There are many famous painters in ancient China who are from Buddhism, such as the late Tang Dynasty figure painter Guan Xiu, the five generations of song and early Song landscape painter Juran, the Northern Song Dynasty sketch landscape painter Hui Chong, the Southern Song Dynasty character landscape painter Muxi, and the Qing "Four Monks" (Shi Tao, Jia Yan, Hongren, Bada Shanren) and so on. Shangrui was also a Buddhist painter.
Shangrui (1634—?) ), the character Jing Rui, a work of Xun Rui, the number of The Eye Cun, also known as Pu Muzi, The Boy Heart Monk, Suzhou people, Gong Shiwen. In the history of Chinese painting, there are not many materials on Shangrui, we can see from Qing Peng Yunxuan's "History of Painting History of Past Dynasties", Xu Liang's "History of Wumen Painting" in modern times, and Qing Dou Zhenji's "Records of Calligraphers and Painters of the National Dynasty" and other information, Shangrui landscape paintings were instructed by Wang Yi (Shi Gu), flowers and birds were painted by Yun Shouping (Nantian) True Biography, and figure paintings also had ancient methods and Tang Yin's penmanship.
The Shangrui "Album of Pleasure for Plums" selected here is a total of twelve open books, and the paper is colored. Each opening is 29.4 cm in length and 38.1 cm in width, and is now in the Suzhou Museum. This album was written in the second year of Yongzheng (1724), when the painter was ninety-one years old, and the "Four Seasons Of Joy Map" was composed by Youmei, and the content of the painting was either the spring tour of Yunshan Mountain, or the summer of lotus ponds, or the hunting of autumn suburbs, or the visit of friends in snowy mountains. The yomei does not know who it is, but from the picture of this book, this person is either a hermit, or an important pilgrim, or a magnate. Here are three of them open and appreciated.
The opening is called "Visiting Friends from the Snow Mountain" (see figure 1), and the painter knows himself: "Mo Licheng, Shangrui", and two zhu Wenfang seals. This picture depicts a snow-capped view of Jiangnan - the mountains and forests after the snow are layered and the chill is compelling. Between the mountains and forests, a small road leads to the deep mountain pavilions; on the right side of the mountain road, a clear spring edge of the mountain stream descends, and the water is turbulent. There were three people walking on the road, as if to ask a visiting friend, the first two people dressed in red, wearing hats and shawls, riding horses, one of them riding a black horse was looking back sideways, the other was riding a brown horse to greet each other on his back, the two looked at each other, listened to the pine wind and cold spring, happy, happy, talking and laughing. The last servant, dressed in green clothes, stooped down in fear of the cold, and followed closely behind, seemingly uninterested in admiring the beauty of the snow-capped mountains.
Figure 1
The second opening is named "South Window Liqin" (see figure 2), which paints the painter's self-knowledge: "Youmei xuan south window Liqin diagram, Pu Room Rui", two zhu baiwen seals. This picture is a view of the late autumn manor. The estate is open and the view is beautiful. There are many rock trees in the garden, although several trees are luxuriant, but most of the leaves have fallen, indicating that the season is gradually entering late autumn. There are two houses near the hill in the garden, one of which is a man sitting facing the door and playing the piano freely; near the gate of the manor, there is a clearing, and a man on the ground sits on a stone, with his hands on his knees, holding his head high, and next to him stands a bookboy, who is listening to the elegant sound of the piano. There is a piece of green bamboo behind the houses, and there are several houses behind the hill, and a cloister connects the houses in front of the hill and the houses behind the hill, and a person in the corridor is walking towards the Fuqin people. This diagram depicts a secluded place.
Figure 2
The last one is called "Autumn Suburb Hunting" (see figure 3), which shows the painter's self-knowledge: "Rui system on the pu room", and a white text square seal. Painting the autumn siege hunting scene - the hunting ground is surrounded by hills, miscellaneous trees, wild grass, and there are seven people on horseback in the middle of the hunting ground, who are either raising guns, or swinging swords, or whipping, or bowing, running to rabbits, deer and other prey. On the hillside on the right side of the picture, there are two teams of men and horses, one on horseback and watching the hunting; the other team is standing under the horse, some leading the horse, some letting the horse graze, and several people seem to be stripping and cooling, presumably just returning from hunting and resting.
Figure 3
Shangrui named this album "Making a Happy Picture for Mei", indicating his close relationship with Mei, but also reflecting the joy and pleasure of the literati at that time to entertain themselves and find friends. The ancients went out to find relatives and friends, which is a relatively difficult thing compared to today. First of all, it is inconvenient. In addition to officials or wealthy families who can travel on horseback, ordinary people generally travel on foot, wind and sun, which is very hard. The second is that the cost is too high. Although there were many stations along the way in ancient times, most of the stations were to meet the needs of officials, and ordinary people generally could not live, even if they could live, the fees were quite high, so ordinary people often chose manors, inns, temples, homestays, etc. In addition, in addition to carrying the necessary change of clothes, daily necessities, and books, it is also necessary to carry dry food and enough silver, which is a heavy burden on oneself. In addition, medical care is not covered. If you get sick on the way, even if you feel cold occasionally, if you don't get timely medical treatment, you will die elsewhere. Therefore, once the ancient people successfully searched for relatives and friends, they would feel very happy. "Album of Walking for Plums" reflects such a scene.
From the perspective of the form of expression, the two paintings are landscapes, and the first is a figure. In the snow scene painting "Visiting Friends on snowy mountains", two owners on horseback and a servant walk on a snow-capped mountain road, although it is a cold winter moon and heavy snowfall, it does not stop their determination to visit friends and ask questions. The painter borrowed the snow scene to feel life and expressed the feelings between friends. Snow landscape painting was formed in the five dynasties of the late Tang Dynasty and matured in the Song Dynasty. The painter opened the painting here to recognize himself: "Model Li Cheng", indicating that the painting method was taken from Li Cheng. Li became a famous landscape painter in the Northern Song Dynasty. Its painting method is concise, the weather is sparse, and it is known as "cherishing ink like gold", and the original mountain stone "cirrus cloud" painting method and the Hanlin "crab claw" painting method. We can indeed see Li Cheng's brushwork from this painting, especially the "cirrus cloud" method of xuejing mountain stone and the "crab claw" painting method of cold forest trees. However, in Shangrui's Xuejingshan stone "cirrus cloud" method, there is also a mixture of Yuanren painting method and Wang Yi's brushwork, and in some places, it also integrates the "axe splitting" method in the northern school landscape, which can be said to be used by multiple methods.
In terms of painting method, the shallow landscape "South Window Liqin" is different from the snow landscape in "Snow Mountain Visiting Friends", which is based on the ink sketch dyeing and dyeing, which is simple and elegant, bright and transparent. This painting method is very delicate, the layers are clear, the mountain stones are mainly "folding belts", and the "small axe splitting" is mixed with the "Phi Ma"; the slopes between the mountains and stones and the open land in front of the house are dyed with light blue, which looks beautiful and bright. The painting method of the house is neat, and the wooden columns, white walls, gray tiles, etc. are meticulous, clearly outlined, and the color is light and elegant. Although "Visiting Friends in the Snowy Mountains" and "South Window Liqin" are both landscape paintings, the characters depicted in them are very vivid. Whether it is the chatter and laughter of the horseback riders in "Visiting Friends in the Snowy Mountains", the cold and cold forward of the servants, or the ease of the violinists and the concentration of the listeners in "South Window Liqin", they are all vivid and vivid.
The figure painting "Autumn Suburb Hunting" depicts a total of eighteen figures, twenty horses, and five prey. Eighteen figures have different looks and different shapes, and the painter vividly expresses the various divine forms of people during hunting, hunting and resting. Among the twenty horses, there are white horses, black horses, brown horses, spotted horses, etc., and the painter portrays the horses' running, standing, leisure, grazing and other postures in a beautiful way, even when the prey escapes, the gods are not the same, each one is vivid. The painter paints so many figures and animals in the picture within easy reach, which shows the high level of his painting realism, modeling ability and artistic level. The characters painted are mainly "gossamer drawing", "Cao Yi painting" and "nail head rat tail drawing", and the animals are first hooked and then dyed; the color of the characters and the color of the horse echo and merge with the yellowish color of the green mountain stone and grassland. Although the whole picture has a variety of colors, it does not feel messy; it gives people both visual impact and beauty enjoyment.
(Source: China Painting and Calligraphy)