The history of painting calls the Sui Dynasty painter Zhan Ziqian's "You Chun Tu" the oldest scroll landscape painting, and it is also a treasure that we rarely see today in the process of the maturity of landscape painting before the Tang Dynasty, so what was the previous landscape painting like? According to Tang Zhang Yanyuan's "Catalogue of Famous Paintings of Past Dynasties", "If he paints landscapes, if he paints landscapes with rhinoceros trees, or water cannot be flooded, or people are greater than mountains..." From the Eastern Jin Dynasty painter Gu Kaizhi's "Luoshen Futu" volume, we can appreciate one or two, and the landscape in its background is roughly this kind of situation of "water cannot be panned, and people are greater than mountains". That is to say, the landscape in the painting, is still the foil of the characters, although the outline has been more meticulous, but in the proportion is still far from commensurate, the water surface is narrow and can not be boated, the peaks are low and low like mounds. The picture is flat and straight, rich in decoration but lacks a sense of space.
However, Zhan Ziqian's "You Chun Tu" has greatly improved. Figure 43 cm in length, 80.5 cm in width, silk, color. It is now in the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing. The picture depicts jiangnan early spring in February, the leaves spit green, peach and apricot contending for fangs. A water flows down from the upper left in the middle, the water surface is wide, the microwave is wrinkled, and there are yachts that are light. Tourists on both sides of the strait are in groups of three or two, enjoying the spring scenery along the way, or standing on foot, or riding a horse and following the servants. Small bridges connect to the shore, there are farmhouses behind the slopes, and temples loom in the valley. The proportion of people, horses, boats, bridges and mountain stones, trees, and rivers is already very appropriate, trees and stones are near large and far small, the river is oblique, the two sides are staggered, the trees are dense, the white clouds are swirling, it seems to be dense, and the sense of space and depth of perspective is also very appropriate. The river is full of undulating ripples, fading away, and the sky is colorful. The rock trees are outlined with fine and fluent ink lines, but there is no pencil, the body is dyed dark ochre, and the leaves are dyed thick green. After the mountain stone is dyed lightly ochre, the stone feet are dyed heavily ochre and the stone body is covered with green and green. The railings of small bridges and temple columns are filled with cinnabar, while people, horses, and white clouds are filled with white powder. The whole painting has a strong color of the rock trees, but due to the clear reflection of the large area of water in the middle, it looks gorgeous and vulgar. However, there are still shortcomings in this figure, such as the shape of the tree is still too monotonous, the branches are less varied, the leaves have been fine to the double hook method, but most of them are flat and less vivid, while the far tree is slightly simple to deal with, more decorative meaning. Compared with Li Sixun's "Jiangfan Pavilion Map" of the Tang Dynasty, it is particularly clumsy, but at the same time it also reflects the historical connotation of the pre-Tang painting style.
Emperor Huizong of the Northern Song Dynasty was the first to obtain this picture, titled "Zhan Zi Qianyou Chun Tu" and "Xuanhe Wuxi". Since then, he has been in and out of the palace. During the Qianlong Dynasty, he returned to the Inner Province. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Puyi abdicated, and in the thirteenth year of the Republic of China (1924), Puyi took the "You Chun Tu" from the palace and later collected it in Zhang Garden, a Japanese concession in Tianjin.
Puyi
After the September 18 Incident, "You Chun Tu" was collected in the palace of Puyi in the puppet state of Manchukuo in Changchun. On August 15, the 34th year of the Republic of China (1945), the Japanese Emperor announced his surrender, and the Japanese officer Yoshioka Yasunori, who served as the "Imperial Household Hanging", informed Puyi to leave for Japan the next day. When a small plane landed in Shenyang and was preparing to change into a large plane to fly to Tokyo, Japan, the Soviet Red Army captured Puyi. Shenyang and Changchun were in chaos. The puppet Manchu Janissaries in Changchun fought with the Japanese soldiers, and the puppet palace was guarded by Soviet soldiers. Soviet soldiers loved to drink and make women, and Chinese hooligans drunk the big-nosed soldiers and went into the puppet Manchurian palace to steal cultural relics, and the big-nosed soldiers also exchanged things for wine. Many cultural relics that Puyi failed to take away in the pseudo-imperial palace were stolen during the war, including Zhan Ziqian's "You Chun Tu", Fan Zhongyan's "Daofu Praise", and Su Dongpo's ink treasure authentic handwriting and other precious calligraphy and paintings.
Antique calligraphy and paintings in the puppet Manchu Imperial Palace are scattered in the streets of Changchun City, and stalls selling such cultural relics are put on the streets. This news soon reached the ears of antique dealers in Beijing Lichang, so Mu Panchen, Ma Jichuan, Zhao Zhicheng, Jin Bosheng, Li Xinmu, Chongqingrui and others went to Changchun and Shenyang to buy antique calligraphy and paintings. Mu Panchen was an apprentice of Mo Baozhai in Liulichang, and before the September 18 Incident, he went to Shenyang and Changchun to open an Antique Shop of Moguzhai and operated it for many years, and then returned to Beijing due to old age. He has many acquaintances among his peers in Shenyang and Changchun, and has a wide range of contacts and a way. At the end of 1945, he first bought Fan Zhongyan's "Daofu Praise" scroll in Changchun and got it to Shenyang Chonggu Zhai. After the introduction of Li Zhuoqing, the manager of Chongguzhai, he sold "Daofu Praise" to Jin Bosheng, the manager of Liuli Factory Thesis Zhai who came to Shenyang to buy goods, and Li Zhuoqing did not take the intermediary's commission money in the transaction. Mu Panchen returned to Beijing to buy goods in Changchun with Ma Jichuan, manager of Yuchi Mountain House, and Feng Zhanru, manager of Wenzhenzhai. Feng Zhanru did not go, and sent his apprentice Zhao Zhicheng to accompany him. Mu Panchen, Ma Jichuan, and Zhao Zhicheng bought a batch of calligraphy and paintings in Changchun, about ten of which included Zhan Ziqian's "You Chun Tu". The three of them returned to Beiping from Changchun, got off the bus when passing through Shenyang, and went to Chonggu Zhai inside the Xiaonan Gate. Chongkozhai is a long-established brand, the semicolon of The Glass Factory Chongkozai. Beijing's peers pass through Shenyang, and the manager Li Zhuoqing always welcomes banquets and contacts business.
At the banquet, in order to thank Li Zhuoqing for helping him sell the scroll of "Daofu Praise" without taking a penny, Mu Panchen offered to cooperate in the business of "You Chuntu". Li Zhuoqing said politely, "Uncle Mu! You let me open my eyes and look at things. You have not forgotten me when you buy good goods, I thank you in advance! Mu Panchen took the "You Chun Tu" to Chonggu Zhai, and Li Zhuoqing unfolded the picture scroll, holding his breath and watching it carefully. See on the "You Chun Tu", the centaurs are as small as bean grains, but they are meticulous, and the form is vivid; the lines are drawn of mountains and stones and trees, the thickness is different, the lines are light and heavy, the turns are frustrated, the changes are varied, and the painting is deep and simple. After seeing the painting, he said: "It is difficult to see the true works of Zhan Ziqian, and there is only one surviving work, and from the picture scrolls, you can appreciate the style and charm of China's early landscape paintings, which is a rare treasure." I'm a guy! So a "You Chun Tu", mainly based on Mu Panchen, the goods are Chonggu Zhai, Wen Zhen Zhai and Yuchi Mountain House, and the four jointly operate and sell.
"You Chun Tu" was transported to Beijing, and first took photos at the Liulichang Zhuxin Photo Studio, and distributed the photos to major calligraphy and painting collectors, including Zhang Boju. Only give photos to see, to see the goods and then contact. Mu Panchen does not show the goods to his companions, and it is not revealed that he treasures them. Before selling "You Chuntu" to Zhang Boju, it had been kept by Mu Panchen and had not been shown to anyone.
Qiu Zhensheng, the manager of Baoguzhai, knew that Mu Panchen collected "You Chuntu", thinking that this goods had Ma Baoshan's gang, because Ma Baoshan had been to the northeast to buy goods, and he was Mu Panchen's master and nephew, and they were all Mo Baozhai people. Therefore, when Zhang Boju asked Qiu Zhensheng about "You Chun Tu", Qiu introduced him to Ma Baoshan. Talking about the situation that Liulichang went north to Changchun to buy goods, he said: "At that time, no one who bought good goods said, and it was very secret to do this business. Two of the calligraphy and paintings in Changchun were national treasures, one was Zhan Ziqian's "You Chun Tu" and the other was Fan Zhongliu's handwriting "Daofu Zan", both of which were obtained by Mu Panchen and later sold to Zhang Boju. "Daofu Praise" was first sold to Jin Bosheng by Mu Panchen, and then sold by Jin Bosheng to Zhang Boju. "You Chun Tu" was sold to Zhang Boju by Li Zhuoqing himself. ”
Zhang Boju and his wife Pan Su
When he learned of Zhan Ziqian's "You Chun Tu", Zhang Boju suggested that the Palace Museum buy this volume, and in the case that the Palace Museum was unable to acquire the above two cultural relics, in order to prevent the cultural logistics from falling overseas, Zhang Boju did not hesitate to borrow money to buy them, and a piece of "You Chun Tu" made him change from a rich man to a high debt, and had to sell a mansion in Bow String Hutong and Pan Su's gold and silver jewelry. Zhang Boju donated 8 national treasure-level cultural relics and hundreds of celebrity calligraphy paintings such as the "You Chun Tu" he acquired to the country free of charge! The 200,000 yuan rewarded by the government was politely declined by Zhang Boju. "He said it simply, 'I see and collect a lot of things, like a cloud of smoke, but these things don't have to be kept with me forever, I can donate them so that this treasure will always be on our land.'"
In July 1956, Shen Yanbing (Mao Dun), then Minister of Culture, personally issued a commendation order to Zhang Boju, who donated 8 national treasures. Hats off to Mr. Zhang Boju again!
Mr. Zhang Boju
Zhang Boju (March 14, 1898 – February 26, 1982), formerly known as Zhang Jiaqi (张家骐), was a native of Xiangcheng, Henan. Yuan Shikai's cousin. Patriotic democrat, collector connoisseur, calligrapher and painter, poet, and peking opera art researcher.
He once served as a special member of the Palace Museum, a member of the Appraisal Committee of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, an associate researcher and deputy director of the Jilin Provincial Museum, a librarian of the Central Museum of Culture and History, an honorary tutor of Chinese art history in the Department of Chinese Literature of Yenching University, an honorary president of the Beijing Chinese Painting Research Association, and an honorary director of the Chinese Calligraphers Association.
In 1956, Zhang Boju donated some of the cultural relics in his collection to the state, including the Western Jin Dynasty Lu Ji's "PingFu Ti" volume, Sui ZhanZiqian's "You Chun Tu", Du Mu's "Gift Zhang Good Poems" volume, Song Fan Zhongyan's "DaoFu Praise" volume, Cai Xiang's self-written poems, Huang Tingjian's "Theravada Theravada", Yuan Zhao Mengfu's "Thousand Character Text", etc.; In the same year, he joined the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang.
In the first month of 1982, Zhang Boju, who returned from a banquet, suddenly fell ill with a cold and was sent to Peking University Hospital, where he died on February 26 at the age of 84.
On March 26, 1982, a memorial meeting for Zhang Boju was held, in which Ye Jianying, Deng Yingchao, Wang Zhen, Gu Mu and other party and state leaders sent wreaths, Zhao Puchu, Xia Yan, Hu Yuzhi, Niu Manjiang, Liu Haisu and other more than 200 people sent the memorial service, and more than 500 people attended the memorial service.
On April 16, 1998, the symposium to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Zhang Boju's birth was held in Beijing. He Luli, vice chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, and more than 100 other people attended the forum.