"Picture of Wild Birds with Winter Plum Blossoms"
Zhao Ji
The wild birds are in a carefree and relaxed manner ①, with plum powder lightly applied.
We have already made a promise, and the future will last forever.
Notes
① Mountain bird: refers to the white-headed weng. 睷: Reserved, conceited.
Zhao Ji (1082-1135), also known as Song Huizong, was a painter of the Song Dynasty. During his reign, he was politically dark and corrupt, his life was extravagant and licentious, he levied excessive taxes on the people, and intensified social conflicts. In the second year of Jingkang (1127), Jin soldiers captured Bianjing City, and he and his son Zhao Huan were taken captive to the north. In the fifth year of Shaoxing (1135), he died in Five Kingdoms City (today's Yilan, Heilongjiang). He is a versatile calligrapher and painter. He loves calligraphy and painting, learns calligraphy from Huang Tingjian, and creates his own "thin gold style". He is good at painting flowers and birds, with uniform colors, rich and elegant colors, and vivid and exquisite shapes. He was deeply influenced by the Huang School painters and Wu Yuanhan. Tang Gao said of him: "Huizong was fond of pictures. He painted flowers, birds, mountains, rocks, and figures, which were of exquisite quality. He also made ink flowers, inkstones, and some of them were of divine quality. Emperors in the past dynasties were able to paint, and Huizong could be said to have done it to the best of his ability." ("Painting") "Jian"), he expanded the palace painting academy, cultivated painting talents, ordered people to compile "Xuanhe Calligraphy Book" and "Xuanhe Painting Book", collected calligraphy and painting from all dynasties, and compiled it into "Xuanhe Ruilan Collection", which paved the way for the prosperity and prosperity of calligraphy and painting art in the Song Dynasty. development and made certain contributions. Existing works include "Pictures of Wintersweet and Mountain Birds", "Pictures of Furong and Golden Pheasants", "Pictures of Listening to Qin", "Pictures of Auspicious Dragons and Stones", etc. Some of them may have been created by people from the painting academy.
According to the investigation of existing cultural relics, Zhao Ji was the first to write poems on paintings. Zhao Ji's previous poems on paintings only used paintings as the objects of chanting, and wrote them at the beginning and end of the scroll, or on another piece of paper. Zhao Ji chose a blank space in the picture and wrote a poem in thin gold script to express the meaning of the painting. He truly harmoniously integrated the three arts of poetry, calligraphy and painting into one work. They complement each other and form a unified artistic whole. This not only pushed the creation of poems on paintings in our country to a new stage, but also prompted the art of Chinese painting to enter a new stage. Since then, Chinese poetry, calligraphy, and painting have appeared in front of the world as a trinity of comprehensive arts. Zhao Ji's artistic practice is of great aesthetic value and historical significance, and has had a profound impact on the history of poetry, painting, and calligraphy in my country.
Zhao Ji's self-titled poem is a key to opening the artist's mind and understanding and appreciating "Pictures of Wintersweet and Mountain Birds". The first three sentences of the poem directly describe the flowers and birds on the picture. The Pulsatilla in the picture is resting on a fragrant wintersweet branch, free and peaceful, leisurely and a bit conceited. Paintings cannot express the sound and content of "birdsong". However, Zhao Ji used "contemplative" poems to complement the meaning of the painting and depict the smug look of the Pulsatilla, making readers seem to hear its chirping. On the picture, the wintersweet has just bloomed, its pink stamens are exposed, playing with its gentle figure, exuding a refreshing fragrance. The poet uses the word "Nong" to fully express his realm, and vividly conveys the charm of the wintersweet.
The second half of the poem is inspired by the name of the bird "Baitou". There is an ancient poem like "The old man returns home together" (Pan Yue's "Jingu Collection of Poems"), which expresses the steadfast friendship between friends that lasts forever. "Danqing" is a commonly used pigment in ancient paintings. Because the color is not easy to fade away, it is a metaphor for the loyalty of friendship. Ruan Ji's "Reciting Poems of Huaihe": "The pictures are clear and wise, and they will never be forgotten." Zhao Ji adapted Ruan Ji's poetry and said that there was already an unswerving trust between friends, so he pointed at the white-headed man to express his unchanging feelings for thousands of years. The whole poem cleverly uses puns and has profound connotations to express the original intention of the painting "Picture of Wintersweet and Mountain Birds".