Chapter 1,177 A hundred deer are not as good as ten deer
During the Qianlong period, this pastel Chi'er Zun with a Hundred Deers produced by the Jingzhen Royal Kiln Factory has a more complex picture.
The body of the statue is painted with hundreds of deer, lined with towering ancient trees, with mountains and waterfalls and streams, clear springs gushing above the rocks, and gurgling water below the rocks.
The pines are simple and powerful, ganoderma lucidum, flowers and plants are dotted among them, and the overall composition is sparse and clear.
The rocks and tree trunks in the picture are painted in Chu, black and other colors, and the leaves are mostly painted in green, giving them rich colors.
Under the green pines and cypresses, the deer are chasing each other, cuddling together, resting, or humming, and the deer are intertwined. The panoramic view is filled with stillness, echoing each other, full of vitality, and natural and lifelike.
The painting is fine and smooth, the colors are graceful and elegant, the composition is ingenious and the shape of the vessel is integrated, and the allegory is auspicious.
Take a closer look at the deer on this statue. The texture of the deer hair is expressed through the contrast of light and dark, and the uneven colors. The various expressions are vivid and vivid.
This should be a technique of Western painting, while the painting method of mountains and rocks follows the brushwork of traditional Chinese landscape painting, which is consistent with the characteristics of Qing palace paintings during the Qianlong period.
This also confirms that this pattern should be based on the sample drawn by the court painter at that time.
After observation and comparison, the "Hundred Deer Picture" painted by the Bohemian missionary painter Ai Qimeng is very consistent with the picture of the group of deer on this statue, both in terms of composition and the combination of Chinese and Western painting techniques.
Ai's "Hundred Deers" is included in the "Shiqu Baoji" and is now in the Palace Museum in Wanwan.
This Ai Qimeng was not a simple person. He was called Xing'an and was a Bohemian. He was 3 years older than Qianlong. He came to Beijing "in the 10th year of Qianlong's reign" at the age of 38.
Ai Qimeng studied under Castiglione Castiglione, and his painting techniques are similar to his.
Because of his "Chinese application of Western methods", he was highly valued by the court and appreciated by the emperor. He was given a third-grade title and was enshrined in the inner court.
He is good at painting portraits, especially feathers.
Ai Qimeng's "Hundred Deer Picture" is stamped with the four seals of "Qianlong's Appreciation", "Yi Zisun", "Sanxitang Jingjian Xi" and "Qianlong's Royal View Treasure", which shows Qianlong's love for the treasure.
According to research, Ai Qimeng's "Hundred Deers" was written in the 14th year of Qianlong's reign (1749), and he was commissioned to do so.
At this time, Emperor Qianlong was 39 years old.
This unique Chinese and Western painting style of the Qing Dynasty is an innovative move, and it was also completed under the guidance of the Qing emperor.
Therefore, if you want to make a Hundred Deer statue for a birthday, whether it is your fortieth, fiftieth, or sixtieth birthday, Ai Qimeng's "Hundred Deer Picture" can indeed come in handy.
In view of this, we can be sure that the blueprint for the Qianlong pastel painting of a hundred deer is none other than Ai's "Hundred Deer Painting".
Such a painting would have been difficult to produce even in the ancient feudal society, let alone later imitation.
Of course, there was actually a more powerful person before him, Qianlong's grandfather Kangxi. The Wanshou Zun he made was even more outrageous.
Now Chen Wenzhe is making the Bailu Zun and has no time to make the Wanshou Zun. Otherwise, he really wants to imitate it.
Chen Wenzhe had to take a piece of top-quality porcelain based on a picture of a hundred deers seriously.
He needed to understand the details of the Hundred Deer Picture and feel that he could copy it before he could start making this porcelain.
This is the value of this kind of Hundred Deer Zun, because the real Qianlong Hundred Deer Zun also requires very high painting skills to make.
In this way, there are many Bailu Zun, but high-priced high-quality ones are very rare.
This is because although many of the Hundred Deer statues are from the same official kiln, the prices of the Hundred Deer statues are different depending on the patterns on them.
Of course, this kind of Qianlong Dynasty pastel hundred deer statue, which was highly valued by the royal family, would definitely be produced many times, but the final number of surviving ones is still very small.
Therefore, it can only be seen in major museums, such as the Palace Museum on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, the National Museum, the Maritime Museum, Jinling Museum, etc.
There are also subtle differences among these collections, which are reflected in slightly different ears, with red and blue colors.
This is where Chen Wenzhe has room to play. The hundred deer pictures he made can be of various glaze colors, and he is even better at this.
When drawing the Hundred Deer, you can also use it a little bit based on the handed down Hundred Deer Zun.
For example, there are big deer and small deer, as well as distance and overlapping techniques.
The most common varieties on the market now are generally painted with many fawns of similar proportions and sizes.
The general Hundred Deer Picture, that is, on top of the Hundred Deer Statue, there are only a hundred deer frolicking in the mountains. This kind of painting has a plump and compact layout.
If you are painting a big deer, then the technique needs to be at a higher level.
At this time, it is necessary to change the common layout. One side of the statue is painted with towering ancient trees as the main body of the painting. Three or five large deers are shown wandering among the rocks in the close view. In the distance, small deer are painted with small proportions, foraging on the edge of the river.
To do this requires clever thinking and flexibly applying the natural phenomena of near, large and small in vision to this product.
In this way, if the painting is good, the artistic conception will be more profound.
That’s why there is a saying: “Therefore a hundred deer are not as good as ten deer”
Xu Zhiheng mentioned in his book "Yin Liu Zhai Shuo Porcelain" that "those who painted a hundred bats were particularly dull, a hundred bats were better, and there were more new ones. Therefore, a hundred deers are not as good as ten deers. All the paintings are refined in Kangxi and Qian Dynasties."
Such a refined work is superior in terms of patterns and painting techniques, as well as the large deer pattern with a smooth composition.
Therefore, the Qianlong famille rose hundred deer statue now imitated by Chen Wenzhe, as a large-scale palace display made of famille rose during the Qianlong dynasty, is a must-have collection in the ceramic halls of art museums around the world, and it also represents an era.
The pinnacle of firing craftsmanship.
Chen Wenzhe cannot guarantee that such a work can be successfully fired in one go.
Because the pot is relatively large, the pot may burn too much.
For example, burning, expansion, collapse, deformation, etc. may occur.
The most serious problem is definitely the hair color of pastels.
The picture of a hundred deer is complicated. After it is painted with glaze, the problem of firing and coloring becomes even more complicated.
Therefore, even Chen Wenzhe could not guarantee the success of the one-time firing. He could only make two more pieces and try firing them first.
At this time, he had time to continue making other fine porcelain.
When he was drawing the picture of a hundred deer, he thought of another treasure, which had the most expensive deer on it.
Now that you have learned painting, you need to challenge your own level.
Chen Wenzhe was not very interested in painting scrolls or anything like that. He just wanted to express his painting skills on various utensils.
Therefore, a white jade crane and deer pen holder from the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty fell into his eyes.
If it was used to make porcelain, he would feel a little guilty, but if it was used to carve a deer, he really wouldn't mind it!
Because Chen Wenzhe's jade carving skills should have broken through the limitations of the master level and reached the grandmaster level.
This was all because of a piece of jade owned by Lu Zigang. It was because of that piece of jade that he was exposed to master-level carving techniques.
Now the information in Sui Hou's Pearl is completely open to him, allowing him to learn more master-level skills.
In this way, it will be very beneficial for making jade carvings.