In the past week, it can be said that the global auction circle and the collection circle have been frozen in "Hong Kong time". And just when everyone was still immersed in the excitement of the sky-high explosive lots, christie's, the top international auction house, took advantage of the momentum and released a heavy blockbuster, and the official announcement of the line was that it would launch the 2021 spring auction on May 26-27 with 10 special sessions and thousands of good things. And in its strong lineup of this season,its ancient calligraphy and painting category, there is such a low-key and mysterious, graceful atmosphere and fresh and secluded lot, it was born in the imperial palace, full of royal atmosphere, its author is little known; and the detailed masterpiece, which looms 300 years ago, a rare piece of the world, the beautiful past of the encounter between kings and courtiers. What kind of magical painting is that? What kind of past will be implicated?
If the Scythians are rainbows, they know that there is a party
Time back to 1751 AD, bent on emulating his grandfather The Kangxi Emperor's six southern tours, Qianlong Ye, who showed great national prestige, officially launched the first southern tour of the dragon ship on the thirteenth day of the first month, and its companions included the empress dowager Niu Hulu, the empress concubines, as well as the entourage of ministers and bodyguards, totaling more than 2,000 people, who hugged before and after, and were quite spectacular.
Friends who have been fascinated by Qing opera over the years may say when they mention the southern tour that Qianlong Ye is nothing more than going to the mountains and rivers, plus encountering the summer rain lotus on the shore of Daming Lake? That's weird! Our Qianlong grandpa is far more than this little hobby, okay? In fact, on the first tour of the south, he met the super cp that made him obsessed with the twilight for more than 30 years in his life.
It is said that on that day, Qianlongye went all the way through Yangzhou, Zhenjiang, Changzhou, and came to Suzhou, the hometown of fish and rice, the reiki Gusu, and Qianlongye, who enjoyed the paradise on earth and the capital of gardens, and the whole process was full of praise. The local officials along the way also knew that Qianlong paid attention to pomp and circumstance, and rushed to meet each other, arranging palaces, displaying antiques, and purchasing various famous specialties.
"Qianlong South Tour Map" Let's feel this row of noodles
And among these magistrates, Gao Bin, the governor of Jiangnan River (Qianlongye's old father-in-law, whose beloved concubine Huixian Emperor Guifei's father-in-law), presented him with a landscape painting scroll between Qianlongye's inspection of the river defense, and Gao Bin originally only wanted to say that he would make Qianlongye, who likes to paint, happy and happy, and by the way, he pointed out the mystery and commented on the comments. Who would have thought that when Qianlong Ye personally opened the work, inside and outside the painting, the sixteen scenes of Sutai, not to mention the bottom of the eye, to look at the pen and ink carefully, extraordinary, with its own Jiangnan temperament. Qianlong Ye looked at it and couldn't help but shout immediately: And immediately issued another order
It is also because of this painting, this short moment of encounter, this painter, Zhang Zongcang of the Suzhou clan, has since embarked on the peak of his life and opened his beautiful years of "grace and special encounters, a long time", although he was 65 years old at that time.
Zhang Zongcang, "Ten Thousand Wat Chaotian", 116.4× 46cm, National Palace Collection, Taipei
It is said that at that time, the painters of the academy were divided into three grades, respectively, the monthly salary of eight two, six two, four two, plus public funds silver three two, Zhang Zongcang and his disciple Xu Yang just entered the painting academy, they enjoyed the highest treatment of court painters, and the top of the imperial painters at that time, Ding Guanpeng, the monthly salary of eight two, public funds silver three two, converted into a position, equivalent to six or seven pin officials. Two years after entering the palace, Qianlong Ye also made Zhang Zongcang an additional head of the household department (Liu pin), which was a rare honor at that time.
In order to repay Qianlongye's kindness, during his four years at the Danei court alone, Zhang Shi painted 172 masterpieces for Qianlongye, not including a collection of other court painters, of which Zhang Zongcang's works were recorded in "Shiqu Baodi" as many as 116, most of which were written by the Qianlong Emperor himself. According to some studies, Zhang Zongcang is the court painter with the most included works in the "Shiqu Baodi" (the most poet painter is Dong Bangda).
So for Zhang Zongcang's paintings, how much does Qianlong Ye really like? How do you exaggerate? Let's choose a few words for everyone to study while watching?
Qianlong Twenty Years Title:
Qianlong Thirty-Nine Years Title:
Qianlong Forty-Eight Years Inscription:
Hi ~ do you think that's all? Oh leak, let's say that in the following picture, on the "Zhang Zongcang Painting Landscape" in the National Palace museum in Taipei, Qianlong Ye is in Yihai, Dinghai, Ji ugly, Jia wu, Yi Wei, Ji Hai, Nong Yin, 癸卯, 己巳, Ding Wei, Peng Shen, Geng shu, Xin Hai Nian!! The latest one was written by Qianlong Ye when he was 81 years old, and God knows that more than 30 years have passed since Zhang Zongcang's death!
Zhang Zongcang, "Painting Landscapes", 138.1×64.3cm, National Palace Collection, Taipei
When the painting is made, people do not know, but when they look at the painting, they seem to know people. After Zhang Zongcang left, the Qianlong Emperor repeatedly missed it for decades, and ordered all the paintings before Zhang Zongcang entered the palace to be collected in the palace pool to treasure them. Thinking of the white-haired Zhang Zongcang, who was working diligently day and night to paint, Qianlong Ye blamed himself for not being good enough for Zhang Zongcang. Dear ones, just ask, what kind of fairy cp can do this?! At this moment, Xiaobian just wants to chant:
If the Si people are rainbows, they will know that there is a party! If the Slovaks are rainbows, four years is enough! Okay?!
Wu Zongcang, a giant in the art garden, appeared at Christie's
We said above that as long as it is produced by Zhang Zongcang, all of them were collected into the palace during the Qianlong period. Therefore, in today's auction, it is either difficult to have a painting appear, or every piece must come from a prominent source and be of outstanding quality. Christie's Spring Auction, which will be held in May, has released a rare painting in the world. Let's use three keywords to take a closer look at this painting with you:
# Stone Canal Treasure #
As we all know, as long as the four words "Shiqu Baodi" are mentioned, it is equivalent to characterizing the work itself: first, it is born noble and has its own royal atmosphere; second, it is almost 100% fidelity, especially if a work is completely in line with the "Shiqu Baodi" record, and the Qing Palace seals on the work can all be matched, it is almost not used for too much research - there is no doubt about the authenticity.
According to the official announcement from Christie's, in addition to the five treasure seals of the stone canal, the Qianlong Emperor also displayed the seals of "Chunhua Xuan", "Chunhua Xuan Book Treasure", "Xintian Master", "Treasure of the Eight Signs of The Imperial Treasure", and the later Jiaqing Emperor "Jiaqing Appreciation", "Treasure of Jiaqing Imperial Treasure" Two Seals, Xuantong Emperor and "Treasure of Xuantong Imperial Palace", etc., counting 19 imperial seals of the Inner Palace, especially the treasures, the real works are appropriate.
"Wuguan New Autumn" partial map This poke everyone can see who built it?
"Wuguan New Autumn" partial map Look at this poke cover!
These inner houses use the imperial seals "Chunhuaxuan" and "Chunhuaxuan Book Treasures", which not only have the effect of "fidelity", but also imply others, such as paintings in the Yuanmingyuan, the content of the painting is immediately titled the autumn scenery in the garden, Qianlong is the person sitting in red in the hall house, the person who holds a boat in the distant lake or zhang Zongcang's own phantom.
In addition, from the imperial seals such as "Treasure of the Ancient Rare Heavenly Son" and "Treasure of the Eight Signs of Immortality", it can be seen that Qianlong opened the volume "Wuguan New Autumn" more than once in his later years, and after watching it, he was overflowing with the feelings of Missing Zhang Zongcang, and Qianlong himself noted: "This frame was made in Qianlong Dingdi (1747), when Zong Cang was not in the painting garden. Looking at his paintings now, it is like looking at his people, and Zong Cangjiu has been an ancient one. ”
# Wuguan in the painting #
Root research, the painting "Wuguan" is also an important building in the Yuanmingyuan, that is, Bitong Academy, Bitong Academy was built in the ninth year of Qianlong (1744), located in the northeast corner of the Back Lake of the Yuanmingyuan, a scene in the Jiuzhou Scenic Area, is the Qianlong Emperor's reading and painting place, there are a large number of plane trees planted around the academy, so it is called "Wuguan", one of the forty scenic spots of the Yuanmingyuan.
The correspondence between "Wuguan" and "Chunhuaxuan" hint at the birth of this hand scroll that is extremely prominent. The Qianlong Emperor inscribed on the painting: "The light smoke in the Qinghui hanging place, the mao mao peak with green coolness." Wuguan Xiao idle people lean on the bed, good teaching sentence belongs to Ouyang. ”
"Wuguan New Autumn" Partial Figure Qianlong Ye, a red-robed sitting man
Part of "Wuguan New Autumn" The person who drives a flat leaf boat is Zongcang himself
# Zongcang brushwork #
Looking closely at the scroll itself, the mountains and rivers and trees are painted in the distance on the right, the mountain house and the water pavilion, and a child servant in the near distance walks to the middle hall house with a book, and a man in red in the room sits on a bed and gazes at the sycamore in front of the court. There is a lake on the left side of the house, the lotus leaves on the shore are weeping willows, the mountains behind the garden are floating smoke, there are several houses in the distance, and a blue-clad man in the lake paddles a boat to the hall house.
At the turn of summer and autumn, the leaves of the mountains and rivers are not stained frost red, and the view is still green, but Zhang Zongcang is dyed with garcinia yellow, which shows that the season is changing. In the Qianlong imperial inscription poem, "Cuiliang" and "Wuguan" are used to inadvertently point out autumn, and the last sentence "Good teaching sentence belongs to Ouyang" is even more used to use Ouyang Xiu's "Autumn Sound Endowment", and the poem is not as good as the autumn character and the autumn meaning is suddenly born. Painting and inscription poems, the magic is that the artistic conception is harmonious.
Qianlong admired Zhang Zongcang's paintings, and the beauty was in the painting theory and qi rhyme, which was slightly seen in his "Imperial Poetry" and notes: "The painting of others is its method, the painting of Zong Cang is the reason, it is sought in the present, and it is comparable to the ancients, Huang Dayi, Ni Gaoshi, and the second son of the second son. He also said, "In the past, when I looked at the paintings of the Sect of Cang, did I ask if I had succeeded?" If the qi rhyme has not arrived, the less swirling qi rhyme comes, then the painting will be complete. This is the most beautiful way to draw three ambiguities, and yongshi does not know this. It can be seen from this that Zhang Zongcang studied from Huang Ding and followed the method of the Yuan people's landscape and water by following the master Wang Yuanqi, and the painting position in the heart of the Qianlong Emperor was not comparable to that of other inner court painters.
Moreover, Zhang Hua'er used dry brushes to accumulate the method of mountain stone, and used light ink to deal with the forest trees, paying equal attention to dry and wet, and accumulating layers of dyeing, thus washing away the usual sweet and tender habits of the court painting school, highlighting the unique deep charm of his landscape paintings and the far-reaching temple artistic conception. And Qianlong Ye, who enjoys the prosperity of the world and travels through thousands of mountains and rivers, does not have such a trace of authenticity?
"Wuguan New Autumn" Partial map
Finally we say, coincidentally! We can see from the qianlong emperor Xin Wei (1751) imperial inscription poem in the volume "Wuguan New Autumn" that this painting was painted shortly after Zhang Zongcang entered the palace. We can imagine that Zhang Zongcang, who was over sixty years old at that time, from an unknown ordinary man in Suzhou, ascended to the heavens one step at a time to become the heart of the Son of Heaven, the big red man in the eyes of thousands of people, when he woke up, how grateful and thankful he would be, and with a little bit of a trace of trance? Of course, he also clearly knew that Qianlongye's appreciation and kindness to himself could only be repaid with a paintbrush. Therefore, when I first arrived at the court and tried the cattle knife, I used ink with a pen and ink, and I didn't need to say much.
Looking at the present, Zhang Zongcang's production, either high in the temple, has become a treasure like the National Palace in Taipei; or occasionally appeared in the auction, which is also the top of the top, such as in 2018, its same landscape map set a new record, auctioning more than 80 million. Looking at the whole article, we say that it is precisely because of that southern tour that Qianlong Ye took one more look (painting) among tens of millions of people that he completed the name of Zhang Zongcang's body and back. 300 years ago, it was a beautiful encounter between kings and courtiers; 300 years later, what kind of exciting intersection moments will be set off on the auction field? We'll see! Finally, finally, put a high-definition large picture here, sincerely invite everyone to taste it?
Enjoy the full view on the landscape