We modern people always imagine what the life scene of the ancients was like. In fact, the ancients left us some works intentionally or unintentionally, which let us see their life and interesting things in those days. For example, The Picture of Han Xizai's Banquet gives us a very intuitive impression. In fact, this portrait of the emperor was painted by the painter Gu, who described the scene in detail and presented it to the emperor!

Interestingly, Han Xizai's The Night Banquet was published because the emperor needed to monitor his ministers. This Millennium-old painting shows Han Xizai, a famous minister in the Southern Tang Dynasty, inviting guests at home at night and listening to optimistic dances. Its content can be called live video.

Let me introduce the painter and his paintings: Gu (about 9 10-980), a native of Jiangnan. Good at figure painting, rich in color, good at description and expression. His masterpiece: Han Xizai's "The Night Banquet", which is 28.7 cm long and 335.5 cm wide, is colored with silk. Now in the Palace Museum, this painting shows us the life scene of aristocratic feasting in the Southern Tang Dynasty.

In the late Tang Dynasty, China was once again divided by warlords. Li, an aristocrat, established a small court in the Southern Tang Dynasty in Jinling, and Li Yu, the late master, loved poetry and calligraphy. How much sadness can you have, like a river flowing eastward? A famous saying, but politically a mediocre person, and narrow-minded, especially the literati ministers from the north.

Han Xizai, born in a noble family in the north, is well-read and has political ambitions, but he is outspoken and willing to make suggestions. Li Houzhu wants to use him as a relative, but he is afraid of threatening his position. Seeing the emperor in a daze, Han Xizai knew that his luck would run out in the Southern Tang Dynasty, so he changed his normal state and put on banquets and watched songs and dances all day to hide it. In order to know the truth, he sent the great painter Gu to explore and ordered him? Mind reading? Draw a picture of what you see. Isn't Gu the responsible person? Holy destiny? After he came back, he gave full play to his skill in depicting characters, so he got this picture of Han Xizhai's night banquet.

The whole picture is divided into five parts, each with its own emphasis, but the theme is distinct and the character is very prominent.

The first paragraph: The bearded one on the right is Han Xizai sitting on the sofa. He is a little upset, as if he has something on his mind. Next to him stood Wu Wangshan, a petite prostitute. At the other end of the couch, Lang, the top scholar in red, leaned forward and listened attentively, while others looked askance, or had a smile on his face. On the upper left, there is a woman coming out of the inner room, which must be an excellent place for music. Everyone's eyes are focused on the prostitutes on the far left, and from their expressions, they seem to hear the voice like a tracts.

The second paragraph: On the left is Wu Wangshan, a pet prostitute in Han Xizai. She is relaxing her sleeves and dancing. According to research, what dance is she dancing? Six dances? , also known as green waist dance or

Record the main dance Bai Juyi in Yang Liuzhi Ci? Six water tunes, everyone sings? This poem shows that it was very popular at that time, but it was lost after the Tang Dynasty. Wang Guowei, a modern scholar, believes that Liu Mo's dance is based on the sleeves of his hands and the beat of his feet.

Han Xizai at the right end, surrounded by a prostitute, put on his sleeves and personally played drums for his pet prostitute. What's this drum called? Jiegu? Also known as? Two sticks and drums? . The drum body is made of Sang Mu, and the drum stick is made of hardwood such as Dalbergia odorifera, dog bone and pepper. The drums are crisp and sweet. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, it was introduced to the mainland through the Western Regions and prevailed in the Kaiyuan and Tianbao years of the Tang Dynasty. The timid monk in the middle is Han Xizai's good friend monk Deming. A monk should have been quiet, but he met this scene unexpectedly. He was a little embarrassed, but he couldn't quit at once, so he had to turn back and stand aside with his head down.

Excited for a while, Han Xizai and prostitutes sat on the bed to rest. The pet prostitute has just danced, and now she is holding a basin to wait on Han Xizai to wash her hands. Han Xizai must have been sweating like a pig because he beat the drums too hard. There are also two maids, one is packing up the pipa and flute used for playing just now, and the other is delivering wine and food. After the rest, it's time for some elegant enjoyment. Five female musicians sat on the embroidered pier, playing flute and flute calmly.

However, this is obviously a leisure entertainment arranged for a relaxed atmosphere. Han Xizai took off his clothes and sat down, gently shaking his feather fan and talking to the maid in front of him. The girl next to the chair is also whispering to the young woman behind the chair. A guest behind her was even more absent-minded, whispering to the woman behind the screen. In the deeper silence, the guests began to leave, and Shi Ji flirted with the guests, but no one looked. But Han Xizai stared into the distance, as if thinking about something.

What a lively evening it is! The guests came temporarily and had a good time. In the process of truthfully describing this scene, the painter vividly portrayed the talented scholar-bureaucrat from different aspects through the changes of Han Xizai's expression, movements and costumes, and emphatically revealed his complex mentality. All the guests and prostitutes listened to music, danced and teased, which highlighted Han Xizai's nervous, depressed and helpless mental state.

Li Houzhu

It is said that after seeing this painting, Li Houzhu found that Han Xizai's obsession was actually to cover up his political ambitions, so he decided to expel him from Beijing and let him move south. At this time, Han Xizai was too old to stay away from Jinling, so he had to go to the table to confess his sins so as to stay in Jinling for the aged. Li Houzhu saw his sad words and knew that he was really old, so he agreed. But Han Xizai was frightened by this, but fell ill and finally died. Li Houzhu was secretly happy, but she cried crocodile tears and said, What a pity! Han Xizai is dead, and I can't let him be prime minister any more. ? Still pretending to chase him? The ancient servant shot something like the Peace Chapter? , hey? Wen Jing? Give silk to be buried.

Drawing stories or historical facts with long scrolls is a special form of Chinese painting, which is somewhat similar to later comic books. Draw a picture paragraph by paragraph when painting, and appreciate it paragraph by paragraph when watching it. The five parts of The Night Banquet are divided into different paragraphs by screens, partitions and bed curtains. And each paragraph seems to be separated and connected to form a whole. Some paintings don't draw walls, doors and windows, roofs, lights and candles. However, through the activities of the characters, we can feel that the banquet is held indoors, which is the concise and clear feature of China traditional painting.