statue, touched the flow out of the palace, and then held the dedication into it, the eunuch was shocked at first sight, said that the two worshippers under the Buddha statue were the true face of the true Empress Liu and Renzong, and the original in the "Zhangxian Pavilion do not place a small Buddha hall to offer, and burn incense and worship in the early morning every day." ”
Empress Cao of Jiao Bingzhen's "Story Map of the Virtuous Queens of the Past Dynasties" in the Qing Dynasty.
Jiao Bingzhen of the Qing Dynasty painted "The Story of the Virtuous and Virtuous Queens of the Past Dynasties", collected by the Palace Museum in Beijing. Silk, colored, 12 open, each 30.8 cm long, 37.4 cm wide.
Empress Cao of Renzong of the Northern Song Dynasty, benevolent and thrifty, cared about the crops, and planted grain and silkworms in the palace with Emperor Renzong, so as to remind herself and her subordinates of the hardships of hard work, and never forget the foundation of loving the people.
The theme of this set of albums is taken from the stories of virtuous queens and empress dowagers in the past dynasties, including Tairen, the mother of King Wen of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Tai Ji, the mother of King Wu of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Empress Mingdema of the Ming Emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Empress Hexi Deng of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Empress Cao of the Northern Song Dynasty, Empress Xuanren Gao of the Northern Song Dynasty, and Empress Chengxiao Zhang of the Ming Dynasty. During their tenure as queens or queen mothers, some of them were diligent and thrifty, virtuous and filial, and some did not ask about political affairs and did not treat their relatives. The painter painted this book to use their virtues to propagate feudal ethics and set an example for the concubines in the court.
This volume has a total of 12 pages, and the images of the ladies painted are weak, colorful, and decorative. The depiction of the buildings on the map adopts the European method of focal perspective, which is different from the traditional Chinese boundary painting. Each opening topic is a poem written by Liang Shizheng in the period of the prince, which records the deeds of these queens and the queen mother and their evaluation.
The statue of Empress Cao handed down from the ancient Cao family tree "Statue of Empress Grandaunt of Song Renzong Guangxian".
"Portrait of Empress Cao" (modern) Author: Ou Yangguang. Size: 80*60 cm.