Original title: Five Horses and Su Huang Mi Cai at the Yan Zhenqing Exhibition
The Yan Zhenqing Special Exhibition of Tokyo National Museum ended not long ago. Except for the ink handwritten scroll of Yan Zhenqing's "Sacrifice to a Nephew", which attracted worldwide attention, the other exhibits were equally splendid, especially the Five Horses by Li Gonglin in the Northern Song Dynasty. What is even more surprising is that this work made its first appearance after more than 81 years of "into thin air".
Li Gonglin's "Wu Ma Tu" exhibition site in the Northern Song Dynasty
Li Gonglin (1149-1116) is known as the "first painter in Song Dynasty", who is meticulous in explaining Taoism, figures, pommel horses, flowers and birds, and landscapes. In particular, pommel horses and figures are beyond the predecessors and recognized by the world. He also creatively developed the "line drawing" painting method, and was good at drawing lines with pen and ink to express things, and made this painting method reach an unprecedented height. In addition, his mind is superb, his articles are in Jian 'an style, his calligraphy is like that of Jin and Song Dynasties, and his knowledge of Zhong Ding antiques is unparalleled in the world. Therefore, his paintings "take conception first, and decorate marginal ornaments second", which is unique and memorable. There are more than 111 pieces of his works in the Northern Song Dynasty's Picture Book of Xuanhe, but up to now, only two pieces are credible, namely, Five Horses and Pasturing in Wei Yan. Others, such as Nine Songs, Vimalakīrti's Teaching, and Xiyue's Spirit, are quite controversial.
Li Gonglin's "Five Horses"
Li Gonglin is good at drawing horses, and people who know him call his horses "unparalleled since Cao Han". At that time, he was very famous, and even said that "gold in the capital is easy to get, but horses in Bo Shi are not available". Pasturing and Releasing in Wei Yan is now in the Palace Museum in Beijing, and it is the work of Li Gonglin Lintang people. Only Wumatu is the only original work of Li Gonglin.
This hand scroll of Five Horses is 27.8 cm in height and 256 cm in length. The line drawing and ink painting are light and colorful. It depicts five famous horses from the Western Regions, and leads five horses, Xi Guan and Yi Cong, all standing to the right. After each horse, there is an inscription by Huang Tingjian, indicating the time, origin, name, age, size and other details of the horse. One is "phoenix-headed", the other is "golden-shouldered", the third is "good-headed" and the fourth is "white at night". However, the fifth horse is missing the title. If you look closely at the fifth picture, you will find that the details such as brushwork are obviously different from the previous ones, and the year is relatively new. Moreover, the pure ink on the picture is not colored at all, which is certain to be added later. According to the records in the book "Clouds and Clouds Passing through Eyes" written by Zhou Mi, this horse was originally called "Manchuan Flower", and there was an inscription in the Yellow Valley: "In the first month of the third year of Yuanyou, Yuan entered" Manchuan Flower ".
Li Gonglin's "Pasturing in Wei Yan" is partially collected in Beijing Palace Museum
Li Gonglin's "Pasturing in Wei Yan" is partially collected in Beijing Palace Museum.
There are inscriptions by Huang Tingjian and Zeng Gui (1173-1135) after the volume. Zeng Yi's inscription and postscript described the anecdote that Huang Tingjian said that Li Gonglin "painted flowers all over Sichuan", saying that when he put down his brush, the horse died, and "all the spirits were taken away from Bo Shi's pen", which showed his high painting skills.
this volume is famous all over the world, and it was first collected by the inner government of the Southern Song Dynasty, and recorded in "A Record of Clouds Passing through Eyes". In the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, it was collected by Ke Jiusi, Zhang Tingfa and other famous artists, and recorded in Qinghe Calligraphy and Painting Boat, Coral Net, A Survey of Painting and Calligraphy in Shigutang and Daguanlu. During the reign of Kangxi in Qing Dynasty, it was collected by Song Luo, a great collector in Shangqiu, Henan Province. About the Qianlong period, he entered the Chongning Palace, the inner palace of the Qing Dynasty, and recorded it in "The Reorganization of Shiqu Baodi". Emperor Qianlong wrote an inscription in Five Horses twice, starting with a seven-character poem in 1753, and drawing two paragraphs in 1784. He also found the phenomenon that the fifth picture was replaced by a fake one. After the abdication of the last emperor Puyi, this famous painting was lent out of the palace in 1921, and placed in the place of Puyi's teacher Chen Baochen. It was shown to Japanese art scholars Nakagawa Tadashi and Omura Xiya, and began to attract their attention. Omura also invited photographers to take special photos and introduce them to China (Japan). During this period, the famous writer Ryunosuke Akutagawa came to China, and he also took this painting and wrote it down. In 1922, Puyi smuggled the painting out of the palace as a gift to Pu Jie, and it was operated by Chen Baochen's nephew Liu Yiye. After many twists and turns, it was sold to Japanese industrialists in the late 1921s. After World War II, Wumatu disappeared. It was once rumored that Song Meiling had it (see Xu Bangda's works), and the Palace Museum in Beijing only left the Kolo print made in the Republic of China. Many people think that this national treasure has been destroyed by the war. I didn't expect that such a treasure has its own protection. This time, it reappears in the world and has been collected by the Tokyo National Museum.
Li Gonglin's Wu Ma Tu is full of flowers
Li Gonglin's Wu Ma Tu is full of flowers
In addition, in the calligraphy section of the Song Dynasty, this exhibition focuses on seven works by four famous calligraphers of the Song Dynasty, namely Su, Huang, Mi and Cai, each of which can be called excellent. Among them, Mi Fei has the most, with three hand scrolls. I haven't seen the four cursive scripts. Although I have seen the three cursive scripts twice, I still feel happy this time, and it is the most vivid running script of Michaelis. The most exciting thing is the volume of Hongxian Poetry, which is 31 cm high and 487 cm long. The whole volume has 37 lines, with two or three words in each line. It is chic and casual, and the letter is handwritten, and the ink color is dry or thick and innocent. It can best reflect Mi Fei's unsophisticated personality and profound calligraphy attainments.
Mi Fei's Poem Volume in Hongxian County
Mi Fei's Poem Volume in Hongxian County
Huang Tingjian also has two volumes, and the Poem Volume in Fubo Temple in Yongqing Library was unfortunately missed because of the rest of the exhibits, but the famous Poem Volume in Li Taibai's Memories in Cursive Script was impressive. This volume is a collection of neighboring museums in Kyoto. It is full of ups and downs. It's a pity that this volume is a little tired and some words are badly worn, otherwise its spirit will be more brilliant.
Su Dongpo's Poem Volume of Li Baixian, a running script, was collected by Osaka Municipal Art Museum. It was written by Su Shi in the eighth year of Yuanyou (1193), when he was 58 years old. Two poems are written on the stationery printed with the dark lines of bluegrass, which are chic and elegant. Su Dongpo is extremely talented. Although he said that he is not good at calligraphy, he also said that he knows calligraphy best. It is said that he loves to write, and he writes as long as he sees a pen and paper picked up until he finishes it. But he doesn't like people begging for words very much. Huang Tingjian knows his temper, so he tells his master to quietly prepare a pen and paper at the side every banquet. When he sees it, he will definitely capitalize it.
Mi Fei's
Poem Volume in Hongxian County, a running script, was signed as "July 11th, Yuanyou 8th, and Dan Yuan re-transmitted these two poems", which was unsigned, but at first glance it was a typical calligraphy style of Su Shi. These two poems of Li Bai have no income in Li Bai's collection. It is estimated that Su Shi did not read them at that time, so he gladly chose good paper to write and record them. Check the Collating Notes of Li Bai Ji by Qu Tuiyuan and Zhu Jincheng of Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, and these two poems are included in Volume 31 "Poems Addendum" entitled "Two Poems of Qing Bao Ding", which is recorded in Dongpo Ink from this volume. However, Kong Fanli, Zhonghua Book Company, collated and proofread "Two Poems on Taibai" in the preface and postscript volume of Su Shi's Collected Works, and the text is basically the same as this ink book, but there are quite a few differences. For example, it is obviously not appropriate to write "Chao Pi Meng Ze Yun" as "Chao Pi Yun Meng Ze".
Cai Xiang is actually the oldest of the "Song Sijia". The exhibition "Poems and Tables in Regular Scripts Thanks to Imperial Letters" is an excellent work written by Cai Xiang to thank Song Renzong for her royal gifts. The book is written on the famous Chengxin Hall paper, with beautiful and precise opening and wide spacing in Shu Lang. Later, Mi Fei, Wen Jifu, Xian Yushu, Jie Jin, Wu Kuan, Dong Qichang and other inscriptions were numerous. Originally collected in the Qing Palace, it was taken to Changchun by Puyi, and then flowed into Japan. Now it is collected in the Lishudao Museum in Taitung District, Tokyo.
Su Dongpo's Poem Volume of Li Baixian as a Running Script
Su Dongpo's Poem Volume of Li Baixian as a Running Script
I think Mr. Pan Boying spoke well about Su Huang Mi Cai, to the effect that although Su Huang's two books are innovative and obviously different from those of the ancients, their overall charm style is very consistent with the calligraphy of Erwang and Tang Xian, and they are connected by blood. While Mi Fei is well versed in the writing style of the ancients, people still laugh that he is a "collection of ancient characters", and he can excel in all directions and create new ideas, but his novelty is different from Su Huang's. "After all, because he is too expert and likes to show his magical powers too much, the paper is full of excitement and anger." Even so, you can't resist his inspiration. Cai Xiang started with Chu Xue and naturally approached Yan Lugong in style, but he didn't have Yan's heavy and broad, "making people feel that he is a meticulous pen. He writes beautifully everywhere, which makes people more and more fascinated. " It is precisely because he pays too much attention to details that he was ridiculed by Mi Fei Huang Tingjian and others as "like a young woman" and "sometimes having a boudoir attitude". Even so, Cai Xiang made a great contribution in inheriting the tradition of the two kings and opening the mainstream of the Song Dynasty calligraphy school.
Looking at the Yan Zhenqing Exhibition in Tokyo National Museum, I still have some immature experiences, so I might as well talk about them here.
Su Dongpo's Poem Volume of Li Baixian as a Running Script
Su Dongpo's Poem Volume of Li Baixian as a Running Script
This exhibition has a strong collection. Of the 177 exhibits, the vast majority are from Japan. The host Tokyo National Museum provides 36 collections, the nearby Taisho Lishudao Museum provides 48 collections, and the Mitsui Memorial Art Museum provides 26 collections. In terms of quantity, the three collections are the most powerful, accounting for more than half of all the exhibits.
Taitung Lishudao Museum is also near Ueno Park. It is a professional calligraphy museum. Although it is not large in scale, it is quite famous in the industry in recent years. In order to cooperate with the Yan Zhenqing Exhibition, they also jointly held a sister exhibition "The Remnant Image of Wang Xizhi's Calligraphy-A Course to the Tang Dynasty" with the Tokyo National Museum, which was exhibited at the Oriental Museum of Dongbo and Shudao Museum at the same time. The museum has a rich collection of calligraphy, such as Suo Jing's Yue Yi Tie, Wang Xianzhi's Di Huang Tang Tie and Yang Ningshi's Cursive Immortal Living Method, which are all in the museum's possession, although they are controversial. As for calligraphy materials such as inscriptions, it is even more dazzling.
Chu Suiliang's Yi Que Buddhist Shrine Monument
The Kyoto National Museum provides 9 collections, and Osaka City Art Museum provides 6 collections. We were not familiar with the Calligraphy and Culture Center of saitama Shude Culture University in the middle of kanto region near Tokyo. This time, we provided six rubbings, including Cao Quanbei, Chu Suiliang's Yique Buddhist Shrine Monument, Tang Xuanzong's Shitai Xiaojing, and the newly published Yan Zhenqing's epitaph of Wang Lin and Guo Xuji's epitaph, all of which are whole rubbings. The other 21 scattered exhibits come from various Japanese public and private collections, such as the ink of He Zhizhang's Cursive Filial Piety Volume, Wang Xizhi's Sister-to-Sister Post from Kyushu National Museum, and Huang Tingjian's Poem Volume of Fubo Shrine in Running Script from Tokyo Yongqing Library.
There are another 17 exhibits with no indication of the source, and it is estimated that most of them are private collections. Among them, the ink book of Zhi Yong's "True Grass Thousand Characters" is a national treasure of Japan, and it is also rare to appear this time. There is also the newly discovered ink of Wang Xizhi's "Big Newspaper Post". This also shows that the organizers are good at dancing with long sleeves and strong organizational skills.
In China, although the National Palace Museum only borrows four collections, Chu Suiliang's Preface to the Yellow Silk Orchid Pavilion, Huai Su's Self-Narrative Post and Xiao Cao Qian Zi Wen are all outstanding works, except Yan Zhenqing's "A Manuscript for Sacrificing a Nephew". Although the quantity is small, its weight is very heavy in this exhibition.
Tang Chusuiliang's Preface to the Yellow Silk Orchid Pavilion is in Taipei Palace Museum
Tang Chusuiliang's Preface to the Yellow Silk Orchid Pavilion is in Taipei Palace Museum
In addition, the Cultural Relics Museum of the Chinese University of Hong Kong has also lent four collections to the exhibition, which are equally eye-catching, namely, Wang's Xiao Jing Tang's book The Inscription of Jiucheng Palace and Kong's Yue Xue Lou's book The Preamble to Set the King's Sacred Instruction. These are the collections donated by the owner of Beishan Hall in the Cultural Relics Museum. Beishan Hall is the name of the late Hong Kong famous wealthy businessman and cultural relic collector Li Rongsen (1915 -2117). Li Rongsen loves China culture and art. He joined the Oriental Ceramics Society in London in 1957, and founded the Cultural Relics Collectors Association in Hong Kong in 1963 with his collectors' friends, namely the famous Min Jing She. Dr. Li Rongsen is the founder, patron and cultural relic donor of the Cultural Relics Museum of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. As early as the early 1961s, when the Chinese University of Hong Kong was founded, Dr. Li led his family to support the construction and development of the university, founded the institute of chinese studies (with a cultural relics museum), and donated artistic relics, sponsored professors' lectures, research funds and scholarships. In 1971, the Museum of Cultural Relics was established, and Dr. Li became the chairman of the Management Committee of the Museum of Cultural Relics, planning the development of the Museum of Cultural Relics, and donating most of the private collections to the Museum of Cultural Relics one after another, covering paintings, calligraphy, rubbings, jade articles, ceramics, sculptures, wenwan, bamboo carvings, seals and bronzes. In addition, the Liaoning Provincial Museum also set up a "Beishan Hall" in the exhibition hall to commemorate Li Rongsen's selfless donation.
the unprecedented success of this exhibition is also attributed to the hardware facilities of the exhibition hall. Heisei Museum is the latest museum in Tokyo National Museum, and the exhibition hall conditions are very good. The visual height of the exhibition hall on the second floor is six or seven meters, and the height of the showcase window is estimated to be about five meters. Moreover, the glass size is enormous, and it is made of high light transmission and low reflection. Coupled with great lighting, the cabinets are unusually unobstructed, and the ten-meter, twenty-meter large hand rolls are placed inside, which is almost unobstructed. At the same time, the tall glass cabinets have created conditions for many large and whole exhibition of steles, which can be put together with small hand scrolls and cut and mounted album pages, freely interspersed and "performed on the same stage", which is a very rare condition. For example, Yan Zhenqing Motuo's "Xiaoyao Building" is three meters high, and the shaft head is nearly four meters, which is more than enough to put in the window. Others, such as Emperor Xuanzong's "Shitai Filial Piety" and "Yanshi Family Temple Monument", are all tall and vertical axes, so it is difficult for these exhibits to be properly displayed and gathered in a general venue.
The author of "Xiaoyao Building" by Yan Zhenqing Motuo deeply felt the Japanese people's strong enthusiasm for this calligraphy exhibition during the exhibition. Poster advertisements related to the exhibition can be seen everywhere in subways, hotels and other places, and are also reported in newspapers and media. The art magazine Sun has also published a special volume. It is said that a few days before the end of the exhibition, the Japanese Emperor and his wife also visited the exhibition.
In addition, the mass base of calligraphy among Japanese people is quite solid. I have been to Jiujutang, a century-old store in Ginza, which specializes in Four Treasures of the Study. Every time I see various calligraphy exhibitions on the third and fourth floors, there are more than a dozen different calligraphy magazines in the bookcase on the second floor, such as Educational Calligraphy, Light of Books, Friends of Little Stones, Research on Calligraphy and Student Calligraphy.
Recently, obviously influenced by the Yan Zhenqing Calligraphy Exhibition in Tokyo, a special exhibition called "Monument-Yan Zhenqing Famous Monument rubbings" is also being held under the Big Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi 'an, which has attracted people's attention. I can't help thinking. If one day in the future, the treasures of the Tokyo Special Exhibition, plus the two Forbidden City and the famous treasures of major museums, will all be moved to the forest of steles in Xi' an to hold a great exhibition in Mo Bao, it will be really exciting.