Appreciation of Han Xizai's Banquet Collection in the Five Dynasties

The ancient painting is Han Xizai's Night Banquet of the Five Dynasties. This painting has no money. In front of the water, there are 20 sentences left by people in the Southern Song Dynasty, which are "Xi Zai's romantic life is clear and broad, and he is a celestial official ...". In the early Ming Dynasty, Cheng Nanyun's seal script was called "The Night Banquet". After the volume, there is the gourd seal of Shao Xun with the history of Southern Song Dynasty, and the seal of Shangqiu Authorized Original by Luo. Followed by the running script Biography of Han Xizai, followed by a poem written by Yuan Taiding in the third year (1326) and the inscription of the owner of Yuzhai. After that, there was Wang Duo's inscription "Across the Water", followed by collection seals such as "Lindong Jushi" and "Xiao Wei Caotang Painting". There is also the long postscript of Emperor Qianlong and the seal of the collection of the Qing government.

The ancient "Han Xizai's Night Banquet" adopts comic composition in layout. This form of composition breaks the concept of time and shows the activities at different times on the screen at the same time. The whole volume is centered on Han Xizai, and each plot is separated by a screen, which is divided into five sections: listening to songs, watching dances, resting, playing flute and feasting. "Listening to Songs" depicts the scene where the sister of Li Jiaming, the special envoy of Han Xizai lecture workshop, plays the pipa. Han Xizai sat on the bed in a black robe. In addition, there are the new champion Lang Mei, Dr. Tai Chang, Ziweilang Zhu Wei and the mountain that is good at singing and dancing. Although there are many characters in this passage, pipa playing is the main line, which naturally connects the characters. Li Jiaming's attention to his sister's kind eyes, the tendency of Lang Kui, the top scholar, to bend over and listen carefully, and the involuntary clapping of hands by others all lead the visual center to the pipa player. The "Dance Watching" part depicts people watching the dance of Wu Wangshan, Liu Yao. The dancer Wu Wang Mounting twisted his waist, waved his arms and danced. Han Xizai took off his black robe, rolled up his sleeves to show his elbows, and personally played drums to accompany him. His attention seems to be completely intoxicated with singing and dancing. Some onlookers high-fived, some sat and watched, and the scene was warm. This is the climax of the banquet. Wu Wang Mounting's petite figure and cheerful expression are in sharp contrast with the posture of a monk standing with his back crossed and his head down. The "rest" section describes people resting in bed. Han Xizai sat on the sofa flirting with the maid. At the back of the bed, someone sleeps under a quilt, one maid carries wine, and the other maid holds the pipa, which makes the picture change from dynamic to static. In the "blowing" session, Han Xizai bared his chest and abdomen, held a fan in his right hand, and sat cross-legged in a chair, enjoying the flute and flute ensemble under the service of the maid. At this time, the night is deep and there are not many guests. Only Li Jiaming and another person are rapping with each other. The "Banquet" section describes that most of the guests have dispersed after drinking, and some of them are still reluctant to go, and two of them are still joking with the female ci-poetry. Han Xizai walked through the middle, motioning with his hand to tell the two guests not to disturb others, which was actually conniving at their debauchery.

Throughout this work, some people are singing and dancing lightly, others are clapping their hands to appreciate it, and they are all intoxicated by this melodious music, graceful dancing and staggered flowers. Only Han Xizai, from sitting on the bed listening to the beating of the hammer and drums to the end of the song, has been frowning, smiling and preoccupied, which seems to be thoughtful, in stark contrast to the cheerful scene of the banquet. At the banquet, Han Xizai was topless and played drums for the prince of Wu. At the end of the banquet, he allowed the guests to go out with geisha. This fully reflects his wild and uninhibited attitude towards life. At the same time, he is absent-minded and full of melancholy. He stared at the drums without a smile, listening to the trumpet carelessly, showing political frustration. The painter highlights the inner world of this talented China calligrapher, who is bohemian, frustrated, depressed and bored, and also reflects the decadent life of the aristocratic class in the Southern Tang Dynasty. This picture scroll is organized coherently and smoothly. Although there are many characters and complicated plots, the arrangement is orderly and simple. The whole volume is like a narrative poem, ups and downs, and relaxation describes the scene of the banquet.

Gu's "Han Xizai's Night Banquet" volume shows that the characters in this work are drawn with iron lines and swim with four wonderful strokes, with rounded pens and long lines and frustration. In particular, using a pen to let the characters grow beards can be described as "the roots are fleshy and the strength is endless." The painter vividly displayed the voices, faces and smiles of more than 40 characters on silk with vibrant lines. Especially the depiction of the protagonist's melancholy and debauchery deepens the connotation of the work. The painter digs into the inner world of the characters with in-depth details, and also reveals the characters' personalities. In terms of color, a variety of mineral pigments such as crimson, cinnabar, azurite and stone green are used in the picture. The makeup of the maid's plain face is in sharp contrast with the black clothes and furniture of the male guests. The elegance of dark black furniture such as several cases and several couches is in harmony with gorgeous and colorful patterns such as maid skirts, curtains, door curtains and pillows. In addition, the painter skillfully unified the color in the rich ink color changes, and the color and ink set each other off and became more harmonious. This painting is gorgeous but not vulgar, showing an elegant and simple style, representing the level of ancient meticulous and heavy-colored painting.