Ancient art relics of Yongle Palace murals

The murals of Yongle Palace are all over the four halls. These exquisite murals cover a total area of 960 square meters, with rich themes and superb painting skills. They inherited the excellent painting techniques since the Tang and Song Dynasties, combined the painting characteristics of the Yuan Dynasty, and formed the valuable style of Yongle Palace murals, which became the most attractive chapter in the temple murals of the Yuan Dynasty.

Sanqing Hall, also known as Wuji Hall, is the shrine of "Stone Buddha in Taiqing, Shang Qing and Yuqing Garden" and the main hall of Yongle Palace. The four walls of the temple are covered with murals, covering an area of 403.34 square meters, and there are 289 figures on the screen. These figures, arranged in the form of symmetrical rituals, are led by the blue dragon and the white tiger star king on the south wall, and draw 28 main gods, such as the Emperor of Heaven and the Queen Mother. Around the Lord God, 28 nights, 12 Chen Gong and other "heavenly soldiers and heavenly generals" slowly unfolded on the screen. The military commanders on the screen are brave and bold, mighty and heroic, and the jade girl stands upright. The whole picture is extraordinary in momentum, huge in scenes, rich in costumes, changeable in lines, smooth and delicate. The complex scene and spirit of this figure are all concentrated in the Taoist etiquette of nearly 300 "gods" worshipping Buddha in the early Yuan Dynasty, so it is called "the map of Yuan people".

Chunyang Hall was built in memory of Lv Dongbin. The murals in Chunyang Temple depict the fairy-tale cartoon story of Lv Dongbin from birth to "enlightenment to immortality" and "Purdue all living beings playing in the world". On the back wall of the fan opposite the Chunyang Temple, the "Talk about the Road with the Bell" is a very precious mural, which depicts the characters very successfully and blends the scenes very well.

Chongyang Hall is a temple dedicated to Wang Zhongyang, the founder of Quanzhen religion, and his disciples "Seven Real People". The story of Wang Zhongyang's "seven real people" from birth to enlightenment is told in the form of cartoons in the temple. Although the comic book of Chongyang Hall tells the story of Wang Zhongyang, it shows people's activities in feudal society with great interest. These pictures are almost the epitome of social life. Ordinary people dress up, eat tea and cook, farm and fish, cut wood and teach, collect medicine and chat; Princes and nobles, dignitaries worship in the palace, and the monarch and the minister answer and clear the way; Taoist priests set up altars to recite scriptures, and so on. The displaced hungry people, unhappy chefs, tea houses, musicians and simple, kind and hardworking farmers in the painting are in sharp contrast with the potbellied court nobles and emperors. The murals of Chongyang Temple basically inherited the expression method of Chunyang Temple, and used 49 pictures to describe Wang Zhongyang's life experience. Although it was a little late (the stone tablet in the Eastern Jin Dynasty murals was written with the inscription of the first year of Hongwu), we can know that the murals were completed after the first year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1368) and were seriously damaged, but from some aspects of its reflection of Taoist deeds and social life, it still has certain historical and artistic value. Judging from its painting style, it is still similar to Chunyang Hall, and it was painted by Zhu, a craftsman.

Although the comic books of Chunyangtang and Chongyang Hall tell the stories of Lv Dongbin and Wang Zhongyang, they show people's activities in feudal society in an interesting way. These photos are almost vivid miniature of social life in China at that time. Ordinary people dress up, eat tea and cook, farm and fish, cut wood and teach, collect medicine and chat; Princes and nobles, dignitaries worship in the palace, and the monarch and the minister answer and clear the way; Taoist priests set up altars to recite scriptures, and so on. The displaced hungry people, unhappy chefs, tea houses, musicians and simple, kind and hardworking farmers in the painting are in sharp contrast with the potbellied court nobles and emperors. The mural of Sanqing Hall is the famous Yuan Chao Tu, with a height of 4.26 meters, a total length of 94.68 meters and a total area of 403.34 square meters, which is the focus of the mural of Yongle Palace.

It was dark in Sanqing Hall. In order to protect murals from light erosion, all windows are covered with dark curtains, and people must adapt to the weak light in the temple for a period of time before they can see murals. However, on the west, north and east walls of Sanqing Hall, there are portraits of immortals more than 4 meters high. The paintings on the three walls are connected together, showing that the Jade Emperor and the Chinese Emperor led the gods to worship Buddha, and the Lingbao Buddha and the Taishang Laojun, that is, the scattered immortals gathered together to worship the Supreme God.

On the fan-shaped wall around the Sanqing statue, the east and west sides are the Antarctic immortal emperor, the East Pole Taihua Taiyi rescue celestial phenomena, and the Xuanyuan ten sons respectively. On the back of the fan wall are thirty-two emperors; In the east of the front north wall are the official Emperor Wei Zi of China, the Great Sage, the Big Dipper, the 11th Obsidian, the 28th Lodge and the Classic Master. On the west side of the north wall are Emperor Gouchen's Palace, Six Stars in Nandou, Twenty-eight Hostels, Three Officials of Heaven, Earth and Water, and the scribes of past dynasties. The East Wall is the God of Heaven and Jade Emperor, and the Earth Emperor is only related to the God of Fusang, the Twelve Gods, the Five Mountains, the Four Disgraces and the underworld. The Western Wall is the East China Prime Minister Mu Gong Qing Tong Dao Jun, Bai Yugui Taijiu Lingtai Jin Zhen Mu Yuan Jun and Taiyi, Bagua and Thunderstorm Ten Gods. On both sides of the south wall are Qinglong County and Baihu County. Nearly 300 immortals marched in the same direction, forming a torrent of pilgrimage, and the atmosphere was sacred and solemn.

The Western Wall is the most wonderful part of the whole "Yuan Chao Tu". The picture is centered on Dong and the Queen Mother of the West, surrounded by officials from heaven. On the chair of the Queen Mother of the West, the rockhopper wears clothes, behaves dignified and elegant, and has a gentle and friendly expression. In front of her, there is an elder in a blue robe, who is said to be Nezha's master Taiyi. His head was slightly lowered, his face was slightly sideways, and his hands were holding water, as if he had something important to say to the Queen Mother of the West. Behind the real Taiyi, two gods are talking, as if real people are playing and they care about it. These characters echo each other, especially the vivid psychological description of Taiyi, which depicts an old man with anxiety and anxiety in his brow. Our Map of the Yuan Dynasty not only embodies the complete system of Taoism, with nearly 300 men, women and children, strong, weak and fat, dynamic and static, dense and well-organized, achieving unity in change and harmony in diversity. Although the statues in the murals are roughly the same in height and direction, the pictures use different facial colors, clothes and manners to express the identity and personality of different immortals. Most of the emperor's expressions are solemn; Military commanders are flying in armor; Jade girl smiled affectionately, some were talking, some were meditating, some were staring intently, looking around, with different images. Most of each idol is only a few strokes, and the long-term changes of light and shade and thickness fully show the dynamic trend of texture. The slender lines on robes and belts are more intense and smooth, just like the steel lines embedded in murals, creating a feeling of floating in the wind and strengthening the vividness of immortals in paintings. This painting method not only inherits the tradition of "Five Dynasties prevailing in Wu Daozi after the Tang and Song Dynasties", but also accurately shows the relationship between clothing pattern turning and body movement, which is extremely difficult.

A careful study of the murals in the Three Classics Hall of Yongle Palace reveals that they are very particular about brushwork. The beards and temples of the characters in the painting are all thin with the pen tip close to the skin. As it spreads to both sides, the strokes gradually thicken and fade. From a distance, the character's beard seems to grow out of the meat, which is the so-called painting method of "hairy roots grow out of the meat" Such a beautiful, accurate and vivid pen for painting sideburns and beards reflects the painter's understanding of anatomy and perspective. The operation with the pen is accurate, relaxed and vigorous, and no mistakes are allowed, showing superb painting skills. Draw a straight line without a ruler and a circular arc without compasses, which requires the painter to have excellent line drawing skills. These are excellent artistic traditions that have been continued from the murals of the Six Dynasties and the Sui and Tang Dynasties. It can be seen from Yunbin and Xu Qiu's painting method that the immortals and real people in the murals of Sanqing Hall of Yongle Palace were all written by Wu Daozi, which inherited and developed Wu Daozi's Tang Dynasty style.

Gorgeous color effect is another feature of Sanqing Temple mural art. Under the beautiful turquoise tone of Furama, a small amount of red, purple, dark brown and other colors are distributed in a planned way, which strengthens the primary and secondary relationship and sketch relationship of the picture. Insert small bright colors such as white, yellow, vermilion, gold, three green and four green on a large turquoise block to form an organic whole. The color is mainly plain filling and natural stone color is adopted, so Yuan Chao Tu, which can be preserved for a long time in Sanqing Hall of Yongle Palace, is a giant system that condenses the essence of Taoist painting in Tang and Song Dynasties and has a long history of development. Connecting with the development of Taoist murals in Tang and Song Dynasties, we can understand the artistic origin of the paintings.

The Taoist map of the Yuan Dynasty can be traced back to Wu Daozi's Five Saints Map of the Yuan Dynasty. This is the most influential Taoist image of Wu Daozi, and it is also the only work that his descendants have copied. The Five Saints Return to the Yuan Dynasty was originally painted on the east and west walls of laojunmiao, Mangshan Mountain in Luoyang. On the east wall, there are Donghua Tiandijun, Antarctic Tiandijun, Fusang Emperor and their subordinates. On the west wall, there are paintings by Emperor Xi Tianling, Emperor Bei Tian Zhen and their subordinates. Du fu once wrote a poem praising this work: ... the painter looks at his predecessors, and Wu Shengyuan has a good scene. Rosen moved the earth's axis, and so did the wonderful wall. Five dragons and dragons, thousands of officials and geese line up. The crown is full of hair, flying high. ..... The exhibition map of Yuan Chao County, which is now circulating, is a part of this painting. Another book, Eighty-seven Immortals Volume, is also a Song Chuanfen version of the same painting, and both paintings retain the legacy of Wu Daozi to varying degrees. Similar images appeared one after another after Yuan Chao's Five Holy Pictures, such as Chao Zhen Tu and Zhao Hui Tu. In the Five Dynasties, I regarded Qingcheng Mountain as my father-in-law, and asked Zhang to draw the Five Mountains of Zhenjuntang. As can be seen from the contents of the record, although the picture of Chao Zhen was created at this time to welcome the real king of Yi Xi, it still had a certain relationship with the pastel version of Yuan Chao Tu in the Central Plains. On the one hand, the works absorbed the majestic scene of thousands of officials flying in the Yuan Dynasty; On the one hand, it began to appear many characters, such as wuyue, Sidu, Shixi, Linshan Creek and Marsh, Tree God, Du Yue Cao Li and so on. , and created a unique image of the god of the underworld.

In the first year of Xuanhe, the official clothing map of nine planets's twenty-eight lodging dynasties was compiled, and Taoist Lin Lingsu also re-established the fasting system and the name of God. Shangqing Lingbao Dafa preserves the 360 percentile names of Xuanhe deity, which roughly includes the following gods: Sanqing, Six Emperors, Thirty-two Emperors, Ten Taiyi, Sun and Moon, Stars, Sangong, Four Saints, Ancient Classics, Sanyuan and Wuyue, Fusang Emperor and Shuifu God, Fengdu Emperor and his subordinates, Shutianyuan and exorcism. This system became the main basis for making murals and ground paintings in the future. It also provides important clues for us to understand the mural god of Sanqing Hall in Yongle Pass. Chunyang Temple "Zhong Liquan Flower Lv Dongbin"

Lv Dongbin, formerly known as Lv Yan, was born in Zhushui Market in Zhaoxianli, northeast of Yongle Town, Ruicheng in the 14th year of Tang Zhenyuan (AD 799). Lv Dongbin was born in an official family. When he was young and middle-aged, he was addicted to the imperial examinations and pursued fame and fortune. 64-year-old Jinshi. Lv Dongbin is willing to travel. According to legend, Lv Dongbin met Li Zhong, the ancestor of Taoism who enlightened him, so he gave up the fame and fortune in the world, cultivated immortality and learned Taoism, and went to Lushan Mountain in Jiangxi Province and Jiufeng Mountain in Zhongtiao Mountain in Shanxi Province, where he remained anonymous and disappeared.

The east, north and west walls of Chunyang Temple are composed of 52 paintings, which show the life story of the legendary Lv Dongbin in the form of a series of paintings. The mural is 3.5 meters high and covers an area of 203 square meters. Divided into upper and lower columns, connected by rocks and clouds. Each event is an independent chapter, which can be connected with each other through the scenery. On the whole, the whole painting is a complete landscape painting, depicting Lv Dongbin's spiritual deeds from birth to enlightenment, most of which are absurd legends. From a local point of view, it is a picture that independently shows a specific plot. There are palaces, halls, houses, tea shops, restaurants, village schools, Yiguang, ships, fields, mountains and rivers and various figures in the painting. Moreover, many paintings are rich in life, depicting the social features of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, such as living customs, architectural forms, farmers, beggars and other figures, but they are real and concrete, and become image materials to understand the society of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, thus making religious paintings play a tortuous role in reflecting reality to a certain extent, which is a creative idea in Taoist murals.

There is also a mural of Zhong Liquan Du Lv Dongbin on the back wall of the fan wall of Chunyang Hall, which is 3.7m high and covers an area of16m2, which is the essence of the mural of Chunyang Hall. In the painting, He Zhong sits on a rock in the deep mountain with a vigorous old pine in the background and mountain springs on the left and right. Zhong Liquan, sitting on a loose back, is strong, with bare chest and abdomen, and wears Ma Xie barefoot. His eyes are bright, staring at Lv Dongbin, with a kind and friendly smile on his face. Lv Dongbin sat there hand in hand, listening humbly, but the details of the sleeves of his two hands and the slight twisting of his right sleeve by his left hand revealed that he was in a dilemma. The picture environment is handled skillfully, the pen is concise and the technique is exquisite, which represents the superb painting level of the Yuan Dynasty.

The Eight Immortals crossed the sea on the forehead of the north gate opposite the fan wall, and on the east and west sides of the south wall were the Taoist temple, the fasting palace and the Taoist temple. There is an inscription on the west upper corner of the east side of the south wall: "Qin Changgu was the master of Qin Chang, who lived in Jiangyang, and Gu Xintian Dexin advocated that Cao Demin, an east county, worked as a day laborer in Chongyang in the 18th year of the Reform Movement (A.D. 1358)." There is also a painter's inscription on the right side above the middle of the back wall: "Master Qin Changgu, Master Gu Rui, Master Longmen, Wang Shiyan, Zhang Heye, Japanese Worker in the Early Autumn of Biwuxu". We can know the author and completion time of these murals. Yongle Palace complex and wonderful murals are not in the original site, but experienced a "farewell well" migration decades ago.

Yongle Town, where Yongle Palace was originally located, is located on the north bank of the Yellow River southwest of Ruicheng. 1959, where Sanmenxia Reservoir will be built, and Yongle Palace is located in the planned water storage area. After the reservoir is completed, it will become a "dragon palace under the sea" submerged in tens of meters of water.

At that time, modern "Luban" people from all over the country carefully studied how to demolish and rebuild the murals near Yongle Palace 1000 square meters. They decided to tear down the roofs of several palaces first, and then saw them with special manpower, sawing off the walls with murals one by one with a saw blade in a very subtle way. A * * * saw out more than 550 pieces, and each piece was marked. Using the same sawing method, separate the murals firmly attached to the wall, then mark them all and put them in wooden boxes filled with thick cotton tires. Walls, murals and other components are gradually transported to the foothills of Zhongtiao Mountain by cars, mules and wagons. First, rebuild the palace, put a new layer of wood on the inner wall of the wall, and then paste the murals one by one. Finally, the painters decorated the murals carefully.

This project, once described as "it is not easy for a fairy to do it", started at 1959 and was finally completed after nearly five years. Yongle Palace was all moved to the north of Ruicheng County. After the reconstruction, the cracks in the murals of Yongle Palace are almost indistinguishable, which incredibly perfectly preserves the outstanding charm of this group of murals. Yongle Palace mural is an excellent religious mural in ancient China comparable to Dunhuang mural.

The difference between the two is that, first of all, Dunhuang murals are temple murals, while Yongle Palace murals are temple murals. Yongle Palace murals are more conducive to painters to show their talents in painting environment and frame than Dunhuang murals.

Secondly, Dunhuang frescoes, especially the works before the Tang Dynasty, are still in the agitation of the evolution trend, and more or less retain some painting styles of the western regions, India and even Europe. Yongle Palace murals are a collection of murals of past dynasties, especially the Tang Dynasty style that directly inherited the religious murals of the Tang Dynasty, such as the characters' pen opening, strict proportion, meticulous brushwork, vivid posture, carefree clothing patterns and magnificent momentum. Specifically, Yongle Palace murals completely follow the painting tradition of the orthodox school of Tang Dynasty represented by Wu Daozi.

Therefore, Yongle Palace murals provide a good copy for us to further decipher the Tang Dynasty murals in the peak period of China's religious figure painting. It is a link between the past and the future. It is not only independent of the landscape paintings of four literati, namely Huang Zijiu, Wang Meng, Ni Zan and Wu Zhenyuan, but also an independent religious figure painting system, which is the ultimate destination of religious murals in China. Since then, with the decline of religion, China's religious murals have also declined, and figure paintings have entered the folk from the sacred temple walls and entered the picture scroll, and their majestic spirit has also been exhausted.

Yongle Palace mural is the most magnificent Taoist mural in China, which embodies the outstanding achievements of ancient art. Today, we can not only appreciate the elegance of ancient painting art in China, but also have important enlightenment for the development of painting art in China.