This painting of women's history has high artistic value. The original has been lost, and later generations have many copies. Now there are only two copies left in the world.
First, the Song people copied, freehand brushwork and color are not top grade, and they are collected in the Palace Museum in Beijing. The second one is a copy of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, which is a rare treasure in the world, that is, the one stolen by Ji Yong, and now it is in the British Museum.
This picture of the British Museum is the oldest existing picture scroll. Although it is a copy, it is recognized as an excellent painting. Its style is ancient and colorful, which makes the palace nobles flock to it.
Emperor Qianlong of Qing Dynasty was a famous collector. Many paintings and calligraphy in the Qing palace were personally selected by him, and this picture of women's history is one of them. Emperor Qianlong regarded it as pride and left an inscription at the end of the volume. Unfortunately, this painting was stolen by an English captain during Eight-Nation Alliance's invasion.
For a long time, the picture of women's history has been regarded as the treasure of the town hall by the British Museum, not to mention its return. Even it is hard to see at first sight, and only special experts are lucky enough to watch it. For China scholars, even a glimpse is a great comfort.
Look at the origin of China's "pioneering work" and "proverbs of women's history" ~
Jin Huidi in the Eastern Jin Dynasty was a famous bad king in history. All he did was have fun, and he was finally marginalized by the powerful people in the DPRK. So Zhang Hua, the minister, collected the deeds of the sages of the past dynasties and wrote the article "Proverbs of Women's History" as a warning, which was widely circulated.
Later, Gu Kaizhi, a famous painter in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, painted according to the content and chapters. Except for the first paragraph, each paragraph has a proverb, and each picture vividly explains the meaning of the proverb, so it is called "Proverbs of Women's History" and is also a masterpiece handed down by Gu Kaizhi.
This painting has both form and spirit, and the lines are even and rhythmic. The outline and pleats are like silkworms spinning silk, which scholars describe as "spring clouds floating in the air and running water flowing on the ground". And the lines and colors in the painting are highly harmonious and unified.
However, it is a great pity that such a rare treasure is still lost. It was the "heart meat" of Emperor Qianlong 200 years ago, but now it has stayed in a foreign country.
(The pictures in the article are from the Internet, if there is any intrusion)