China Popular Itineraries |
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Yan Liben (in the Tang Dynasty) : The Imperial Carriage |
Yah Liben (? - 673), painter of the Tang Dynasty, excelled in painting Buddhism and Taoism, figures, horses, rivers, and mountains as well as por-trait painting. He drew material for his paintings from the imperial palace, aristocrats, officials, social political, and historical figures and events. He. Bad painted the Eighteen Scholars of Qin Government, the Twenty-Four Merito-rious Statesmen of Ling Yan Temple and other paintings in recognition of those who had rendered outstanding service. These are political portraits of re-al people. His paintings are remarkable for appealing to the early prosperity of Tang Dynasty and its feudal autocracy.
The Imperial Carriage, (picture No. 2, see p. 676) a facsimile of the Song Dynasty, is an important extant work of Yan Liben' s. It describes the important historical event in the 14th year of Zhen Guan of the Tang Dynasty. Songtsam Gambo, king of the Tubo Kingdom in Lhasa, out of his admiration for the institutions of the Tang Government, dispatched Lu Dong-zan to Chang An to give the message that he wanted to marry the princess of Tang and establish everlasting relationship with the Tang Dynasty, which subse-quently was approved of by Tang Taizong. Yan Liben chose to paint that part of the event in which Tang Taizong was interviewing Lu Dongzan. At the right side of the picture Tang Taizong sits in the imperial carriage, escorted by various maids of the palace; and on the left, Lu Dongzan is ushered in by the master of ceremony. In this picture, through the smooth forehead, the sharp and intelligent eyes and the particular moustache of Taizong Li Shimin, Yan Liben presented an image of an emperor who had far-sightedness, and the de-termination to run the state affairs well and to ensure the national security. Not only did he successfully depict Lu Dongzan's admiration of Taizong Li Shimin, but also truly and properly reflected the imagery of different ranks, nationalities, identities, and dispositions. The whole picture, with no back-ground but in a brief style, vividly recorded the grand occasion in history that marked the friendly relationship between the Chinese and the Tibetan. It has a high value both historically and artistically. It is a good manifestation of his painting style involving hard lines like iron wire, colors of classic elegance and quietness, reserved dynamic modeling and meticulous depiction of expres-sions. Compared with its predecessors, his figure paintings demonstrates more powerful expressiveness and are therefore regarded as "the superb touch" which holds an important position in the history of painting. |
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