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"Great Chinese Painting: Tracking Records of the Old Collection of the Qing Palace"
By Afterglow
Shanghai Calligraphy and Painting Publishing House
(Poster Maker: China Treasure Museum)
The special function of painting - Song Dynasty spy painting
Text/Afterglow
"The Production of Espionage Paintings"
Ancient painters used war stories as the theme of painting, which can be said to be common, but the example of using pictures to make military preparations for war is rarely known to posterity. The objects depicted in espionage painting are mainly important military generals and terrain of the enemy, as well as kurama horses and equipment, so the painting subjects it involves are mainly portrait paintings, landscape paintings and centaurs. The special function of espionage painting is to help the emperor or military commander of the country to take some kind of political means or military action against the enemy country, and it is a special kind of court painting. In this regard, we should re-recognize and explain its special function.
The earliest records of espionage painting are about the special role of portraiture. The historical origin of espionage painting is not late, as early as the confrontation between the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Tang Dynasty, both sides have been very skillful in using portrait painting to achieve the purpose of the battlefield, both before the war by observing the appearance of the enemy's military leader to understand his heart.
Kim Yang Bang-ki, "Map of the Northern Frontier", collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
At that time, the war in the north was in turmoil, and in the first year of liao datong (947), Emperor Taizong of Liao destroyed the Later Jin, and the court figure painters of the Later Jin Dynasty, such as Wang Renshou, Jiao Zhu, and Wang Xia, were all abducted by the Liao army, and after Zhao Kuangyin destroyed the Later Zhou and established the Great Song Dynasty, the first thing he did in painting was to send envoys to the Liao state to claim these three painters, leaving only Wang Xia alone, and the other two died.
According to the third volume of guo ruoxuan's "Pictorial Insights" of the Northern Song Dynasty, Song Taizu was eager to get their purpose in addition to painting ancestral portraits and portraits of themselves, and had a special mission. Wang Xia was granted a picture by Song Taizu and sent him to the Southern Tang Dynasty to quietly paint portraits of the generals Qi Qiu, Han Xizai, and Lin Renzhao, and when he returned, Taizu was very satisfied and promoted him to Hanlin to be commanded. It turned out that Song Taizu had learned about their temperament, mentality, talent, and ability by observing the portraits of the heads of enemy countries in order to make final decisions.
Southern Tang Dynasty Gu Hongzhong "Han Xizai Night Feast" Collection of the Palace Museum
At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, "spy painting" was also a divisive means of Song Taizu to achieve the purpose of killing people with a knife. The Northern Song Dynasty regarded Lin Renzhao as the main obstacle to the southern Tang Dynasty's destruction of the Tang Dynasty, and several attempts to eliminate him failed. According to the seventh volume of the "Continuation of The Zhizhi Tongjian", Zhao Kuangyin designed and secretly obtained the portrait of Lin Renzhao and hung it in an empty pavilion, intending to let the Southern Tang envoys see this mansion, and the accompanying Song Chen said that Lin Renzhao had already secretly surrendered, and this pavilion was his, and if he did not believe it, his portrait would hang there! The Envoys of the Southern Tang Dynasty did see that there was a portrait of Lin Renzhao hanging in the pavilion, and immediately after returning to China, they reported to Lord Li Hou, who thought that the general Lin Renzhao had secretly surrendered to the Song army, and immediately poisoned him, hastening the demise of Southern Tang.
A set of physiognomy techniques of Chen Zhuo in the north spread to Jiangnan early, and the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Tang Dynasty quietly installed portrait painters in the diplomatic missions sent by the two countries, secretly painting the military and political leaders of the enemy countries on orders. Li Yu heard that Song Taizu was very powerful, and sent envoys to paint a portrait of Song Taizu, wanting to understand his appearance and boldness, when he saw the black and dirty portrait of Song Taizu, he took a breath of cool air, and secretly felt that an aggressive momentum would destroy the Southern Tang Dynasty. Although this portrait of Song Taizu was made by later generations, it does paint the temperament of the founding prince.
Northern Song Dynasty Anon. "Statue of Taizu of the Song Dynasty" (partial) Collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei
The Song and Liao royals sent envoys to each other, interspersed with painters with spying on military intelligence, and I am afraid that they were tacitly aware of each other. In the seventh year of the Northern Song Dynasty (1047), Emperor Xingzong of Liao sent the portrait painter Yelü Shulu to infiltrate the envoys of He Zhengdan of the Liao Dynasty and paint a portrait of Emperor Renzong of Song with his eyes and mind. In the first year of the Northern Song Dynasty (1064), Song Yingzong Zhao Shu ascended the throne, or this Yelü Shu once again sent an envoy to the Song Dynasty, Yingzong gave a banquet, the vase flower partition, he did not see clearly, when he left, just look at it and paint it, when he reached the border, let the send-off people see, they were amazed at how wonderfully he painted.
This skill learned by Song Taizu from Chen Zhuo was passed on to the prosperity of the Huizong Dynasty, and the Southern Song Dynasty Wang Mingqing had a clear record of such "spy paintings": In the early years of Xuanhe, Emperor Huizong wanted to attack the Liao State and defeat Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures, and the ministers of the Chaoli debated endlessly, and a spy official said that the Tianzuo Emperor of the Liao State had the appearance of subjugating the country, and Huizong decided to send the painting academy Xuezheng Chen Yaochen to take the painting students of the two painting academies to dress up as diplomats to go to sketch, painted the portrait of Emperor Tianzuo, and also painted the key terrain along the way and handed it over to Huizong. Emperor Huizong looked at it, "The lord of the enemy looks like a human king", and then sent troops, and the battle of Yanyun was indeed won.
"How to identify spy paintings?"
In the portrait paintings of the Song Dynasty, the portraits of the heads of the enemy states of the Northern Song Dynasty have not survived, and the spy paintings in the landscape paintings of the Northern Song Dynasty are also difficult to see, and in the landscape paintings of the early and middle Southern Song Dynasty, in the negotiations with the Jin Dynasty, the role of "spy painting" is too important. The only work related to "spy painting" in the early Southern Song Dynasty is the page of "Guanshan Travel Map" passed down as Xiao Zhao, who came with Li Tang from the Taihang Mountains in the early Southern Song Dynasty and later painted in the palace.
Southern Song Dynasty Xiao Zhao (biography) "Guan Shan Travel Map" Collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei
There is a mountain road winding through the cliffs and leading to the front pass, the topography of the mountain stone is very similar to the stone characteristics of the Taihang Mountain, and the painting also depicts refugees fleeing in one direction, presumably the author has had an escape experience after the "Jingkang Rebellion". The painter relies on memory to show the viewer the road and geographical environment of a certain pass in the Taihang Mountains, whether such paintings are "Qing play", I am afraid it is worth noting, although this painting can not be concluded to be Xiao Zhao's painting, but it belongs to the early Southern Song Dynasty paintings.
Part of "Guanshan Travel Map"
In the thirty-second year of Shaoxing (1162), Zhao Xi succeeded to the throne as Emperor Xiaozong. Dissatisfied with the corrupt and weak political situation of the Gaozong Dynasty, he rehabilitated Yue Fei's father and son and eliminated Gaozong's subordinates who belonged to the Jin faction. From the very beginning, he wanted to restore the lost land in the north, using the veteran generals Li Xianzhong and Shao Hongyuan to launch a large-scale northern expedition to attack Gong and Luo, and Emperor Xiaozong still continued to appoint officials who were good at painting landscapes to send envoys to the Jin Kingdom, possibly eager to know the terrain around Gong County and Luoyang and the main road leading to the Taihang Mountains, at this time the Song army had been crossing the south for more than forty years, most of the soldiers from the north were no longer alive, the father and son soldiers did not know the terrain and landforms of the north, and it was very necessary to use paintings to illustrate the traffic arteries and terrain of the north, and to enhance the image of the soldiers' understanding of the terrain of the northern combat.
Just as the Court painters of the Southern Song Dynasty were deliberately drawing "spy paintings", the Jinguo painters were not idle. King Guanyan Liang (1122-1161) sent painters to accompany Shi Yisheng to envoy the Southern Song Dynasty, stealing the "Lin'an Lake Mountain Map" back to the Dynasty, depicting the topography of the southern Song Dynasty capital, And Yan Liang could not wait to paint his horseback riding portrait on the top of Wushan Mountain on the "Lin'an Lake Mountain Map", and gave a poem to show his political purpose of suppressing the Southern Song Dynasty: "Since the ancient car books are mixed, why do the southerners bother with the car workers? Tishi millions of troops on the river, immediately the first peak of Wu Mountain. The fierceness of Song Jin's "spy paintings" can be seen. The location on the top of Wu Mountain is very important, and standing there today can indeed see the whole of Hangzhou.
Southern Song Dynasty Li Song's "Picture Scroll of the West Lake", Shanghai Museum Collection
The most representative "spy painting" is the page of "Xialing Creek Bridge Map". The composition of the painter's landscape paintings is unconventional, with a downward view, tirelessly listing the peaks of the Northern Taihang Mountains, looking at its painting method, the center outline, filling in the color is uniform, the most eye-catching thing in the painting is a winding and uneven mountain road, from far and near, winding from the hilly area into the Hinterland of Taihang, very similar to the scene from northern Henan to the Taihang Mountains, the whole map does not have a trace of mist, does not emphasize the method of virtual reality, a peak and a ridge are all in sight, there is no appreciation, its use is no different from the marching road map for combat, From this, it can be obtained that Emperor Xiaozong had made some plans to continue to advance north after recovering Gong and Luo.
Southern Song Dynasty Anon. "Map of Junling Creek Bridge", Liaoning Provincial Museum
In addition, there are pictures showing the Jurchens and their horses, paintings that belong to the military intelligence category. Southern Song Dynasty anonymity "Liutang Herding Horse Diagram" page. This is by no means an ordinary tuan fan, it looks like a painting of a real woman bathing a horse in Liutang, carefully examining it, and the mysteries are heavy.
The painter painted two groups of horses under the drive of the man from both sides of the river, swimming to their respective shores, forming a certain formation, which is not an ordinary bath circus. The white felt hats worn by the husband and the braids on the top of the beard and the double braids behind the ears are typical of the Jurchen figure. According to the Jurchen "Meng'an Mouke" military system, these people are prisoners in peacetime and pawns in wartime. The painter also painted a white-clad Jurchen nobleman sitting on the shore, surrounded by several servants standing, according to the traditional custom of jurchen Shangbai, it is obvious that this is a very high-ranking military commander, equivalent to the rank of general, he will not be watching the horse bathing, he is supervising his subordinates to carry out the training of the crossing.
Southern Song Dynasty Anon. "Liutang MumaTu" collection of the Palace Museum
The Jurchens in the painting are practicing water warfare for certain historical reasons. During the reign of Emperor Gaozong (1127-1130), the Jurchens who invaded the south were repeatedly defeated at the River Port and Lake In Huai, exposing the shortcomings of the Jurchens who were not good at water warfare. The painter undoubtedly graphically recorded the actual preparations of the Jin army for the decisive battle against the Song in the water network area. However, the author's expression method is more clumsy, perhaps the painter first saw this northern tree species, and he lacked skillful expression skills. In contrast, the centaur is very skillfully painted, the shape is vivid and concise, and the few arcs outline the horse's sense of volume in strenuous exercise.
Part of "Liutang Wrangler Map"
The author of the page of "Liutang Mumatu" must be a court painter hidden in the Southern Song Dynasty mission, who secretly noticed the changes in the military situation of the Jin Dynasty, memorized it in his heart, and painted it on the plain fan. This type of painting is usually painted on small pieces of paper, such as a fan or album, perhaps this kind of painting carrier is easy to carry, easy to play its special role.
To tell the truth, it was not the turn of the late Southern Song Dynasty to paint spy paintings, and Lizong and Duzong did not have this mind at that time, only the Mongols had a huge plan to destroy the Chamber. The old Northern Song Dynasty anonymity "Yangtze River Wanli Map" volume (collection of the Freer Museum of Art, USA) is a peculiar landscape painting masterpiece, from the perspective of painting style, it does not belong to the Southern Song Dynasty landscape painting style sequence, but retains the Northern Song Dynasty panoramic mountains and rivers of the legacy, the investigation of the painter's creative motivation will greatly benefit the new thesis of the era of the work.
Northern Song Dynasty Anon. "Ten Thousand Miles of the Yangtze River", Collection of the Frier Art Museum
After careful investigation, the painter listed the scenery along the other side of the river one by one, no wind and waves, without any seasonal or climatic atmosphere, and finally used cinnabar to mark the peaks on the other side of the river, the names of the cities and pools, such as "Nancao City", "South Building", "Yellow Crane Tower", "Ezhou", etc., especially the scenery next to the book has a list title, in addition to drawing a map with this technique, this is rare in landscape painting, the composition layout is "one-sided", mainly painting the scenery on the other side. Therefore, the orientation of the map is up and down, south, north, left, east, right and west, and the tail is the mouth of the Yangtze River, and the horizontal column is unfolded, without any changes in composition, which is very in line with the practical utility of facing south and looking at it. Obviously, this picture is not for appreciation, it has a special purpose, it is coveting the entire line on the south bank of the Yangtze River, including the intention of military attack.
Part of "Ten Thousand Miles of the Yangtze River"
From left to right: Ezhou, Yellow Crane Tower, South Tower, Nancao City, Sanhuazhen
Except for the early Jin Dynasty or the early Yuan Dynasty, which suppressed the Southern Song Dynasty, this map will not be the work of other dynasties. Historically, the Jin army did not have the ability to attack the Southern Song Dynasty in its entirety, but only in the Zhenjiang area where the Jin Dynasty had broken through the natural dangers of the Yangtze River, and it was the Yuan army that really had the ability to attack on all fronts. After the Mongol Iron Horse destroyed the Jin Dynasty in 1234, it did not take long to form the East Road, Middle Road and West Road army, especially the East Road and middle road formed a trend across the Yangtze River, which was the Yuan army before attacking the Southern Song Dynasty, sending painters to paint this long scroll on the north bank of the Yangtze River and facing the south. In order to understand the terrain and landform of the enemy, so that the brigade could accurately reach the designated place on the opposite bank, the author did not take the opening of the album like the Southern Song Painters, shrinking his hands and feet, but very calmly laid out with a long scroll, and marked the landmarks on the other side one by one with cinnabar. The viewer, like a boat patrolling the river, has a panoramic view, and the momentum of the Yuan army at that time can be seen, and this picture should be in the hands of the senior generals of the Yuan army who destroyed the middle road of the Southern Song Dynasty.
"Who is the author?"
Perhaps for confidential reasons, none of the authors of the spy paintings are signed, so it is difficult to point out the specific authors of the "spy paintings". Southern Song envoys to the Jin Dynasty, such as Yuwen Xuzhong, Gao Shitan, and Wu Ji, as well as Emperor Xiaozong sent his clan and landscape painter Zhao Bohua as the deputy envoy of the mission to the Jin Kingdom, and the Kurama painter Chen Juzhong also visited some places in the Jin Kingdom during the Guangzong Dynasty. It is possible that they are spy painters with painting tasks.
Southern Song Dynasty Chen Juzhong 《Autumn Plains Hunting Riding Map》
Among them, Yuwen Xuzhong (1079-1146) was one of the more outstanding, the Southern Song Dynasty Jianyan ii year (1128) as a Yellow Gate Waiter envoy to the Jin Kingdom, Jin Taizong completed Yan Sheng's desire to integrate into Han culture, long detained Yuwen Xuzhong, entrusted Hanlin to undertake. However, for 17 years, Yuwen Zhonggongshu also collected calligraphy and paintings, and later beheaded by jurchens for some of his drawings as "anti-tools" and was punished for the crime of "conspiracy". The author thinks that these "anti-weapons" will not be spy paintings? Perhaps the painting depicts the military equipment of the Jurchens, or the topography, which makes the Jurchens feel threatened to the security of the Golden Kingdom?
What I want to verify is that in a considerable part of ancient paintings, their painting function is not necessarily a general art appreciation, behind it, there may be many mysteries that are not known to today, especially some paintings related to historical facts, which are both the history of painting and the painting of history, excavating the historical background hidden in it, and also painting the original face of history, revealing the creative path and painting intention of ancient painters, deeply understanding the historical connotations other than art, and is also an unavoidable topic in the study of art history.
——Excerpt from "Great Chinese Painting"
Source: Shanghai Calligraphy and Painting Publishing House
Editor: Duan Pengcheng