The Art of the Zodiac

Twelve Screens by Qing Dynasty painter Xu Gu was created on 1884. The animals in the picture have different expressions, and different plant backgrounds are constructed according to the animal shapes. The picture is fresh, cool and meaningful.

1944, it took Qi Baishi four years to complete the painting "Twelve Zodiac". In his inscription, he said: "Mr. Yan San has a lot of paintings and wants to paint twelve genera. If he hasn't seen them, the dragon can't draw them, so he will give them up. " Mr. Wang ordered the factory owner to take away two or three pieces of paper a year and work hard for four years to integrate them, which became a much-told story.

/kloc-in the winter of 0/945, Xu Beihong created the Zodiac Atlas in Panxi, Chongqing, and drew mice, snakes, dragons, dogs and so on, which I seldom or never drew. This painting is ink and wash, colored paper, accurate animal modeling and elegant color. 20 14 was auctioned in Beijing for 46 million yuan.

Fan Ceng, a contemporary painter in China, borrows allusions from the zodiac and uses his fine lines to outline the ancient figures in China. This painting was sold in Rong Baozhai in autumn of 2004 for 3.74 million yuan. The decorative patterns of the zodiac in the Sui Dynasty began to be applied to bronze mirrors. With the zodiac as the main pattern, it is usually arranged in 12 grids, each grid has an animal pattern, which is often surrounded by green dragon, white tiger, suzaku, Xuanwu four gods or auspicious animals, tied flowers and gossip symbols, and the outer edge is usually serrated. Since then, bronze mirrors with zodiac patterns have been cast in all generations.

In the Song Dynasty, Gu Tao's "Qing Lu Yi Qi" contained twelve plates: "There is a plate in Tangku, which is yellow in color, three feet round and surrounded by objects. Yuan Hezhong, use it occasionally, and feel things change with time. In the morning, flowers and plants are playing with dragons, and in the afternoon they become snakes and horses. " The twelve animal heads of Yuanmingyuan were designed by Lang Shining, a foreign court painter in Qianlong period, and Jiang Anren, a French missionary, which combined the images of Chinese and western zodiac animals. If the bull head is different from the traditional bull image in China, learn from the Spanish bull image; The word "Wang" on the forehead of the tiger head represents the traditional tiger pattern in China, but the tiger head slightly like a lion is the image of a European tiger.

The bronze statues of the twelve animal heads are located on the 12 stone platform of the fan-shaped sprinkler in front of Haiyan Hall. On the south bank are rats, tigers, dragons, horses, monkeys and dogs; There are cows, rabbits, snakes, sheep, chickens and pigs on the north shore. The portraits are all animal heads, with bronze heads and stone bodies connected by hollow water pipes. Every hour, the Chinese zodiac at that time spouted water from his mouth; At noon, twelve bronze statues spewed out at the same time. This set of animal heads is actually a giant hydraulic clock.

After the British and French allied forces burned the Yuanmingyuan, the bronze statue of the animal head was lost overseas. At an auction in Hong Kong in 2000, the heads of cows, tigers and monkeys appeared, and the heads of the twelve animals became the symbol of the lost overseas cultural relics in Yuanmingyuan. Through various efforts, as of 20 14, seven animal heads, including cattle, monkeys, tigers, pigs, horses, rats and rabbits, have returned to China. It is said that the dragon head is in Taiwan Province Province, and the whereabouts of the four animal heads, namely, snake, chicken, dog and sheep, are still unknown. Zodiac New Year pictures are closely related to New Year's festivals, and some of them are calendars, which become symbols of happiness and auspiciousness. The new year pictures of the zodiac are all painted, and some only draw the zodiac of that year. In the Qing Dynasty, the Wuqiang New Year picture of Hebei Province, "The Lotus Born Your Son", is surrounded by continuous children, which means that "your son gives birth to your son", while the pattern around the zodiac is looking forward to the gathering of many animals, many children and many blessings.

The four major folk New Year pictures-Yangliuqing in Tianjin, Yangjiabu in Shandong, Taohuawu in Suzhou and Mianzhu in Sichuan-all have zodiac themes. The Qing Dynasty Yangliuqing New Year Pictures have a set of four screens, each of which is for twelve ladies to watch the animals of the zodiac. In Yangjiabu, Shandong Province, there are also twelve dolls holding twelve animals. Suzhou Taohuawu does not have the tradition of New Year pictures of the zodiac, but in 2006, Taohuawu Woodcut New Year Pictures Society first produced the New Year pictures "Lucky Golden Pig". Folk paper-cutting belongs to plane modeling and has distinct regional characteristics. There are four main forms of paper-cutting on the theme of the zodiac: one is the independent shape of the zodiac, such as the annual New Year's greetings; The second is the auspicious combination of the zodiac, such as "snake rabbit"; Third, the combination of the zodiac and characters, such as a mouse marrying a woman; The fourth is the Zodiac Congress. The four compositions all reflect the characteristics of the animal zodiac, which is different from the general animal theme.

Due to the differences in customs and habits, different places have different emphases on paper-cutting with the same theme, such as "A mouse marries a woman". Shandong pays attention to clear lines and Shaanxi is lively and festive.

Qi Xiuhua, Gaomi, Shandong Province, whose works show a three-dimensional sense beyond planarization, which is 1997 "The Golden Bull Divides its hoof" and was selected as a stamp of the zodiac; Yan 'an master Bai Fenglian's realistic paper-cut series of the zodiac; Dou Guishu's masterpiece "Mix and Match Fifty Pairs of Happy Chinese Zodiac Pictures" in Doumazhuang Village, Hebi City ... The earliest Chinese Zodiac stamp in the world is 1950, the year of the tiger stamp issued in Japan, with the pattern of "Tiger Picture" raised in the distant mountains. China, Hongkong and Taiwan Province issued the first set of Zodiac stamps in 1967 and 1968 respectively.

Chinese mainland issued the first Zodiac stamp on February 1980, and the face value of the first Year of the Monkey stamp was 0.08 yuan. The pattern comes from the painter Huang Yongyu, who is an embarrassing little monkey. The stamps are designed by Shao Bolin, with auspicious red as the background, coated with gold powder and overprinted with shadow carvings. The circulation of this monkey ticket is only 5 million. As of 20 15, the market value of a single page is10.2 million yuan, and the whole page is worth more than one million yuan.

The first round of Zodiac stamps (1980- 199 1) used decorative patterns in white and color, and then adopted the methods of public solicitation and anonymous selection. The second round of stamps (1992-2003) has two tickets, one is a folk handicraft with the image of the zodiac, and the other is China's calligraphy of the zodiac. Various folk arts, such as paper-cutting, New Year pictures, clay sculpture, cloth art, shadow play, etc. And integrate different calligraphy styles into it. The third round (20-2003 1 5) was restored to1piece, with rectangular specifications, more modern design concept, fashionable expression methods and obvious cartoon style, but it borrowed from traditional colors and folklore to varying degrees. The fourth round of monkey tickets was issued on 20 16, again designed by Huang Yongyu.

Western countries also issue zodiac stamps. 1993, the U.S. postal service issued the first set of zodiac stamps to commemorate the contribution of Chinese to the United States. By the end of 2008, 82 countries and regions had issued zodiac stamps. Zodiac stamps truly internationalize the ancient China Zodiac culture. Coins made in the zodiac are used not only to ward off evil spirits, but also to claim money and spend money, mostly for folk casting and unofficial circulation. Ancient children were given money to wear when they were born, which prevailed in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China.

The front of the zodiac spending money is the zodiac pattern, or with local characters, and the back is mostly the comparison of gossip, star palace and auspicious time. Some have zodiac signs, mostly the wearer's zodiac signs; Some of them have all the constellations. ...

Hyundai also issues Zodiac coins. In 2003, the People's Bank of China issued the first 1 yuan Lunar New Year circulating commemorative coin, with the denomination and year printed on the front and the festive pattern of children playing on the back, reflecting the zodiac of that year from the costumes or toys. For example, in 2003, sheep coins were printed as dry branches by children holding sheep-shaped spring lanterns. From 20 15, the denomination of the currency in circulation of the second round of the Chinese zodiac was changed to 10 yuan, and the patterns were all pure images of the Chinese zodiac.