"The Coming of all Nations"
Zhao Mengfu's "Red-Clothed Luohan Diagram"
Qianlong imitates Zhao Mengfu's "Red-clothed Luohan Diagram" (partial)
Remember last year's "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" that made countless people stay up late to queue up to watch, its creator - Wang Ximeng of the Song Dynasty? He was not only a genius teenager, he created such exquisite green landscapes at the age of eighteen, and he was also a confidant of Emperor Huizong of Song. After Song Huizong, who was proficient in all kinds of artists in addition to being emperors, personally tuned the pen and ink techniques, "the art was refined, and the painting exceeded the momentum".
Wang Ximeng's luck lies in the fact that he was born in the painting academy of the Song Dynasty. The Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, who was also famous for his art, did not treat painters as equals. The Qianlong Emperor himself liked to paint, although there were many government affairs, but the daily elegance of landscapes, and now in the "Shiqu Baodi", he also retained a lot of his Danqing works. In the "Eight Flags Painting Record", it is said: "Emperor Gaozong Chun's pen and ink, combined with good landscapes, flowers and grasses, orchid bamboo, plum blossoms, folding branches with pen in the center of the method and grass, ancient xiuhun, heavenly opportunity." Lao Jin is too Shen Zhou, Qing Jun drives in Song Yuan, Zhao Mengfu, Wang Mian, and Chen Chun have no foot in Daoye. ”
Of course, this rainbow fart did blow a little bigger, but perhaps because others had been holding it like this, the Qianlong Emperor did have a kind of illusion, thinking that he might have some kind of talent in painting. It is said in the "Miscellaneous Records of the Xiaoting Pavilion" that the Qianlong Emperor often went to the painting academy to see the painters paint, and if some people did not paint well, they personally went to teach. Let's first take a look at what kind of painters the Qianlong Emperor pointed out.
Do what you're told
A group of aggrieved B
Qing Dynasty court painters were a specialized profession, and they belonged to the paintings of the Internal Affairs Office and were the servants of the Interior Ministry. Their sources are very complex, ranging from civilian conscripts to in-paintings, or from low-level officials to entry.
As painters of court paintings, many times, they also performed the duties of craftsmen, and it was more common to create some paintings according to the needs of the emperor's placement. For example, in the sixteenth year of Qianlong, "Yu Province painted a flower to pick a mountain (posted on the south side of the east wall inside the door of the Fuchun Building), Xu Yang painted a figure to pick a mountain (two hands hanging from the west wall inside the door of the Fuchun Building, pasted down), Yu Province painted a colored flower to pick the mountain (Wanshou Mountain YurunTang West Study, West Wall Sticker), Yu Province painted a colored flower strip (Wanshou Mountain Yurun Hall West Study, the second door flower curtain cover leg sticker)".
Of course, it was not only the Inner House painters who supplied the emperor with paintings, but all the people who the emperor thought were good at painting and painting would join the team that struggled for the decoration of the Qianlong Emperor.
At that time, both the court painters and the ministers of the imperial court were painted according to the emperor's requirements: "Wang Jihua's xuan paper characters were eight open, Qian Weicheng's rice paper drawing strips were two, Dong Bangda's rice paper strips were two, Zou Yigui's rice paper strips were two (with the combination of cards), Yu Province's rice paper painting was horizontally draped, Xu Yang's xuan paper painting was horizontally draped, Wang Bing's xuan paper painting was horizontally draped, Wang Youdun's xuan paper character was horizontally draped, Jiang Pu's xuan paper character was horizontally draped, Wang Jihua's xuan paper character was horizontally draped, and Jiang Pu's xuan paper character was eight open Wang Youdun Xuan Paper Character Eight Kai, Wang Jihua Xuan Paper Character Eight Kai, Qian Weicheng Xuan Paper Painting Eight Kai, Dong Bangda Xuan Paper Painting Eight Kai, Zou Yigui Xuan Paper Painting Twelve Kai (with the combination of cards like nine pieces), Imperial Inscription Rice Paper Character, Zhou Kun Xuan Paper Painting One Transmission." When these paintings were completed, they were used as decorative paintings hanging from the interior of the court, and this act of painting according to size and field cooperation was diverse in content.
Among these people, there were painters such as Xu Yang, Yu Sheng, and Zhou Kun, as well as ministers such as Dong Bangda, Jiang Pu, Zou Yigui, and Qian Weicheng, who were known for their calligraphy and painting, and there were also many important ministers like Wang Youdun. Although everyone's origins are different, and their position in the dynasty is also up and down, but for the Qianlong Emperor, they are all B who paint according to the emperor's orders - this is very different from the Song Dynasty painters.
In addition, these court painters would also act as designers of interior architecture, such as in the sixteenth year of Qianlong, when the emperor decorated the Qingyi Garden Listening oriole Hall, "the second flower curtain hood hall was draped across Xu Yang's painting flower curtain, the hood leg painting strip, and the west wall of the west study was false, and the false door of the west study was painted by Yu Province, and the ruler shadow wall was painted by Yu Yu and the oriole hall was also drafted by Yu Province." In the twenty-third year of Qianlong, the court painter Xu Yang also designed a plum blossom pattern for Qianlong with a rosewood yuan cover. Because of his skillful ability to depict large scenes, Xu Yang was often asked to create a general scenery painting for the emperor. In the twentieth year of Qianlong, Xu Yang "enlarged the painting of WangxingTu" on the two walls of the Yingtai Shufangrun Hall and painted a large picture of the whole scene.
Compared with the literati atmosphere of the Song Dynasty Painting Academy, under the rule of the domineering emperor Qianlong, the painters of Ruyiguan were more like painters, and they adjusted their creative methods according to the emperor's wishes, just like Zou Yigui once satirized Western painters: "There is no brushwork, although the work is also a craftsman", at this time, the painters of Ruyiguan have properly sat on the seat of Party B.
Propositional essay
A variety of "designations"
It is difficult for Qing palace painters to have the opportunity to create freely, and the emperor will generally specify various conditions according to his own preferences and produce various "propositional compositions" for the painters. The emperor's proposition usually has the following ways:
One is to specify the style. The so-called designated style is to ask the painter to imitate a certain style. Imitation painting is a common mode of painting in Qing Dynasty court painting, this kind of imitation, rarely directly copying a painting of the ancients, but imitating its brushwork. For example, on May 14 of the second year of Qianlong, "Tang Dai imitated Zhao Qianli's brush strokes to paint the second volume of the hand scroll." Tang Dai was a Manchurian painter who joined the academy of painting in the last year of Yongzheng, and learned to paint from Wang Yuanqi, and his brushwork has quite a Song and Yuan yi rhyme. Therefore, under the orders of the Qianlong Emperor, Tang Dai imitated Li Tang, imitated Huang Gongwang, imitated Guan Tong, imitated Ni Zhan, imitated Wang Meng, imitated Wu Zhen and other paintings.
The second is to specify the subject matter and form of the painting, which is the most common in the "Living Record", such as "a rice paper landscape painting" and "a picture album", etc., this kind of work was created by the emperor's name, and the painter submitted it in time after painting. This kind of work adds the word "subject" in front of the name, which is what we call "subject style".
The third is to specify the content of the painting, and the classification of the content is multiple, one is the content of Auspicious Celebration, such as the first month of the First Year of Qianlong: "Four pieces of Tang Dai landscape, one picture of Gao Qipei's bowl, one picture of Gao Qipei's eight jun, one picture of Lang Shiningying, two pieces of Jiang Tingxi's plume, one piece of Gao Qi's Peiqing Qiahuan District, two pictures of Qiu Ying's landscape, one piece of Tang Dai's summer mountain residence, one of Tang Dai Song's high ten thousand years, one piece of Lang Shining's landscape, and two of Jiang Ting's tin flowers." "Twenty years of Qianlong" xu yang painting crane peach tree" are more common propositional painting scenes. Because in traditional painting, some of the subject matter content is more common, so the emperor will directly make requirements for the content, so that the painter can paint.
The fourth is to create according to realistic scenes. "Qianlong Southern Tour Map", "Pingding Huibu Tribute Ceremony Map", "Western Regions Public Opinion Map", "Prosperous Breeding Map", etc., and works of this theme have a strong political nature. And the paintings made by this kind of designated event usually have their own special field, and are not hung more casually like literati paintings.
Among these scenes, there are both realistic and fictional. For example, the famous "Prosperous Breeding Chart", also known as the "Gusu Prosperous Map", depicts the prosperous scene of Suzhou City:
"From Lingyan Mountain, from Mudu eastward through Hengshan Mountain, across The Stone Lake, Li ShangShan, from the north shore of Taihu Lake, between the two mountains of Jieshi and (River), into the city of Gusu County. Exit the three gates of Self-Sealing, Pan and Xu, and turn to Shantang Bridge to Huqiu. In the meantime, the steepness of the city, the forest of the liberation department, the beauty of the mountains and rivers, the fishing trees up and down, the cultivation and weaving, the merchant Jia Yuntun, the city scales, for the southeast of the city. ”
Although this scene is not a documentary creation, there are 14 silk shops, 4 dye dyeing shops, 5 candle shops, 23 cotton and cotton shops, and 4 hotel liquor stores, many of which are real. This picture was created on November 11, 21, Qianlong, and submitted on October 15, 2014, and was shared for three years, with a total length of more than 12 meters, and is one of the representative works of Xu Yang, a painter of the Qing Palace.
Collaborative works
The emperor felt that whoever drew well would use whomever he wanted
Collaborative painting books were a creative mode of ancient literati painting, which developed vigorously by the end of the Yuan Dynasty. For example, the famous "Bamboo Fun Map" cooperated by Huang Gongwang and Wang Meng, the "Small Portrait of Yang Zhuxi" by Ni Zhan and Wang Xuan, and the "Ancient Wood bamboo stone" co-written by Gu An, Zhang Shen and Ni Zhan, as well as the "Songshi Wangshan Map" cooperated by Wang Meng and Ni Zhan are all famous collaborative works at this time.
But the Qianlong Emperor was different, he did not let the painters combine according to their own wishes, but he felt that whoever painted where it was good would use whoever painted it. The Qianlong Emperor arranged for the cooperation of painters in the following situations:
According to their own aesthetic interests, such as in November of the fourteenth year of Qianlong, when the painter was ordered to draw the "Shou Nian Tu", it was arranged for Yao Wenhan to paint the character's clothing pattern and Ding Guanpeng to paint the face;
According to the division of labor in the paintings, for example, on April 25, the third year of Qianlong, sikuTula said, the eunuch Mao Tuan passed on the will, handed over twenty paintings of the "Taoye Atlas", Tang Dai painted trees and stones, Sun Hu painted boundary paintings, and Ding Guanpeng painted figures;
Important parts were presided over by famous painters and assisted by other personnel, such as in March of the nineteenth year of Qianlong, when he painted the tongjing painting of the western wall of the qiandian hall of Zhuanhezhai, Lang Shining was ordered to enlarge Zhang Weibang's manuscript of Jiao Bingzhen from Rehe Linlai, and the tongjing painting draft, Wang Zhicheng painted the face, and the disciples helped to paint;
In the process of painting, the painters who were not satisfied with the performance were replaced at any time, and then completed by other painters, such as Qianlong forty-two august, the transmission of the message "Ai Qimeng now has six pictures of the victory of Jinchuan, and He Qingtai has dropped two and a half pieces of ink, and he Qingtai has dropped ink, and he Qingtai has dropped ink, and handed over to Jinhui to undertake."
This kind of collaborative painting is a special product of the court painting of the Qianlong Dynasty, although it is the embodiment of the creative will of some writers, but it is the emperor's creative ideal that is concentrated. This also caused these collaborative paintings to look quite "unclassified", without a unified painting style, but only a combination of the emperor's aesthetics.
The ultimate fantasy
Serious can be fictionalized "the coming of all nations"
In addition, in the emperor's mind, there were often things that had never happened at all.
A milder form of fantasy is called "poetic intent." The form of "poetic painting" has a long history, and Gao Juhan believes in his works that "Chinese poetic painting as a concept and practice appeared in the Northern Song Dynasty in the 11th century", and the earliest poetic paintings were "more recognized and experienced than intentionally created". Poetic painting is precisely with the rise of literati painting, and the common denominator of both is that both have "words that cannot be exhausted".
In the winter of the thirty-second year of Qianlong, there was a heavy snowfall in Beijing. In the year of Ruixue Mega, the emperor was in a very good mood, and he composed twenty small poems at that time. However, after writing the poem, I felt insufficient in my heart, and I thought that I should paint the capital in the poem, so there was a later masterpiece - "The Poetic Intention of Jing Shi Sheng Chun".
The creation of this work was written by the Qianlong Emperor who first gave twenty poems, and then Xu Yangying made paintings. The whole painting adopts a bird's-eye view composition, with the north mountain as the background outline of the whole painting, depicting almost the whole picture of the imperial city of Beijing in winter and the city of Qianmen Street in the south city. Among them are twenty poems of "Sheng Chun Poems" inscribed by the Qianlong Emperor. On the one hand, Xu Yang had to paint according to the emperor's inscription, which was very similar to the practice of the court painters in the Southern Song Dynasty painting academy. In this process, he not only had to figure out the intention and essence of the emperor's poetry, but also presented it in the way that the emperor liked.
Of course, compared to the capital city where it really snowed, the more serious fantasies also existed in the emperor's mind. For example, he painted at least four versions of "The Map of all Nations To the Dynasty". It fictionalizes the whole event of the "coming of all nations", which has not happened in history, and was pieced together by the painter with various factors.
In the twenty-fifth year of Qianlong, the emperor decreed that "the East Warm Pavilion of the Yangxin Hall is open, and Xu Yang Zhang Tingyan Jin Tingbiao paints all the countries in white and silk to present a large draft of the great painting." This picture is huge and complex, and it contains a picture in the mind of the Qianlong Emperor of all the envoys of all countries holding tributes to the court, in which the envoys of various countries, dressed in costumes that were not suitable at that time, holding various gifts that the Qianlong Emperor thought they should receive, gathered together to express their congratulations and submission to Qianlong.
Similarly, the "Diagram of the Sacrifice of Prisoners in the Western Regions of Pingding" which shows the return to Xinjiang and the dedication of Huo Jizhan is also such a work, which is presented on October 25, 2009 in Qianlong. Xu Yang said in his own inscription that during the consecration ceremony in the first month of the twenty-fifth year of Qianlong, "those who contended for congratulations, such as Brut, Kazakh, Andiyan, Hewen, Kucha, Badakshan, Hashhar, and Yelchmu, west of Ili, could not be counted, and those whose foreign vassals were worshipped, such as Korea, Japan, Sulu, Luzon, Nanzhao, Ryukyu, Burma, Yilai, Annam, Machen, Shuluo, Sula, Cambodia, Ma Liujia, and large and small Western countries, could not be counted."
In the end, the sacrifice of captivity was attributed to the traditional unified dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty was obviously the successor of this Central Plains orthodoxy, "since Pangu forty-seven thousand Xu has not been the grandeur of today.".
The scene of this captive offering ceremony is quite different from the fourteenth "Pingding Huibu Sacrifice of Prisoners" in the "Pingding Zhunbu Huibu Battle Map", and the overall scene inherits the creative concept of "Map of the Coming of All Nations to the Dynasty", although we cannot determine how many of the components in the diagram are fictional, but there is no doubt that Xu Yang's "Pingding Western Regions Sacrifice Ceremony Map" made four years after the captivity ceremony shows the grand scene of the unification of the universe and the harmonization of all nations in the mind of the Qianlong Emperor.
As we all know, the Qianlong Emperor had a complex set of aesthetic pursuits and had his own theory of art. On the one hand, as the emperor of the unified dynasty, he was the highest point of the entire imperial court politics, so he pursued the artistic expression of his own ruling achievements; on the other hand, he may be sought after by everyone every day, and he also felt that he was an excellent literati, hoping to achieve his artistic pursuit through the exchange of calligraphy and painting with court painters. In the face of such a domineering and narcissistic emperor, whether it is a court painter or a literary talent, they all have to obediently choose to be a good employee, and the style of court painting in the Qianlong Dynasty is also formed.
Text and photo/Wang Panpan