One of the collections of the National Palace Museum in Taipei, China, is "Painting the Autumn Flower Poems of Emperor Gaozong's Imperial Pen", painted by the Qing Dynasty court painter Zhang Ruoyi.
Let's take a look at the autumn garden scene in this ancient painting.
Zhang Ruoxiao is a native of Tongcheng, Anhui. His grandfather Zhang Ying and father Zhang Tingyu were both scholars of the Yongzheng and Qianlong dynasties. In the eleventh year of Yongzheng (1723), a jinshi in the second rank of the examination list of the Decay Ugly Branch Temple, who was specially taught to edit and revise in the few scattered halls, and was later awarded the cabinet bachelor and the ceremonial attendant, and entered the Zhinan Study, and the official was the rebbe Shangshu. He participated in the editing of "Shiqu Baodi", and in the eleventh year of Qianlong (1746), he accompanied the Qianlong Emperor on a tour of Wutai in the west, returned to Beijing due to illness, and died soon after. Yuwen Shu.
Zhang Ruoxia is good at Danqing, flowers, plants, birds and insects are especially good at it, and he is deeply impressed by Wang Xiaoxiang and Zhou Zhimian, and has a higher status among court painters. The manuscript of Mr. Zhao Zhenjing's old collection "Painting forty Scenic Poems of the Yuanmingyuan" is from his hand, which has certain reference value for studying the layout changes of the Yuanmingyuan.
"Painting Gaozong Imperial Pen Autumn Flower Poem" is a vertical axis, the upper right end of this painting has a poem made by Emperor Gaozong, and after the poem, Emperor Gaozong dropped the inscription "One autumn flower on the right, because the order is based on poetry and the picture, the imperial pen of the early autumn of Yingyin." Apparently this painting is the emperor's "propositional composition". The poem was written in the eleventh year of Qianlong.
Forty Views of the Yuanmingyuan (Qianlong 9th Year)
In the painting, there is a four-square pavilion on the left rear and a terraced house on the right. The comparison is for rugu hanjin, one of the forty scenic spots of the Yuanmingyuan. The Sifang Pavilion is the famous Shaojingxuan.
The painting is mainly about depicting flowers, and Zhang Ruoyi only intercepts fragments of the Rugu Hanjin group as a background, highlighting Shaojingxuan and a group of buildings to its left and right. Part of the Suxin Hall building can also be seen in the front. (The view looks south from Tantandang Island.) In terms of composition, it is the traditional layout of Chinese painting that replaces the surface with dots.
The front part of the painting highlights the sketching of flowers, which is slightly larger than the real scale, emphasizing the grandeur of the crowd. Among them are chicken crown flowers, okra, goose red, chrysanthemum, red indigo, phoenix and other flowers.
Part of "Painting Gaozong's Imperial Pen Autumn Flower Poem"
Cockscomb flowers
Amaranthaceae, alias Lao Lai Hong, Reed Chicken Crown, Pen Crown, Big Head Chicken Crown, Anchovy Crown, Chicken Crown, Chicken Rooster Flower.
Li Shizhen: Chicken crowns are everywhere. Seedlings are born in March, and those who are five or six feet tall in the summer are only a few inches; those who are tall are only a few inches. Its leaves are green and soft, quite like white amaranth and narrow, with red veins on the tips. Its stem is red, round or flat, and it blooms between the branches of June and July, and has red, white and yellow colors. Its ears are round and pointed, like the ears of the green leaves; those who are flat and flat, like the crown of the rooster, have a large circumference of one or two feet, and the layers are rolled out of love. The seeds are thin and smooth in the spikes, just like the amaranth. Its ears are like straw wheat. The flowers are the most durable and begin to bloom after frost.
okra
Okra genus in the mallow family, also known as kidney tonic, carob, foreign pepper, coffee yellow sunflower. Okra plants are tall, bloom in summer and autumn, and the flowers are large and colorful, suitable for hedge and corner embellishment.
Geese come red
Amaranth genus, alias old boy, pansy amaranth, leaf cockscomb, old laijiao and so on.
In China, the cultivation history is relatively long, there are many poems of the past generations of Yong Yan to hong, the Song Dynasty Yang Wanli once wrote the "Wild Geese Come Red" poem cloud: "The original no goose has opened, it seems that it is not a flower." If it is yellower and purpleer, it is borrowed from the leaf for the leaf. "The depiction is plain and moving. Qing Dynasty Pan Guangying's "Wild Goose Red" word cloud: "The color is proud of the river maple, decorating the autumn appearance." Non-flower non-leaf writing is difficult to work. Love and the slanting sun for the evening view, depressed cheeks. "The red of the geese adds color to the late autumn, which is its unique charm.
Cui Ju
Asteraceae, also known as Jiangxi La, September Chrysanthemum, blue chrysanthemum.
Jiang Tingxi of the Qing Dynasty recorded that in the autumn of August, "the autumn flowers in the Yuanmingyuan are full of flowers, and the stone roots on the fence of Zhilu Houxuan are only two kinds (Cuiju and Begonia) that are even more delicate." It can be seen that cui chrysanthemum is a common ground flower in the royal gardens of the Qing Dynasty, and explains the configuration method, often used to embellish the corners, stone banks, and eaves.
Red indigo
Tateshina indigo, also known as Oriental Tateshina , Tateshina , Dog Tail Flower , Saffron.
The "Qunfang Spectrum" said: "There are many types of flowers, all of which are spring seedlings, summer mao, and autumn flowers." The flowers are thin and slender, two inches long, with drooping branches and a considerable pink color. There are many watersides, so it is also known as water florets. ”
In "Dream of the Red Chamber", Bao Yuhuai's work also writes about red indigo: "The pond is cold in autumn overnight, blowing away the red jade shadow of the lotus." The leaves of the lotus flowers are overwhelmed with sorrow, and the frost presses the fibrous stems again." In the Qing Dynasty court paintings, there are also red indigo figures everywhere, such as in the "Yongzheng Xingle Tu" you can see a cluster of red indigo by the lake.
Phoenix
Bronchiaceae, also known as henna, henna, little pink, acute. The seeds are black, and when they are ripe, the shell bursts on its own, ejecting the seeds, so Chinese medicine calls them "acute seeds".
The ancients also had a distinction of honor and inferiority for flowers and plants, and once referred to her as "chrysanthemum" because of its tenacious vitality and everywhere, and did not cherish it, which means the maid of chrysanthemum. And the Tang Dynasty poet Wu Renbi wrote in the poem "Phoenix Immortal Flower": "When the fragrant red and tender green are blooming, the cold butterflies and hungry bees do not know." At this time, the most suitable place to look, the morning sun at the beginning of the blue branches. "Poets have regarded the hydrangea as the embodiment of the phoenix, which shows that the hydrangea has a certain position in the history of Chinese flower culture.
marigold
Asteraceae marigold genus, alias stinky hibiscus, marigold lamp, honeycomb chrysanthemum, stink chrysanthemum.
The Qing Dynasty painter Zou Yigui described in the "Little Mountain Painting Notation", "Marigolds, golden yellow, thousand leaf flowers, as big as a cup, full of perfection, a book of dozens of flowers, dazzling flames." ”
Shao Jingxuan is located in the back position of the painting. Shaojingxuan was built in the fourth year of Qianlong (1739) and is the main hall of Rugu Hanjin. Taking the style of the ancient Ming Hall, it is a four-square pavilion. In his later years, Emperor Gaozong had the "Song of Yu Shaojingxuan" Yun: "Shaojingxuan is why I inscribed my name, which has been more than thirty years. "As a palace building built in the early years of Qianlong, the interior of Shaojingxuan is elegantly decorated, separated by partitions into several small rooms, with rich spatial variations, and is a place for concubines to live.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="77" > "Portrait Axis of Huixian Emperor's Noble Concubine's Imperial Dress", collected by the Palace Museum</h1>
"Shaojing" refers to the good times, we often say that a person Shaohua has passed, that is, the most brilliant years have passed. "Shaojing" can best express the ancients' attachment to spring light and youth. Emperor Gaozong's name was Shaojingxuan, which is alluded to this. From Emperor Gaozong's imperial poems, we know that Shao Jingxuan was the residence of his concubine Huixian in the early years of Qianlong. In February of the tenth year of Qianlong (1745), Emperor Huixian's concubine died at the age of about 35.
Qianlong's feelings for the noble concubines were very deep, and he was very sad about them, and he wrote poems many times in those years, one of which was cloudy:
Who said that the spring light is the most pitiful, such as Si Mingmei will be every year.
The bird tone still sings Jia Ling Wei, and the flower color is fully standard phantom sea Zen.
Tender green pond after the new rain, soft red fence before the evening wind.
Fangyuan's late reward is not a disgrace, and there is no such thing as affection.
In the face of the bright spring light, the Iraqi people have passed away. That feeling of helplessness and confusion touched the poetry of the young Tianzi. In the fourteenth year of Qianlong (1749), after three years, Emperor Gaozong gave a poem to chase Huaiyun:
It is already the day of the wounded god, especially Shao Jingchun.
It took three years to be jealous, and I was one year old and thinking about people.
Sorrow and joy have been determined, and it is difficult to be chen in ordinary life.
Heartless to spare Yuan Hui, especially more nostalgic.
At the beginning of another year, a hundred flowers bloomed in the spring, and I mourned the scenery, and Gaozong's thoughts were so long. It is not difficult to find that the poems are all inscribed with "flower color" and "Yuan Hui", which shows the flourishing of flowers planted inside and outside Shaojingxuan, which is also the best supplement and evidence for the autumn bloom in the painting.
We can see some characteristics of the garden flowers and trees planted in the heyday of the Yuanmingyuan:
Natural embellishments. The natural configuration of various flowers, although artificially planted, is more like natural nature, and greatly emphasizes the poetic meaning of the composition. All kinds of autumn flowers are embellished and freely scattered in the stone gaps on the lakeside, staggered, reaching the ornamental effect of the classical garden "although it is made by people, it is like opening from heaven".
Refined management. The flowers in these gardens have a good growth substrate, with fertile soil, abundant sunshine and timely irrigation. The refined maintenance and management makes the flower growth reach the extreme of life, presenting a blooming autumn flower landscape.
The flowers in this painting are idealized and artistically rendered. Although they are all painted with common flowers, not all flowers can bloom at the same time, and this idealized configuration method is very common in ancient paintings, such as the configuration of "Yutang Rich", which is actually to take its meaning, and the flowers and trees that bloom before and after are uniformly drawn on a map.
Zhang Ruoyi was a court painter and a Hanlin literati, who also had a wealth of knowledge about flowers, and could vividly express the colorful splendor of autumn flowers in his paintings. More than 200 years later, when we read this painting today, we are still amazed by the beauty of the autumn flowers in the Yuanmingyuan on that day.
Source: China Flower News