"Xueyue Reading Chart" axis, Ming, Xiao Yuncong painting, paper, color, length 125.3 cm, width 47.7 cm. This self-titled seven-word long poem is signed: "壬辰長至, for the Social League to make a reading map of Xueyue." When the three Qin good tones, with this little song to teach. Zhong Shan Mei's younger brother Xiao Yuncong. "钤" Xiao Yuncong" and "Ruler Muzi" printed 2 sides. "壬辰" is the ninth year of Qing Shunzhi (1652), when the painter was 57 years old.
Xiao Yuncong's landscape painting style is diverse, but the basic style that runs through it is that the pen and ink are folded in many ways and thin, and some rubs are added to the bone body of the square fold, which is slightly rendered, which makes the pen and ink rich and flexible. At that time, Songjiang school painting was popular in the painting world, and its paintings were soft and curvy lines, beautiful brush and ink, and Xiao Shi switched to straight lines and dry and sharp ink colors, which can be described as unique. The "Records of Paintings of the National Dynasty" commented on Xiao Yuncong's paintings: "It is not dedicated to patriarchal law, it is a family of its own, and the pen is also clean and pleasant." It shows the key to Xiao Yun's style from painting. His paintings are not specifically patriarchal, but it can be seen that they evolved from the Song and Yuan painting methods, not Song and yuan, that is, Song is Yuan, and clearly show Xiao's own artistic characteristics. Although this picture depicts a snow scene and the expression method is slightly different from usual, the typical characteristics of Xiao's paintings can still be seen.
The painting uses the high and distant method to depict the layered rocks. The layout is plump, but the fluffy branches of the dense trees in the mountains make the picture pulse through, although it is full but not forced. The mountain stone outline is relatively square and hard, and the pencil brush in the depression is exquisite; the tree carving is also extremely skilled, with a fine and clean pen, depicting the trunk texture and leaf shape meticulously. The ground is cleverly left blank to represent large areas of snow on rocks and tree branches. The white snow became more and more lonely against the backdrop of the gloomy sky stained with light ink. However, the foot of the tree and the stone gap occasionally reveal several poles of bamboo, the branches of the trees are dyed with garcinia yellow, and the leaves are applied with vermilion and juice green, all of which make the viewer faintly feel the vitality hidden in the cold winter atmosphere, which can be described as unique in the snow scene works of the past. This is due to the author's unique feelings about the natural world, and at the same time, it also shows Xiao Yun's hope surging from his heart.
At that time, the kings of the Ming Dynasty were exiled to various places, and in addition to the main regimes such as Hongguang, Longwu, and Yongli, there were still many subjects who rebelled against the Qing Dynasty, and they were quite powerful. As a remnant of the Ming Dynasty, Xiao Shi paid attention to these major restoration events all the time. The "Good Sound of the Three Qins" in the inscription seems to refer to such events.
Xiao Yun studied Du poetry from Zeng and wrote a volume of "Du Luxie". His poems also inherit the tradition of Du poetry, which is mostly the work of worrying times, such as painting inscription poems. In the poem, sentences such as "Imperial Brigade Yunteng Du Wei River" and "The General Sings the Song of the Great Wind" are even more majestic and unrestrained, with sonorous rhymes, and reflect each other with the picture, truly showing Xiao Yuncong's thoughts and feelings as a relic of the Ming Dynasty.