China's Traditional View of Color Grades

Color painting of ancient buildings is divided into three grades, which are explained as follows:

First, the introduction of color painting:

Color painting has a long history in China, and it is one of the most remarkable features of ancient Han architectural decoration. Up to now, it has left a deep impression on people with its unique style, rich production technology and magnificent decorative art effect, and has become the essence of architectural art in Han Dynasty and gone down in history. Ancient beams, jade-white stone altars, latosolic red doors and windows and golden glazed tiles. The idiom "Carving a beam and painting a building" is enough to prove the development and glory of the carved lacquer and colorful paintings of ancient Han architecture in China. The color distribution of ancient buildings is very cautious. In the shadow part under the eaves, the main color is mostly "cool color", such as turquoise, with a little bit of gold. The pillars, doormen and walls are dominated by danchi, which is the opposite style to the cool painting under the eaves, and sets off the white abutment, giving the red wall and yellow tile a breathing space.

Second, the color painting classification:

1. He Xi Cai Hua

It is the highest realm of color painting. Its main features are: the middle picture consists of a photo album of dragon and phoenix color paintings with various patterns, supplemented by flower patterns; The two sides of the picture are framed with "",which is gold-plated and resplendent.

Hexi color painting gradually eliminated the old patterns and added new patterns while maintaining the three-stage basic pattern of official rotary color painting: the "rotary flower" was deleted from the algae head; The heart is painted with dragons or dragons and phoenixes. In order to adapt to the contour line of algae head, the heart is changed from pointed shape to lotus petal shape. Draw a dragon in the hoop box, and so on. After the mid-Qing Dynasty, the lines and detailed patterns of color paintings in Hexi changed greatly, and the main line in the picture changed from arc curve to geometric straight line: the outline of the bent lotus petal at the algae head turned into a straight jade shape, also known as "Guixian photon"; Pipeline lines, fork lines, Fang Xin lines, etc. have all become sigma lines accordingly. Hexi seal color painting uses a lot of gold. The main lines and patterns such as dragons, phoenixes and orbs are covered with gold powder. One side of the gold thread is lined with white powder or halo, with cyan, green and red as the background color, which sets off the golden pattern. Its pattern setting, color arrangement, and technological practices have all formed standardized rules, such as "ascending green and descending green" and "Ganoderma lucidum green space", and gradually improved into the most stringent color painting form. According to the different contents, the color paintings of Hexi Seal can be divided into different types, such as "Golden Dragon Seal", "Dragon and Phoenix Seal" and "Dragon Grass Seal".

The colorful paintings of seals are mainly used in important buildings outside the Forbidden City and in the palaces where Empress Dowager Cixi lives. The Palace of Supreme Harmony, Gan Qing Palace, hall of mental cultivation and other palaces often use "Golden Dragon Seal"; Jiaotai Hall, Cining Palace and other places use "dragon and phoenix seals" color paintings; Smaller temples in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, such as Hongyi Pavilion and Tijen Pavilion, use dragon grass and seals to paint. In all palaces where printed paintings are used, the front cushions are red. If the square is blue, draw a dragon; if it is green, draw a king cloud.

2. Spindle color painting

The level is second only to that of the seal. The picture uses simplified scroll petals to rotate flowers, and sometimes it can draw dragons and phoenixes. The two sides are framed with "",and the gold powder can be pasted or not. Generally used in secondary palaces or temples.

Rotating color painting, commonly known as "student" and "centipede circle", is second only to Hexi color painting. Its biggest feature is that petals with scroll patterns are used in the algae head, which is the so-called vortex. Zi Xuan color painting first appeared in the Yuan Dynasty, which was basically shaped in the early Ming Dynasty and further stylized in the Qing Dynasty. It is the most widely used color painting type in official buildings in Ming and Qing Dynasties.

The color picture of the spinner on each component is divided into three parts: square center, algae head and hoop head. This composition method existed as early as the Five Dynasties in the colorful paintings of Yunyan Temple Pagoda in Huqiu, and the practice of "corner leaf" in the architectural French color painting system in Song Dynasty further contributed to the emergence of three-stage composition of colorful paintings in Ming and Qing Dynasties. The colorful paintings on the Liang Fang in the corner of the promenade were directly influenced by the Song Dynasty, and the rotating composition and patterns originated from the practice of Ye Ruyi's head in the corner of the Song Dynasty. The overall shape of spiral flowers in Ming Dynasty is symmetrical, and the flower heart is composed of auspicious patterns such as lotus petals, ruyi and pomegranate, with free composition and rich changes. In the Ming Dynasty, the amount of gold used in rotary colored paintings was small, and the gold paste was limited to the flower heart (eye rotation), and the rest were mostly made by jade halo method, with bright and generous colors. Only cyan is used in the heart, and no patterns are drawn; Adjusting the pattern in the algae head according to the height of the light beam and the width of the algae head; The hoop head is generally narrow and the pattern in the box is rich.

By the Qing Dynasty, the use of spiral patterns and colors was gradually unified, and the patterns were more abstract and standardized, forming a regular geometric figure with arc tangent as the basic line. The square center usually accounts for one-third of the length of the whole component, and it is changed into an arc, and the square center is painted with various patterns: the dragon brocade is called the dragon brocade square center; Painting brocade flowers is called brocade heart; Only one ink line is drawn on the green background; Brush only the hollow with cyan background color. The center of the algae head is painted with a flower heart (eyeball rotation), and the eyeball rotation ring consists of two or three layers of spiral petals, which are called head petal, second petal and third petal in turn from outside to inside. The basic unit of spiral flowers is "one whole flower with two broken flowers" (that is, one whole spiral flower and two semi-spiral flowers). According to the length, width and combination of beam Fang members, there are many forms, such as hook hanging, one whole broken flower plus one road, two roads plus hook hanging, wedding reception and so on. Cross lines and pimp lines were changed from continuous curves in Ming Dynasty to oblique straight lines. According to the amount and color of gold used, the color paintings of spinners can be divided into several types, such as Jin Zhuo Mo Shi Mo Yu, Zhuo Yan Mo Shi Mo Yu, large gold thread, large ink thread, small gold thread, small ink thread, Wu Yamo, realgar wine and so on.

3. Soviet-style colored paintings

The grade is lower than the first two. There are landscapes, people's stories, flowers, birds, fish and insects in the pictures. , both sides with ""or () box. "()" is called "Yu Bao" by architects, and Soviet-style color painting evolved from Yu Bao color painting in the south of the Yangtze River. Hexi color painting is the main color painting type of official buildings in Qing Dynasty, which is called "harmonious color painting" in engineering practice. It is only used in important buildings such as royal palaces, temples, halls and gates, and is the highest level form of color painting. Hexi color painting is a new type of color painting based on the improvement of official color painting in the late Ming Dynasty to meet the needs of imperial power. The dragon and phoenix patterns, which symbolize imperial power, occupy a dominant position in the picture, with rigorous composition and complex patterns, and extensive use of powder immersion and gold plating, with gorgeous patterns.

Suzhou-style color painting originated from the traditional folk practices in Suzhou and Hangzhou in the south of the Yangtze River, hence the name "Suzhou Film". Generally used in small buildings in gardens, such as pavilions, cloisters, etc., it is also used on the forehead of quadrangles and hanging flower doors.

The background color of Soviet-style color paintings mostly adopts earth red (iron red), fragrant color, earth yellow or white as the keynote, with warm tones, flexible and vivid painting methods and a wide range of subjects. In the Ming Dynasty, the silk brocade industry in the south of the Yangtze River was developed, and most of the Suzhou paintings were based on various brocade patterns. By the Qing Dynasty, the content of Soviet-style colored paintings in the official renovation project became more and more abundant. Bo Gu artifacts, landscapes, flowers and birds, and people's stories abound, even mixed with western pavilions, among which the Soviet-style colored paintings in the promenade of the Summer Palace in Beijing are the most representative.

During the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, the Beijing Palace was renovated, and a large number of Jiangnan craftsmen were requisitioned, so Soviet-style color paintings were introduced to the north. After hundreds of years' changes, the pattern, layout, theme and color setting of Soviet-style color paintings are different from those of the original Jiangnan color paintings, especially the Soviet-style color paintings in Qianlong period, which are also called "official Soviet-style paintings" because of their gorgeous colors and luxurious decoration.

Third, supplementary description of Su's painting level:

Senior official Su Hua (golden thread Su Hua)

Zhong pin Guan su Hua

Su Hua, a junior official (ink line Su Hua)

The classification of official Soviet paintings in the hierarchy is very strict, and different types of colored paintings can not be abused in architectural decoration. The classification of Su Guan's paintings is more difficult. Unlike the colorful paintings of He and Zi Xuan, they all have the details of colorful paintings.

Color painting

Strictly speaking, even the arrangement order cannot be reversed, and there are detailed requirements for how much gold to use. Guan Su's paintings are relatively free in decoration and technology, which can be roughly divided into three levels:

1. Senior Guan Su painting (Jin Si Su painting), the main line is gold thread, and details such as clips, brocade patterns, peaks and flower clusters are decorated with gold nuggets or gold ink, and some hearts and boxes are decorated with golden flowers.

2. Mid-range official Soviet paintings, the main line is the ink line, and the details such as clips, bats and grass rolls are basically the practice of cutting ink and returning ink, and some places are golden.

3. Low-level official Su painting (ink line Su painting), the main line and decoration are ink lines, not gold.