Chinanews client, Beijing, December 28th (Reporter Shangguanyun) Recently, the new work of the Research Librarian Yu Hui of the Palace Museum, "Shanghe on Qingming Festival", has received widespread attention.
Zhang Zeduan's "Surfing the River on Qingming Festival" depicts the lively scenes inside and outside the city of Kaifeng during the Qingming Festival, and is known as one of the top ten famous paintings in China.
In Yuhui's narration, "A Picture of the River on Qingming Festival" not only has a very high artistic quality, but also hides a deep ideological quality.
Behind the prosperous Kaifeng city, Zhang Zeduan revealed some social ills at the time. He used this painting as an opportunity to euphemistically persuade Song Huizong.
A mysterious author
Zhang Zeduan is the author of "A Picture of Shanghe on Qingming Festival".
He is called "mysterious" because he has few materials and stories handed down, and people can only get some scattered information from them.
Data map: Tourists watch the "Surfing the River at Qingming Festival" at the Shiqu Baoji Special Exhibition at the Palace Museum in Beijing. The exhibition includes a total of 283 calligraphy and painting collections.
Photo by Zhang Hao issued by China News Agency
In the postscript written by Jin Ren Zhang, there is an introduction to Zhang Zeduan's life.
But only a few words, it is difficult to outline the painter's detailed life track.
But in summary, what can be known is that Zhang Zeduan's words are righteous and he read poems and books well in his childhood.
When he was young, he studied in Beijing, hoping to change his destiny through the imperial examination.
However, Zhang Zeduan later switched to learning painting.
Now it looks like a living after failing exams.
Zhang Zeduan is very talented in painting, and he was admitted to the Hanlin Academy of Painting as he wished. He is good at depicting boats, cars, city bridges and Guojing, with great detail and his own style.
Later, he completed the famous painting "Shanging the River on Qingming Festival".
Regrettably, there is hardly any information about Zhang Zeduan's whereabouts.
Yu Hui speculates that Zhang Zeduan lived in the late Northern Song Dynasty, and it is very likely that he will remain in the north after the Northern Song Dynasty is destroyed, and he will “have no trace”.
Different versions of "Shanging the River at Qingming Festival"
Nowadays, when it comes to "A Picture of Shanghe on the Qingming Festival", many people may naturally think of Zhang Zeduan's work.
He is indeed a pioneer of such subjects as "Shanging the River on Qingming Festival", but there are actually many copies or works of the same subject in later generations.
In the Southern Song Dynasty, because Zhang Zeduan's "A Picture of Shanghe River on Qingming Festival" perfectly represented the prosperous streets of Bianjing in the Northern Song Dynasty, it was rumored to be spread among the citizens of the Southern Song Dynasty.
In the Ming Dynasty, this subject became a special painting used to express city life in Jiangnan, especially in the Qing Dynasty.
Yu Hui said that among the many works of the same kind, the more famous ones are the volume "Shanghe Tu on Qingming Festival" signed by "Chou Ying" in the Ming Dynasty and the volume of Shanghe River on Qingming Dynasty edition of the Qing Dynasty.
Book cover of "<The Picture of Shanghe River in Qingming Dynasty> Face to Face View".
Photo courtesy of the publisher
It should be noted that the above-mentioned Ming Chou Ying version and Qing Yuan version only borrowed the composition and expression formula of "A River on the Qingming Festival". If you compare carefully, although the subject matter and name are the same, there are many differences in purpose and content.
For example, Zhang Zeduan's version of "A River on the Ching Ming Dynasty", most of the low-end consumer goods sold on the streets in the painting, people are very hard to make a living; but in Ming and Qing Yuan, most of the streets in the painting are sold What is "luxury", such as antiques and so on.
The hidden dangers of the Northern Song Dynasty in famous paintings
The "Shang He Tu on Qingming Festival" in different periods have their own characteristics.
But the most well-known one is undoubtedly the version of Zhang Zeduan.
Few people may have noticed that the painting depicts the prosperous market, commerce, and transportation of Bianjing, and also shows some social ills at the time.
This painting was painted in the late period of Song Huizong's Chongning period (1102-1106).
According to documentary records, in the Northern Song Dynasty, Bianjing was one of the largest cities in the world. The fire prevention measures were very strict: there was a Wanghuo building in each square, and soldiers called "submerged firemen" guarded them downstairs.
However, Yu Hui discovered during his research that Zhang Zeduan had painted the Wanghuolou, which had been converted into a small pavilion, and the two rows of barracks below were turned into restaurants.
There are still many water boats in the picture scroll, which seems to indicate the prosperity of commerce and trade, and grain is continuously transported to Bianjing.
But the problem is that those ships are private, not official ships: on the screen, the owner of the ship sits on the ground and yells for four orders to transport food, but officials and soldiers are not seen.
Yu Hui said that at that time, private transportation of grain to the capital was not allowed, and the imperial court wanted to control the grain market around the capital.
However, in the Huizong period, Cai Jing made many bad ideas, buying and transporting flowers and stones, no one transported grain. Private ships took the opportunity to enter the grain market and gradually controlled the grain market, which later led to a sharp rise in grain prices in Bianjing.
At that time, drinking was even more popular.
A lot of grain is used to make wine, there are wine-carrying vehicles running on the street, and there are many wine-making tanks behind the hotel...It seems that the whole street is busy drinking.
Zhang Zeduan also came up with a "black humor": In the painting, there is a high-end medical hall with a plaque "Zhao Taicheng's Home". The sign at the door reads "Healing Liquor Injury Zhenfang Jixiang Pills" and the words "Healing Gastrointestinal Disease" The family attends to gastrointestinal damage caused by excessive drinking.
"In short, the city of Kaifeng is in a state of management out of control. There is not even a soldier standing guard at the gate. The painter deliberately drew a group of camels from outside the region, and left unattended. Fire, security, and city defense are so lax, the city Lack of management.” Yu Hui believes that this is exactly what Zhang Zeduan wanted to show through a painting of the social status and hidden dangers of the Northern Song Dynasty, and euphemistically advised Song Huizong to solve social problems.
Data map: Previously, the three-dimensional version of the "Shanging the River on Qingming Festival" carved on the cliff by the Chongqing man spent two and a half years completed.
Photo by Zhong Xin
The artistry of handed down masterpieces
Judging from Song Huizong's subsequent behavior and ending, Zhang Zeduan obviously failed to achieve his goal.
However, the "Surfing the River on Qingming Festival" with extremely high artistic value has been handed down from generation to generation.
This long scroll uses the technique of scatter perspective, the picture is complex and not chaotic, depicting the scenery of the suburbs of Bianjing, the scenery of the Bian River with Hongqiao as the center, the scenery on both sides, and the bustling urban streets.
He said that from the subject, Zhang Zeduan painted many scenes that are not suitable for appreciation, such as some dangerous situations: the boatman on the boat is hurriedly lowering the mast and wants to go through the bridge hole, etc., but the details are very clever. , The development of events will be transformed into surprises without danger, in line with the aesthetic psychology of the appreciator.
"After all, "The Riverside Scene on Qingming Festival" is a work of art that people appreciate. It is very artistic to draw a process of turning danger into peace." Yu Hui felt that for this masterpiece, we must learn to "read the picture" and travel to the era and social environment at that time. To analyze its ideological connotation.
More than 900 years have passed. Perhaps, there are still many secrets in this "A Picture of the River on Qingming Festival", waiting for people to discover.
(Finish)