Painting history: "The sound of the piano in the world is all false, not so the cow hears the truth", Yuan Ji's "Diagram of playing the piano to the cow"

Diagram of playing the piano to the cow

Yuan Ji

Vertical shaft ink and pencil on paper

Length 132. 5 cm horizontal 53. 4 cm

Collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing

The term "playing the piano to the cow" was originally used to ridicule the person who speaks without looking at the object. However, through the author's self-titled poems such as "the sound of the piano in the world is false, not so cattle can hear the truth", this figure reflects that the author is difficult to meet zhiyin, but can only be pinned on "the sound of the cow is a real and wonderful solution", reflecting the author's lonely and lonely state of mind. In the painting, the figure takes the front, but his eyes look out of the painting and are playing the piano and chanting to himself; the cow takes his back and listens. The figures draw their clothes with thick brushstrokes and wet ink, and the brushstrokes are simple; the cattle are smudged with ink color, and the male body is strong. The long themes that occupy most of the format and the light and elegant pictures are unified and harmonious, and complement each other.

Yuan Ji (1642 – c. 1718) was a calligrapher and painter and painting theorist in the early Qing Dynasty. Monks. Commonly known as Zhu, the name Ruoji, Guangxi Quanzhou people. The legal name yuan ji, a yuanji (later legend is "Daoji", Dao is a honorific title, not a real name error), small characters A Chang, the character Shi Tao, the number of the big dizi, Qing Xiang Chen ren, Qing Xiang remnants, the late number of the blind Venerable, the old man of Zero Ding, etc., calling themselves bitter melon monks. Interacting with Mei Qing, Mei Geng, Dai Benxiao, etc., they influenced each other and collectively called the "Huangshan Sect". Good at painting flowers and fruits orchid bamboo, part-time work figures, especially good at landscapes, painting fame is extremely popular. Together with Hongren, Jia Ren, and Zhu Yun, they were called the "Four Monks of the Early Qing Dynasty". It had a great influence on the later Yangzhou School of painting and modern painting style. His heirloom works include "Spring River Fishing Map", "Drizzle Pine Map", "Searching for Qifeng To Hit Draft Map", "West Garden Yaji Map", "Huangshan Eight Sheng Map", "Picking Chrysanthemum Map", "Playing the Piano on the Ox" and so on.

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