The pommel horse is the spiritual totem of Chinese painting
In Chinese painting, paintings about horses are often referred to as pommel horse paintings, although since the heyday of Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, many famous paintings on the theme of pommel horses have appeared in China.
However, the representation of the horse theme has always been the object of enthusiasm of craftsmen and artists in the artistic development of all Chinese dynasties.
As early as 1988, there was a Chu lacquer unearthed in the large mound of Baoshan in Jingmen, Hubei, and the image of a horse appeared in its decorative picture.
The circumference of the outer wall of the lacquer cover ring is 874 cm, with black lacquer as the base, flat coating with various colors, using line drawing and dotting techniques, depicting the scene of the royal family and nobles welcoming their relatives.
The horses in the picture are either in groups of three, or in groups of two, standing or marching, and are distinguished by white, ripe brown, light brown and other colors, and the images are naïve but simple and vivid.
The war horse of the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang faces the east, which is majestic and majestic, and reproduces the magnificent style of the battle.
The Wu's stone shrine in Wuzhai Mountain Village, Jiaxiang County, Shandong Province, has unearthed a large number of stone carvings showing horses in the stone carvings of the Han Dynasty.
Min Ziqian's Lost Air depicts three young and old people, as well as a horse and a cart, although the horse is not the main object of the picture, but the image is tall and majestic, and the proportions are round and full.
The horse taming portrait brick unearthed in Shangtun, Luoyang, Henan Province, the horse looks up to the sky and tries to break free from the reins, which is dynamic and vivid, and very tense.
Although there is a long history of horse-based painting in China, it was not until the Tang Dynasty that independent paintings with horses as the main subject officially appeared, and the theme of pommel horses became the mainstream.
The reason why the pommel horse theme became mainstream in the Tang Dynasty was not only because the ruling class had Hu blood and was good at riding horses, but also for the needs of national defense, they attached great importance to the cavalry team, so the Taifu Temple was set up to manage the selection, grazing and training of horses.
The admiration of the ruling class led to the popularity of private horse breeding, and the open culture of the Tang Dynasty pushed polo to the peak of popularity, and it was popular among the royal family and dignitaries at that time.
In the murals of the tomb, the huge travel procession and hunting scenes become indispensable plots.
In the context of this era, a group of pommel horse painters such as Cao Ba, Han Gan, Chen Hong, and Wei Yan appeared in the Tang Dynasty.
always shows a calm and unhurried demeanor, even if some of them raise their heads and hiss, they are not angry and arrogant, but more like they are singing happily, which is full of Tang rhyme.
The painter Han Gan's painting "Illuminating the Night White" depicts Tang Xuanzong's beloved horse Zhaoyebai, its hind hooves kicking the ground, the front hooves raised, the mane erect, and the eyes open, as if it has the meaning of breaking free from the reins.
When Li Shimin, Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, built the Zhaoling Tomb, he shaped the six war horses he had ridden during the battle - the six horses in front of the tomb.
The six Jun stone carvings are selected to stand, Xu Xing, Mercedes and other dynamics, with a strong sense of volume and heroic posture.
The Tang Dynasty figure painter Zhang Xuan, who is now in the Liaoning Provincial Museum, can also confirm the importance of horses in the life of the Tang people.
The poet Li Bai depicts a five-flowered horse in the poem, "Five-flowered horse, daughter Qiu, Hu'er will exchange for fine wine". "Ryoma Flower Snow Hair, Golden Saddle Wuling Hao.
Autumn frost cuts jade sword, sunset pearl robe". The poet Li He also left a swan song to praise the heroic posture of the horse, "This horse is an extraordinary horse, and Fang Xing is a star."
Knock forward the skinny bones, as if with a copper sound". Su Shi even created in the poem "Eight squares are divided into Qinchuan, and 400,000 horses are like clouds of smoke....The dragon's head and phoenix neck are fierce and beautiful, and the strange posture is hidden and stubborn". It can be seen that in the social life of the Tang Dynasty, Ma has a place.
After ending more than 300 years of political and military confrontation and reunification, the Sui Dynasty achieved reunification from north to south and adopted various measures to restore and develop the social economy.
By the Tang Dynasty, in the economic aspect, the relationship between the landlord economy, agriculture, private handicrafts, commerce, and commodity money had developed;
In terms of political system, the basic separation of state affairs and royal affairs was realized, and a set of state power organs were formed, ranging from decision-making and deliberation to supervision and implementation, which meant that the Tang Dynasty got rid of the disadvantages of the integration of the family and the state in the early state, and began to have the nature of a modern state.
Under this economic and political background, the Tang Dynasty appeared the prosperity of "Zhenguan Rule" and "Kaiyuan Prosperous Era", which made the various ethnic groups communicate closely, thus creating a brilliant and splendid, cultural and artistic with the temperament of the Tang Dynasty, and Tang Sancai with its brilliant and dazzling appearance, became the most representative ceramic craft in the Tang Dynasty.
Tang Sancai is a kind of low-temperature lead-glazed pottery, mostly decorated with yellow, green and white glazes.
Chuangyao succeeded in the Gaozong period of the Tang Dynasty, prevailed in the Kaiyuan and Tianbao periods, and began to decline in the later period of Tianbao.
Tang Sancai from its generation, development, climax to decline, only after a few decades, on the one hand, it maintains the realistic tradition of color sculpture from the Qin and Han dynasties, on the other hand, it creatively uses the colorful and gorgeous color of low-temperature lead glaze, creating a very romantic, gorgeous Tang Dynasty atmosphere.
The three-color process is not only a simple three colors, but also single-color, two-color, multi-color and other colors, and its biggest feature is that the glaze contains a large amount of lead.
Tang Sancai highly exerts the performance of low-temperature lead glaze, and uses lead oxide as a flux to reduce the melting temperature of the glaze.
During firing, all kinds of metal oxides are melted into the lead glaze, and then flow in all directionsDiffusion, different glaze colors are fused and infiltrated, forming green, blue, yellow, white, ochre, brown and other colors of different shades and hues.
Whether it is the use of the glaze color of the dripping change, or the glaze to add patterns and patterns, or printing, scratching and three colors together, the three colors are like a cloud brocade, solemn appearance to show the Tang Dynasty atmosphere.
Tang Sancai was widely unearthed in the Central Plains, especially in Xi'an and Luoyang.
With a wealth of categories and a variety of decorative themes, Tang Sancai carries a large number of social life, secular religion, clothing fashion, character painting and many other aspects of the Tang Dynasty.
There are many kinds of three-color pottery sculptures, from imitation of daily necessities such as houses, warehouses, rockeries, carriages, to various faces of characters such as kings, scribes, Hu people, noblewomen, maids, attendants, and then to all kinds of vivid animal themes such as lions, tigers, camels, pommel horses, poultry, etc., Tang Dynasty Sancai will be confident, rich spiritual world and the atmosphere of the times into a "flesh and blood" three-color pottery sculptures.
Tang Sancai witnessed the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty, in that era of singing and dancing, and never closing the door at night, people pursued a higher level of spiritual enjoyment. Tang Sancai, as a Ming vessel, was naturally divided into different levels and became fashionable among the funeral supplies of the upper class.
Among the many different forms of three-color pottery sculptures, the three-color horse is one of the most common and vivid images. The Sancai horse has a rich historical and cultural heritage and superb skills, and has become a witness to the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty
Most of the three-color horses of the Tang Dynasty have small heads and long necks, open mouths and ears, strong muscles, and strong buttocks.
The eyes, muscles, muscles, mane and other parts are very finely carved, and the overall aura is lofty and the body is strong. The three-color horse shape of the Tang Dynasty can be divided into galloping horse figurines, legging horse figurines, horse figurines, horse-drawn carriage figurines, and horse figurines.
The main decorative techniques are ribbon decoration, that is, the use of the fluidity of the glaze itself to naturally flow down to form a ribbon;Pointillism decoration, that is, using a brush dipped in glaze to point out the dense spots on the pottery body.
Applique decoration, that is, the decoration is first molded into shape, and then pasted on the pottery. The diversity of shapes and decorative techniques shows the superb skills of Tang Dynasty craftsmen and the technical achievements of Tang Dynasty ceramics development.
The three-color horseback maid unearthed from the tomb of Princess Yongtai in Qianxian County, Shaanxi, the maid is wearing a round-necked narrow-sleeved shirt on the top, and the lower body is wearing a long skirt with a long skirt on the floor, and her hands are on the saddle, and she is riding on the back of a high-headed horse, and the image is free and easy.
The saddle is glazed with dot color, so that the yellow, white and green glaze colors are arranged irregularly, and the colors are colorful, random and natural.
The Tang Sancai male figurines (see Fig. 4) unearthed in Luoyang are 38 cm high, with a clear and recognizable face, eyebrows painted in black color, and a white hat and a green robeThere is a belt around his waist, and his hands are held in front of his chest, as if to pull the reins. There is a round drum on the left leg of the male figurine, so it is called the drumming male figurine.
The male figurines are riding horses, the horses are vigorous and sturdy, the eyes are round and round, the whole body is covered with white glaze, only the head and tail are decorated with yellow glaze, the saddle is painted with green glaze with dotted decoration techniques, the density is appropriate, and the body of the horse is contrasted, and the style of the Tang people's travel honor guard is reproduced.
Many three-color horses of the Tang Dynasty tomb soil, strong bones, muscles bulging, long legs and short tails, both form and spirit, or head neighing, or hooking head and looking back, or bowing head and contemplation, smooth lines, body fat, the various forms of horses are vividly expressed.
The vivid and vivid form of the three-color horse seems to bring the world back to that self-confident and rising era - the Tang people know horses, use horses, open up territory, sing and dance, condense the bearing and strength of the Tang Dynasty, and show a wisdom, enthusiasm and vigorous "** era".
References
[1] Luo Feng. Between Hu and Han: The "Silk Road" and Northwest History and Archaeology[M].Beijing: Cultural Relics Publishing House, 2004
[2] Zhu Yuping. Chinese Sancai. [m].Beijing: Cultural Relics Publishing House, 2004
[3] Ye Zhemin. History of Chinese Ceramics[M].Beijing: Joint Publishing Co., Ltd., 2011