In the "Ten Thousand Years of Changchun - Special Exhibition of Calligraphy and Painting Art in Shanghai Dynasties" being held at the Shanghai Museum, the volume of "Qidian Guanfeng Map", an important collection of calligraphy and paintings in the Shanghai Museum, was unveiled to the public for the first time.
The volume of "Qidian Guanfeng Map", written in the thirteenth year of Ming Chenghua (1477), was once mistakenly attributed to the ming Dynasty Jinling painter Shi Zhong. In recent years, through the examination of new materials, I have confirmed that it is from the hands of Ma Yu, a painter from Jiading in Shanghai in the Ming Dynasty.
Ma Yu had contacts with Shen Zhouzusun III, a representative figure of the Wumen School. His brushstrokes, which open shen's paintings, are extremely rare. Through the analysis of this work and its author, we can also see the influence of Shanghai on the Wumen School in the early Ming Dynasty.
At the beginning of the volume, there is an inscription by Wu Hufan: "Ming Shi Yi Weng Qidian Guan Feng Tu Zhen." Wu Hufan inscribed "Wu Hufan and Qian Jingtang both classified the author of this volume as the Ming Dynasty painter Shi Zhong". Shi Zhong was a native of Jinling (present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu), who was mute in his childhood, able to speak at the age of seventeen, stupid on the outside and wise on the inside, self-proclaimed idiot, also known as a foolish Daoist, a demented immortal, and so on. Its personality is outstanding, good at landscapes, characters, flowers, trees, bamboo and stone. Wu and Qian attributed this volume to Shi Zhong's name, when they were mostly influenced by the "idiot Daoist" of the painting style.
"Qidian Guanfeng Map" volume
However, from the perspective of the painting style itself, Shi Zhong's pen and ink are close to the court painting school and the Zhejiang school, and are known for their wanton brush and ink and ink color, which is obviously far from the subtle and peaceful literati painting rhyme of "Qidian Guanfeng Map". Therefore, when the National Calligraphy and Painting Appraisal Team re-examined, it unanimously believed that it was not Shi Zhong's pen and ink, and was extremely cautious to define him as "Mingren", and was selected as the "Catalogue of Ancient Chinese Calligraphy and Painting" published by the Cultural Relics Publishing House in 1990, which was named "Mingren "Qidian Guanfeng Map" Volume".
Although the painter did not check for a while, the experts and scholars of the previous generation agreed that the early age of this work and the high level of art are rare treasures. Mr. Xu Bangda, an expert in calligraphy and painting, believes that this work may have come from the hand of Ma Yu, who introduced and prefaced the volume, but there is no confirmation. Later, this calligraphy and painting treasure was once again regarded as the work of a famous author of the Ming Dynasty and was designated as a second-class collection.
My determination that the author of this work is Ma Yu is based on the records of his painting art in the literature, as well as his name, seal, and style of writing. First, the history of painting involves Ma Yu's information is not rich, but some calligraphy and painting works in the Ming and Qing dynasties clearly point out his identity as a painter, with comments such as "GongshanShui" and "Painting Style is Not Vulgar Dengyi". The only landscape painting I have seen of him, namely the "Miscellaneous Tree Map of Linmiao Mountain" in the Collection of the Palace Museum, can be empirically proved; second, the author of the "Qidian Guanfeng Map" uses the seal "QingYi" to print "QingYi" is Ma Yu's own name, and the section is also his nickname; third, the prints in Ma Yu's calligraphy "Xingshu Huqiu Ti" page and the "Kaishu Xingtai Ruilian Poetry" page are the same seals as those in the volume of "Qidian Guanfeng Map"; fourth, the five lines in the canvas are "written by foolish Daoists", which is compared to his heirloom handwriting. Whether it is the pen to make the rotation, the habit of knotting, or the pen's interest, it is extremely consistent.
In the twelfth year of Ming Chenghua (1476), Ma Yu returned from Nanjing to recuperate. During this period, he wrote poems such as "Fishing silk in the empty river alone", which became a portrayal of his state of mind during the period of "half hidden and half shi". Between May and June of the thirteenth year of Chenghua (1477), Ma Yu successively created two works for Wang Mao, the "Ruilian Tu Ji Ji" volume and the "Qidian Guanfeng Tu" volume, which became ma Yu's important works. Wang Mao's identity can also be confirmed from the volume of the Qidian Guanfeng Map. The preface to the ming dynasty scholar Liu Chang's xingkai poem at the end of the volume shows that the red-robed official in the painting is the Ming Dynasty inspector Yushi Wang Mao, who was ordered by the Son of Heaven to inspect the Jiangnan region. During his term of office, he loved the people like a son, strict laws, and many favored governments, so when he was still in the dynasty, the three Wu Lao Ru mostly gave them poetry. In 1477, Ma Yu collected these poems into a volume and inscribed the words "Qidian Guanfeng" with the words "Qidian Guanfeng", and attached a scroll, saying that "there is comfort in the heart of the three Wu Old Confucians", and "I want to comfort the people who want to comfort the princes in the sea, so that the benefits are important", and ask Liu Chang to write the preface. Another work created by Ma Yu for Wang Mao, "Ruilian Tu", is also currently in the world. The lotus flowers planted by Wang Mao when he was an official bloomed one and two flowers, and Wu Bang's father was greatly surprised by this, believing that this was "heavenly descending auspicious Rui", and one after another suggested that Ma Yue praise it with poetry, and Ma Yue wrote "Xingkai Xingtai Ruilian Poems". Unfortunately, the pages of the "Ruilian Diagram" mentioned in the "Records of Ruilian Poems of Xingkai Xingtai" collected by the Palace Museum have been scattered.
Fortunately, in the autumn of 2006, on the occasion of the Autumn Auction of China Guardian, I unexpectedly saw that Lot No. 564 was Ma Yu's "Ruilian Tu", which was sold at that auction and was later purchased by a private family. The piece is 30.5 cm long and 58.3 cm wide and framed in the shape of a mirror heart. The works are freehand in ink, the lotus leaves are dense, the ink color is different, and the style is exquisite. The lotus flowers outlined by light ink lines are light and clean, with a sense of fragrance. The wonderful thing is that after Ma Yu finished painting "one tidi and two flowers", Wang Mao's lotus flower actually reborn "one tidi and three flowers", and Ma Yu added its image to the right of the calyx, which became the surviving work today. On the painting, like the volume of the "Qidian Guanfeng Map", there are "Ding" and "Unitary" Zhu Wenlian beads.
Sanmayu's artistic activities and achievements in painting can be fully classified as the pioneers of the Wumen school that carried forward the literati painting tradition of the Yuan Dynasty.
His calligraphy is solemn and ethereal, and is a typical style of writing influenced by Zhao Mengfu's calligraphy in the early and middle Ming Dynasty. However, compared with the pavilion style of the calligraphers "Ershen And Three Song" (Shen Du and Shen Yue of Huating County, Songjiang Province, and Song Ke, Song Guang, and Song Pu of Changzhou County, Suzhou Province), it also shows the charm of "Shangyi", that is, it is slightly dashing and informal, which is consistent with the change of fashion sent by Wu Menshu into the Jin and Tang Dynasties in the early and middle Ming Dynasty, which is compatible with the style change of the Song people. However, in various families, or because there are very few works handed down by Ma Yu, even works such as "Qidian Guanfeng Map" volume and "Ruilian Tu" have been submerged to this day, but they are not as well known as Du Qiong, Liu Jue, Shen Zhen and other famous deeds that have been passed down to posterity.
Ming Dynasty Du Qiong Nancun Villa Album (partial) Shanghai Museum collection
The main purpose of the in-depth study of art history is to reconstruct the details of the evolution of painting history, and not to ignore the unique significance of the inheritance of painting history because there are few or few works handed down by some important artists. The discovery of Ma Yu's works and the excavation of his life's artistic activities contribute to at least the following two aspects:
First of all, as the pioneer of Wumen, Ma Yu's painting style had a direct impact on Shen Zhou. From the perspective of age, Ma Yue is one generation older than Shen Zhou, and when he discusses art tasting with Shen Zhou's elders and teacher Liu Jue and other Wu Chinese, Shen Nian is only 26 years old. From the perspective of painting style, if the axis of "Linmiao You ShanJing Miscellaneous Tree Diagram" only reflects Ma Yue's pursuit of painting that inherits the traditional painting tradition of the Literati of the Yuan Dynasty, and its influence on Shen Zhou cannot be clearly seen, then the "Qidian Guanfeng Map" is more special, with the shadow of Shen Zhouzhong's painting style in his later years, if you do not know its author, at first glance it looks very similar to Shen Zhou's works. As we all know, Shen Zhou was still in the stage of enlightening the various families, that is, the absorption period dominated by Ni Zhan and Huang Gongwang, such as the axis of Shen Zhou's work "Lushan Gaotu" and the axis of "Imitation of Ni Zhan's Pen Intention" collected by the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Shen Zhou's painting style in this period is elegant and rigorous, while Ma Yu's "Qidian Guanfeng Map" volume, the painting of Dong Ju and the lord of Huang Gongwang's Pingluan Potuo Method, are mainly based on phi ma cha, and are compatible with Wang Shuming's solution to suo, the pen and ink are vigorous and harmonious, the moss dot is old and spicy, and the personal style formed by Shen Zhou after his late years is very similar to the unrestrained personal style formed after Shen Zhou's late years, such as the Shanghai Museum's collection of Shen Zhou's 63-year-old work "Jingkou Farewell Map" volume. Let's talk about the painting history of Ma Shi and Ma Yu's father and son. In the process of the fusion and collision and divergence of the two major schools of painting style and literati painting in the early Ming Dynasty, Ma Shi was the master of the court courtyard and Ma Yu was the pioneer of the Wumen School of painting, and the pursuit of father and son painting was very different, which was evidence that the "portal opposition" between different schools of painting in the early and middle Ming Dynasty was not as "portal opposition" as in the late Ming dynasty. For example, Shen Zhou's early teachers Chengdai Jin, praising Wu Wei and Guo Xue, Tang Yin studied under Zhou Chen, Shen Zhou and Tang Yin were all literati painters, and the dai jin, Wu Wei, and Zhou Chen who studied were all courtyard painters, and these phenomena can be examined in this context. In this sense, Ma's father and son are undoubtedly another rare example in the history of art, which is quite valuable for extended and in-depth study.
Source: Author: Ling Lizhong