Text, figure | Cui Yi
"Crested Horse", "Golden-chested", "Good Head Red", "Illuminated Night White", "Manchuan Flower", when the five "Divine Horses" that disappeared for 90 years reappeared, they were already displaced. But, we should also be thankful that they are still there.
Li Gonglin's "Five Horse Diagrams" volume of the Northern Song Dynasty was carried out of the palace by Puyi at the end of the Qing Dynasty, sold through his teacher Chen Baochen's nephew Liu Kechao, and was exiled to a private collection in Japan, where it was once rumored to have been destroyed in the war. However, at the beginning of this year, Yan Zhenqing appeared mysteriously in the special exhibition held at the Tokyo National Museum in Japan, which became a hot spot for a while.
"Five Horse Figures" volume, colored on paper, 29.5 cm in length and 225 cm in width. The painting depicts five imperial horses and five people, all of whom stand on their sides, han and fan people, whippers, and bristle brush bathers. At the end of the volume, there is a Northern Song Dynasty Huang Tingjian and Zeng Lun, and there is a QingQianlong Emperor inscription in the introduction and the core of the painting. Once Ke Jiusi, Zhang Tingfa, Song Jie, and Qing Neifu were handed over.
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Northern Song Dynasty Li Gonglin's "Five Horse Diagram" painting core part
In the previous research literature of the "Five Horse Diagram", there are many appraisal views, such as the Qianlong Emperor's inscription pointing out that the fifth horse and the first four horses are not original. Mr. Zhang Heng commented on it as "The Supreme Miracle" in the "Four Catalogues of Books and Paintings in the Forbidden City", and Mr. Xu Bangda in the "Records of Ancient Calligraphy and Paintings", which he believes that it is "undoubtedly authentic" as "two volumes of authentic works" and "Linwei YanMu Fangtu". In addition, some modern scholars have judged from the year of tribute of the horses and the year of their deaths in tribute that the five imperial horses do not exist, but are fantasized by Li Gonglin.
With the exhibition of the original works of "Five Horse Diagrams", we have the opportunity to have some new understanding of the real objects and combined with historical materials.
Coloring and pen and ink
The most intuitive difference between the actual object of the "Five Horse Diagram" and the Colo version is that the real thing can be seen in the light color. In the painting, the reins of the first horse "Crested Horse" and the face of the man, the body and reins of the second horse "Jinshi", the face of the man, the collar of the clothes, the front placket, the whole body of the third horse "Good Head Red", and the reins of the fourth horse "Illuminating the Night White" are all used in light colors such as cinnabar and ochre. This is not entirely consistent with the situation in the literature that Li Gonglin made a white depiction, and it is also different from the records in the historical records.
"Crested Horse"
"Golden Arms"
In terms of pen and ink, the figures and horses in the painting are drawn with iron wire, and except for the "brocade", the back line of other horses is stroked from the horse's neck to the horse's tail, and there is no broken pen in the middle. The hair and mane of the characters and horses are all threaded into the flesh. The colored part of the collar, placket and reins are flat colored, and the face of the first person, the face of the second person, the hands and boots, the legs of the second horse, and the full body of the third horse are slightly rendered, and the appearance is concave and convex. The modeling ability of horses and characters is strong, the shape, eyes, organs, and ponytails of horses are carefully depicted, the facial expressions of the characters are different, the eyes have their own content, and the structure of the hands is more accurate.
Through careful observation of the physical object, you can also see some problems in the pen and ink. If each horse has more or less traces of repeated hook lines, it should first use very light ink as the base, and then paint the color, and then use the white stroke method to complete the final shape of the hook line, such as the "good head red" leg double stroke line is more obvious, and the back color of the "brocade" is outside the hook line.
"Good head"
"White night"
"Man chuan flower"
There are also many failures in pen and ink, such as the abdomen of "Manchuan Flower" and "Good Head Red", which have broken pens, picked up pens or overlapped inks. In terms of characters, the character hook line of "Crested Horse" is thinner than that of other characters, and the character hook line of "Jinzhi" has obvious sudden thickness.
Among them, the horse and man in the "Manchuan Flower" painting are indeed the most similar to the other four groups. First of all, it is a pure white drawing, and the other four groups have more or less coloring. Secondly, "Man chuanhua" is the only horse with both eyes exposed, and the eye line is much heavier than that of the other four horses. Again, its back hook line is also thicker than the other four horses. In addition, the character lines are more contoured, more complex than several other people, and the shape of the boots and shoes is also different from other characters.
With paper and seals
Although the core part of the "Five Horse Diagram" cannot be determined as mentioned in the previous works, it is possible to determine the use of Chengxintang paper or plain paper, but it can be determined that the paper is delicate, the paper surface is natural, and the edge of the paper is damaged by the wear and tear of the years.
The two ends of the physical object are made of paper, of which Huang Tingjian's paper is made of paper, and the pattern is faintly visible on the paper. This, together with Su Shi's "Xingshu Li Baixian Poems" volume and Huang Tingjian's "Songfengge Poems" volumes, are all unique to the Northern Song Dynasty. Zeng's text is bamboo paper, which is smooth and delicate under a magnifying glass.
In terms of seals, according to the "Shiqu Baodi Continuation", it is recorded: "Rui Si Dian, Shaoxing, Inquiry, Ke Jiusi, Ke Shi Secret, Zhang Tingfa Seal, Rare World Zhen, Sanhuaitang Calligraphy and Painting Records, Taoist Wind Flow, Song Jie Examination and Approval, Shangqiu Song Jie Examination and Approval of Authentic Manuscripts, Reed Xiao Caotang Painting Records, Its Yongbao Use, Treasure (Half Seal), and another seal is indiscernible." ”
In the physical object, the situation of the Song and Yuan seals is: "Rui Si Dian" is printed as a honey seal, the strokes are blurred and unclear, and it is a pseudo seal; the "Shaoxing" even pearl seal is also a fake; the "inquiry" seal should be a Northern Song Dynasty seal should be a Northern Song Dynasty Zhang Qing, the character Zhongmo, Huang Tingjian's friend. This "inquiry" seal is not like a honey seal, a watermark, but closer to a mimeograph, such a large specification nine-fold text printing in the Song Dynasty as an ordinary official is relatively rare, can be broken or false. Ke Jiusi's various seals are consistent with other collections of calligraphy and painting works, and are determined to be true.
In addition, in addition to the various prints recorded in the "Shiqu Baodi • Continuation", there are still half of the print marks on the front end of the Zeng Lupai paper; and at the upper right end of the sealed tail paper of Ke Jiusi and others, there is also a vague print.
The Qianlong Emperor pointed out in the inscription that it was not the same as the first four horses, and should be caused by someone cutting. Through the analysis of the picture, this view should have a certain degree of reliability.
The three-party seals of "Rui Si Dian", "Shao Xing", and "Inquiry" on the "Five Horse Diagram" can be judged as false seals after comparison and examination.
Ke Jiusi's seal is consistent with other collections of calligraphy and painting works, and should be true.
This article is excerpted from
China Collection Magazine, No. 7, 2019
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