Hello everyone, I am learning from history.
In this issue of the National Treasure Story, let's talk about a work of great significance in the history of Chinese art and even in the history of Chinese civilization - the "Map of The Emperors of the Past Dynasties" drawn by the famous Tang Dynasty artist Yan Liben.
China describes the image of ancient emperors with paintbrushes, dating back to the Han Dynasty, and some stories and images of ancient emperors can often be found on excavated tomb murals and portrait bricks.
Picture note: The Eastern Han Dynasty Zhou Gong unearthed in Shandong, summoned the Gong to assist cheng wang portrait stone
In the Wei and Jin dynasties, the great painter Gu Kaizhi also painted many portraits of emperors according to the records, such as "Portrait of Sima Xuan", "Portrait of Emperor Xianglie of Jin", "Portrait of King Sima Xuan and Second Prince of Wei", etc., but unfortunately it has not been preserved.
After that, a portrait of the emperor painted by the great painter Yan Liben of the Tang Dynasty finally passed down and became one of the top ten famous paintings in China, which is a reflection of Tang Taizong Li Shimin's meeting with the Tibetan envoy Lu Dongzan.
Illustration: Yan Liben's "Step Map" is in the Palace Museum
In addition to the "Step Map", there is also a suspected yan Liben's heirloom work that has been circulated in the world, that is, the portrait of 13 emperors from the two Han Dynasties to the Three Kingdoms and the Sui Dynasty - "The Map of The Emperors of the Past Dynasties".
Just now we mentioned that since the Han Dynasty, there have been works that draw the images and stories of ancient emperors, and the people at that time drew such imperial works to make the rulers "see good enough to abstain from evil, and see evil enough to think of sages", which is more to warn the emperors to take the sages as an example, not only to seek pleasure, not to think about governance, to play a role in maintaining rule.
Illustration: "Emperors of the Past"
Yan Liben's "Map of Emperors of Past Dynasties" also plays this role, so we see that among the emperors drawn by Yan Liben, there are not only founding emperors such as Liu Xiu, Sima Yan, and Yang Jian, and famous Ming Jun;
There were also Chen Bozong, the emperor of Chen, Chen Shubao, the lord of Chen Hou, and Yang Guang, the emperor of the Sui Dynasty, and other emperors of the fallen kingdom.
This is all a warning to the rulers who view the paintings.
The "Emperors of the Past" is a silk book, colored, 51.3 cm wide and 531 cm long. He painted the images of 13 emperors, including "Liu Fuling of the Han Zhao Emperor, Liu Xiu of the Han Guangwu Emperor, Cao Pi the Emperor of Wei, Sun Quan of the Wu Dynasty, Liu Bei of the Shu Lord, Sima Yan of the JinWu Emperor, Chen Xuan emperor Chen Xuan, Chen Bozong of the Chen Dynasty, Chen Xuan Emperor Chen Huan, Chen Shubao the Lord of Chen Hou, Yuwen Yong of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Yang Jian of the Sui Wen Emperor, and Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty", plus a total of 46 attendants around the emperor.
Illustration: "Map of the Emperors of the Past Dynasties" Sui Wen Emperor Yang Jian, Sui Emperor Yang Guang
Since the publication of the "Chart of The Emperors of the Past Dynasties", it has been the collection of the same executives as the emperors.
According to Mi Pu's "History of Painting", the "Imperial Map of the Past Dynasties" was first collected by Wang Hu of the Luling people during the Yingzong period of the Northern Song Dynasty, and then passed to the hands of Zhou Bizheng, a high-ranking official of the Southern Song Dynasty, and later entered the inner palace by the imperial court.
Illustration Note: Headline Encyclopedia's description of the "Emperor Figure of the Past Dynasties"
After the fall of the Song Dynasty, the "Map of The Emperors of the Past Dynasties" was also included in the national treasury of the Yuan Dynasty. After the Yuan Dynasty was destroyed by the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty Wenyuan Pavilion collected this collection.
After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, this precious painting has been circulated in the hands of collectors everywhere.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, in 1866, this national treasure-level work was acquired in Shaanxi by Lin Shoutu, who was then the envoy of Shanxi Province, and since then the "Map of The Emperors of Past Dynasties" has become the lin family's private collection.
Picture note: Traitor Liang Hongzhi (first from the left)
Lin Shoutu was a great Confucian in Minxian County, Fujian Province, with four sons and eight sons-in-law who were all talented people and famous scholars at that time. But among his grandsons was a traitor, Liang Hongzhi.
In 1931, Liang Hongzhi sold his grandfather's collection of "Emperors of the Past" to the American Dunman Ross for 60,000 yuan, and after several changes of hands in the United States, the "Emperors of the Past" is now collected in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, USA.
In 1938, Liang Hongzhi and others established a traitorous government in Nanjing, the "Restoration Government of the Republic of China", to sell their lives for the Japanese, and later served as the president of the Supreme Court of the Wang Jingwei puppet regime. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Liang Hongzhi was sentenced to be shot, and on November 9, 1946, a gunshot rang out at Tilanqiao Prison in Shanghai, ending his life of crime and shame.
However, the huge losses caused by the traitors led by him to the people of the whole country have been irreparable, and since then, the national treasure-level cultural relics "Map of The Emperors of The Past Dynasties" handed down in the Tang Dynasty have unfortunately been lost overseas.
Text/Take history as a mirror
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References/
"Chart of Emperors of Past Dynasties" Headline Encyclopedia