What is Boundary Painting?

The use of a boundary ruler to guide the line when painting, hence the name Boundary Painting.

Boundary painting is a very distinctive category of Chinese painting. It refers to the painting method of using a straight ruler to draw lines. A piece of bamboo about two-thirds of the length of a pen, one end is sharpened into a semicircle and polished, and the other end is engraved with a groove according to the thickness of the pen, which is used as an auxiliary tool to put the boundary ruler on the desired part of the painting.

The groove of the bamboo slice against the barrel of the pen, holding the brush and the bamboo slice, so that the bamboo slice close to the edge of the ruler, according to the direction of the boundary ruler pen, can draw a uniform straight line. Boundary painting is suitable for painting buildings, and other scenery with brushwork techniques. It is commonly called "Gongbi Boundary Painting".

History of Boundary Painting

It is said that in his short life at the age of 53, Song Huizong Zhao Ji, who liked to sing praises for himself, painted a picture of Rui Crane: 20 cranes with different postures soared above Xuande Gate under the blue sky of Bianliang in the capital city, where the colorful clouds surrounded the sky.

The most famous painting and calligraphy emperor in the history of China in this painting not only to the white cranes painted vividly, but also the use of boundary painting techniques will be solemn and majestic Xuande Gate depicted in detail, almost make people see the ridge of the temple on the neatly arranged blocks of gray tiles, the eaves on the modeling of the beasts and the eaves of the wooden arch of the compact structure.

The purpose of boundary painting is to create a neat and realistic, accurate modeling. One example is that in the 10th century A.D., during the Five Dynasties period, Zhao Zhongyi, a painter of the Later Han Academy, was commissioned to paint the picture of General Guan rising from the Yuquan Temple. After finishing the painting, the emperor instructed the craftsman to check the accuracy of the architectural structure in the painting. After repeated tests, the craftsman repeated his order saying, "The building in the painting is as real as the real thing, not a hair out of place." From this, we can see the aesthetic fashion of traditional boundary painting.