The origin and development of flower-and-bird painting.

? For a long time, flowers and birds have always been the object of artistic expression, and flower and bird patterns can be found in primitive painted pottery and bronze ware. The early flowers and birds were full of mystery, and this ancient totem breath had a certain relationship with the early human worship of nature. Flowers and birds in this period have complex social implications and cannot be simply interpreted as painting.

? During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, after the development of the pre-Qin, Qin and Han dynasties, the decorative function and mystery of flower-and-bird paintings gradually faded, and the aesthetic efficiency gradually improved. The flower-and-bird painting in this period had a certain scale and formed a certain theoretical system, which laid a good foundation for the further development of flower-and-bird painting and made it a preliminary development period. With the unprecedented development of culture and art with stable politics and prosperous economic history in Tang Dynasty, literature and painting interacted with each other, which made flower-and-bird painting have an independent philosophy and become an independent painting discipline in Tang Dynasty. During this period, many famous flower-and-bird painters appeared, such as Xue Ji, who was good at painting bamboo and stone across cranes, Diao Guangyin, who was good at painting flowers and birds, and Bian Luan, who was good at painting flowers and birds. The flower-and-bird painting in this period is not only an objective description of all things in nature, but also the painter's subjective will, which conveys people's philosophical understanding of nature. With the rapid development of culture and art in the Tang Dynasty, poetry, calligraphy, painting and printing were gradually integrated. Inscriptions and seals are gradually added to painting and become an inseparable part of Chinese painting.

? The calligraphy and painting literature of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms formed a period connecting the past and the future between the Tang and Song Dynasties. During this period, flower-and-bird painting formed two schools: Yellow and Xu Xi. Huang Quan inherited the flower-and-bird paintings of the Tang Dynasty, and the painting style is gorgeous and full, which is called "royal wealth". Xu Xi attaches great importance to ink, which is called "Xu Jiaye Yi". The emergence of Xu and Huang painting schools provided two paths for the development of flower-and-bird painting. The development of flower-and-bird painting in later generations is basically based on these two traditional techniques.

? The development of flower-and-bird painting in Song Dynasty reached the peak of ancient flower-and-bird painting in China. The development of flower-and-bird painting techniques in the Song Dynasty and beyond is mainly divided into two directions, namely, colorful meticulous painting and freehand brushwork of ink and wash changes. Song Huizong Evonne was a master of flower-and-bird painting in the Northern Song Dynasty. He advocated both form and spirit, and created an artistic style of paying equal attention to meticulous painting and freehand brushwork, and integrating poetry, painting and calligraphy. Song Huizong's paintings often skillfully combine poems, pens, stamps and seals into a part of the picture, which has become a traditional feature of painting since the Yuan and Ming Dynasties and has been learned and used for reference by later painters.

? In the Song Dynasty, ink painting and plum and bamboo became specialized disciplines. Using ink painting, plum blossom, bamboo chrysanthemum and turquoise, the natural characteristics of flowers and trees, such as the arrogance and coldness of plum, the tenacity and firmness of bamboo and the immortality of pine, are compared to human moral sentiments, and the objective natural plants are combined with subjective humanistic connotations. The initiator of this theory is Su Shi, who is also literate.

? In the Yuan Dynasty, literati ink painting and freehand brushwork gradually set off the mainstream of flower-and-bird painting, and gradually turned from meticulous brushwork to freehand brushwork.

? During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, a number of famous flower-and-bird painters, such as Shen Zhou, Tang Yan, Xu Wei, Badashanren and Yangzhou Baguai, pushed flower-and-bird painting to a new stage of development on the basis of inheriting their predecessors, and reached an unprecedented level in conception, modeling and layout, which led to a small climax. In the modern painting world, famous artists such as Wu Changshuo, Qi Baishi and Li Kuchan have appeared, creating many unprecedented styles.

? In a word, the historical development of flower-and-bird painting is the aesthetic need of China people. Consistency, based on sketching and aiming at freehand brushwork, makes flower-and-bird painting merge with literary philosophy, further enhancing the importance of implication in flower-and-bird painting.