Zhao Ji was the eighth emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty. During his more than 20 years in power, he was extravagant, disdainful of state affairs, bribed people at the court, and local people rebelled, which directly led to the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty. He was not qualified to be an emperor, but his artistic achievements were unprecedented. He is proficient in calligraphy and painting, especially flower and bird painting.
Now in the Palace Museum, the Hibiscus and Golden Pheasant painting is not only the representative work of Zhao Ji, but also the representative work of Chinese meticulous painting. This painting is a royal treasure of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It has collection seals such as "Treasure of Wanli", "Treasure of Qianlong", "Treasure of Jiaqing" and "Treasure of Xuantong". This has a lot to do with the meaning of this painting. Otherwise, how could a king like Huizong, who conquered the country, cherish his collection and avoid it for fear that his things and things would be stained with bad luck?
In the picture, a colorful golden pheasant steps on a blooming hibiscus branch, squatting slightly with its feet, staring at a pair of butterflies with bright eyes, eager to try, lifelike and lifelike. The blooming hibiscus flowers and colorful butterflies combine movement and stillness to closely connect the flowers, birds and butterflies, and the vibrant autumn scenery appears vividly on the paper. The most unique ones are poetry, calligraphy and painting. In the painting, there is a poem written by Zhao Ji, which is about resisting frost in autumn and observing chicken feathers. As all five virtues know, ease is better than happiness.
Zhao Ji’s paintings of hibiscus and golden pheasants are bright and elegant in color, and both calligraphy and painting are excellent. The content of the painting is richer and more perfect, and the artistic conception of the painting has been elevated to a new level.
It is a modern thing that "chicken" is put into another category. It used to be called "German Chicken" and was known as the "Five Virtues". According to the Furong Golden Pheasant Year of AD, "The person who wears the crown is Ye Wen; Fu Lili is Wu Ye; the person who dares to fight in front of the enemy is brave; the person who sees food and calls out is benevolence; if you don't waste time at night, you will believe "Fortunately, "Chicken" is personified in Zhao Ji's works and becomes a spiritual bird, which is related to the "Five Virtues".
The Fifth Supreme has countless opportunities, so he has no time to play chess, calligraphy, or painting. Now that you have done it, you should do something noble. Why did you only draw a chicken? The reason will be confusing to some. To solve this mystery, we have to analyze the title poem in Zhao Ji's painting: Many people think that this painting of Han Shi Gaiden is not a painting by Zhao Ji, but a title painting by a student of the art academy. It's just that this painting is both beautiful in form and spirit, and the examiner Zhao Ji was amazed when he saw it for the first time, so he happily picked up the pen, and thus there was this painting that has been passed down to future generations.
Although this statement has its merits, according to Zhao Ji's thinking, it is untenable. Here's why: In the lower right corner of the painting, there is a section called "Book of Consolidation of the Xuanhe Hall", and below it is the book "One Man in the World" written by Emperor Huizong.
Although the Hanlin Painting Academy of the Northern Song Dynasty was different from the Hanlin Painting Academy of the previous generation, fundamentally speaking, it still served the court, the emperor, and dignitaries. The artistic creation of Hanlin Painting Academy is to maintain the order of the ruling class and play an educational role in identifying "loyalty, traitor, good and evil" through pictures. Zhao Ji is an artist, and his method of testing the students of the Hanlin Academy of Painting is also different. He often used ancient poems as topics to give propositional exams to the students in the academy.