Study on Decorative Patterns of Ceramic Landscape Paintings in Qing Dynasty

LI Ying

Compared with the previous generation， the ceramic art of the Qing Dynasty made a great breakthrough in modeling and decoration， reaching the peak of Chinese ceramic production. At this time， the ceramic decorative patterns continued to innovate in inheritance and add new themes. Among them， the emergence of landscape painting decorative patterns reflected the unique artistic charm of ceramics in the Qing Dynasty， which not only found a new space for Chinese landscape painting， but also added new vitality to Chinese ceramic art. This paper makes a preliminary introduction to the development of ceramic landscape decoration in the Qing Dynasty.

Keywords： Qing Dynasty ceramics， decorative patterns， landscape painting theme， artistic expression

The rise of Chinese landscape painting was in the Wei， Jin， Southern and Northern Dynasties. Before the Wei， Jin， southern and Northern Dynasties， figure painting was the most prosperous. Zhang Yanyuan of the Tang Dynasty defined the role of figure painting in the records of famous paintings of previous dynasties： Firstly， Zhang Yanyuan pointed out in his article that the role of painting is to educate the people， safeguard the principles of human relations and discipline， and draw images （i.e. figure paintings） of loyal officials， meritorious people and high moral people to commend their meritorious deeds and achievements； Secondly， people can always see their faces and think of their achievements， so as to standardize their behavior.

At this time， China was unified， peaceful and prosperous. The rulers pursued Confucianism to rule the whole country. Confucianism advocated loyalty， filial piety， integrity and righteousness， advocated “learning makes an official”， and studied as an official， so as to participate in the governance of the country. For political rule， painting is undoubtedly of great significance， and can even become a tool for ruling and educating people’s thoughts.

In the Wei， Jin， southern and Northern Dynasties， the whole country fell into chaos， wars continued， the country was divided， and the previous rules and disciplines no longer existed. In the war years， Confucianism was ignored， scholars were not valued， and they lost the channels to study and become officials. Their intelligence and wisdom had nowhere to be implemented. The darkness of politics and political persecution prompted them to be dishevelled and angry， Began the search for self-worth. At this time， Buddhist thought was introduced into China and integrated with the local Taoist thought， forming the popular metaphysical thought in the Wei， Jin， southern and Northern Dynasties. Since then， scholars have been indifferent to fame and wealth， lived in seclusion in the mountains and forests， drank tea， talked about metaphysics， and expressed their feelings for the landscape. Since then， landscape poetry and landscape painting came into being.

Landscape painting has experienced long-term development. After the Tang and Song Dynasties， the Song Dynasty implemented the political policy of emphasizing literature and neglecting martial arts. The status of scholars has greatly improved. They love art and indulge in painting art. Landscape painting has ushered in the golden age of development， “literati painting” （the paintings of literati and scholars with status and status are relative to professional painters. Since then， the status of professional painters has always been lower than that of literati painters） have been greatly developed.

Landscape painting reached the peak of development again in the Yuan Dynasty. Scholars in the Yuan Dynasty had a similar fate to those in the Wei， Jin， northern and Southern Dynasties. They lost their promotion channels and were subjected to ethnic discrimination everywhere. They once again began to explore landscape painting. Landscape painting accelerated the pace of stepping onto the historical stage， and there were famous landscape painters such as the “Four painters” and Zhao Mengfu.

Landscape Painting and Ceramic Decorative Patterns in the Qing Dynasty

In the Qing Dynasty， two famous painting schools emerged in the painting world， namely “four wang” and“four monks”， which are two painting schools with different painting styles. The “four monks” represent the personality school with innovative spirit. The “four wang” is called the orthodox school， which is composed of Orthodox literati painters officially certified. These two camps lasted for a century， It influenced the creation of landscape painting in the Qing Dynasty.

Landscape painting in the Qing Dynasty has become the most important and most important painting variety in the history of painting. The emperors of the Qing Dynasty， including Kangxi， Yongzheng and Qianlong， were interested in painting. Emperor Kangxi valued the painting art of Dong Qichang （representative of orthodox painters in the Ming Dynasty） in the Ming Dynasty， and Emperor Qianlong was also an art lover， paying special attention to Zhao Mengfu’s artistic achievements. It can be seen that the official artistic fashion of the Qing Dynasty advocated the so-called traditional “orthodox school”. The “four wang” in the Qing Dynasty refer to Wang Shimin， Wang Jian， Wang Hui and Wang Yuanqi respectively. These four people were not only famous landscape painters， but also played an important role in the political arena at that time. Wang Hui also drew the South tour for Emperor Kangxi. Wang Yuanqi was appointed as the editorial officer of peiwenzhai calligraphy and painting manual by Emperor Kangxi， which won the attention of the emperor. We can see how important his position in the painting world was at that time.

At the same time， the rulers of the Qing Dynasty also actively participated in the official ceramic production and sent officials to supervise the production of official kiln ceramics. These officials often have strong artistic cultivation. Liu Yuan， a kiln official during the Kangxi period， said in the draft of the history of the Qing Dynasty：

Liu Yuan， also known as Ban Ruan， is a native of Xiangfu， Henan Province， and is subordinate to the Han military flag. In the middle of Kangxi， the head of the official punishment department， worshipped the inner court and supervised Wuhu and Jiujiang customs. He has high painting skills. He draws bamboo on the wall. It is very vivid and praised by many people. At that time， Jingdezhen， Jiangxi opened a ceramic factory. Liu Yuan sent hundreds of porcelain samples， integrating the styles of the previous generation and that time， as well as innovative styles. They were very ingenious. The painted figures， landscapes， flowers and birds were extremely successful and successful， and their delicacy was better than that of the porcelain factory of the Ming Dynasty.1

These conditions jointly promoted landscape painting to occupy a place in ceramic decoration in the Qing Dynasty. It is not surprising that landscape painting appeared in ceramic decoration.

The Artistic Expression of Chinese Landscape Painting on Ceramics

Before the Qing Dynasty， there was no ceramic product with Chinese landscape painting as the main decorative pattern. We can see from the existing data that the ceramics of the Ming Dynasty took the landscape pattern as the background of the figure story map and appeared on the ceramics in the form of auxiliary patterns. The character story is the main body of the performance， as shown in the picture bowl of Lady appreciating the moon and the picture bowl of character story in the figure below.2

The landscape painting on ceramics in the Qing Dynasty had a turning change compared with the previous period. Landscape painting began to be moved to ceramic decoration as the main body. This phenomenon not only opens up a new development direction for Chinese landscape painting， but also adds new themes to Chinese ceramic decorative patterns. It is also similar to Chinese landscape painting in artistic expression. This paper will describe it from three aspects： the five colors of ink， the integration of poetry， calligraphy， painting and printing， and artistic conception.

Ink is Divided Into Five Colors

Chinese landscape painting has always attached importance to the use of pen and ink. Before the Five Dynasties， landscape paintings were colored landscape paintings combined with ink and pigment. After the Five Dynasties， only brush and ink were needed to achieve a landscape painting.

Zhang Yanyuan of the Tang Dynasty once pointed out that Chinese characters and paintings are one at the source in the records of famous paintings of previous dynasties. The tools of writing and painting are the same. They all use brush and ink. Therefore， people who are good at painting must be good at calligraphy.

Han Zhuo of the Northern Song Dynasty pointed out in his “complete works of landscape” that “pen establishes its shape and quality， ink divides its Yin and Yang， and landscape is formed from pen and ink.” He explained the important role of brush and ink in landscape painting. The role of brush is for modeling， and ink is used to distinguish Yin and Yang and three-dimensional feeling.

Ink is divided into five colors， which means that the color of ink can show multiple levels of light and dark. Ink alone has achieved the color beauty of Chinese landscape painting. The cyan pigment used in landscape painting on Qing dynasty ceramics， especially blue and white porcelain， is similar to that of ink.

Porcelain craftsmen use green materials freely and use one color to show a yin-yang， three-dimensional and changing landscape. In addition to the color expression， the composition of the landscape painting on ceramics is also the same as that of Chinese landscape painting， focusing on the shaping of the sense of distance and space， the primary and secondary changes of mountains， and the size changes of trees in the distance and near. There are banks， trees and water near， mountains in the distance， clear primary and secondary peaks， overlapping mountains and far-reaching artistic conception.

Integration of Poetry， Calligraphy and Painting

After the Yuan Dynasty， Chinese landscape painting became the representative of literati painting. In addition to the performance of the picture， landscape painting also has the performance of poetry and prose. The content of poetry and prose is mostly the words that the painter expresses his thoughts and will. In addition， seal is also indispensable in landscape painting， which is the meaning of the integration of poetry， book， painting and seal.

In the ceramic landscape painting， we can also see the common phenomenon of the integration of poetry， calligraphy， painting and printing. The above picture takes the enamel color landscape painting of four seasons in the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty as an example. The landscape painting is drawn with the traditional Chinese color landscape painting method. The four sides of the bottle draw the landscape pictures of spring， summer， autumn and winter respectively. Each picture is written with poems depicting the four seasons： for example “Spring to the heart is rich， beautiful， and the Wutong rain is always pleasant.” Feng Zou Valley rounded far Sebei， the Xia Hefeng peak is showing the bright Sichuan.

Each landscape map is also equipped with a seal， both poetry， calligraphy and painting， which is the so-called “painting in poetry and poetry in painting”.

Profound Artistic Conception

Wang Wei， a poet and painter of the Tang Dynasty， pointed out in his article， Wang Wei praised the primacy of ink landscape painting. He thought that although landscape painting was painted on a small paper， it could show thousands of miles of scenery. After seeing landscape painting， you could feel the scenery everywhere as if it were right in front of you. The scenery of spring， summer， autumn and winter was written by the painter.

The so-called “artistic conception” is what Su Dongpo， a writer in the Song Dynasty， said： “it comes from outside the image”. Generally speaking， when we see a landscape painting， we can think of or feel the natural landscape in the picture， forget the secular life， and seem to be in that natural landscape.

The creation of “artistic conception” in the ceramic landscape painting of the Qing Dynasty is undoubtedly successful. Through the shaping of pen and ink， the jumping of lines and the shaping of space， people are gradually “intoxicated” in the landscape. Just as Zong Bing， a painter in the Wei， Jin， southern and Northern Dynasties， mentioned in the preface to landscape painting that the motivation for creating landscape painting is just Changshen. For the viewer， it is not so.

With its unique charm， Chinese landscape painting created the decorative ceramic art of landscape painting in the Qing Dynasty， leaving us a rich artistic and cultural heritage， which is worthy of cherishing and paying attention to by every researcher.

Conclusion

In this paper， the development history of Chinese landscape painting and the application of Qing Dynasty landscape painting decoration in ceramics are briefly analyzed from two aspects： the landscape painting and ceramic decoration pattern in the Qing Dynasty and the artistic expression of Chinese landscape painting in ceramics. In the research process， the author tries to find the artistic expression characteristics of ceramic landscape painting decoration since the Qing Dynasty that are consistent with Chinese traditional landscape painting. The popularity of “landscape painting” as decoration on ceramic utensils is not only a new trend of social life interest， but also a manifestation of the secularization of the elegant art form of “landscape painting”. Since then， “landscape painting” has also become an important theme in Chinese ceramic decoration culture and began to become popular， leaving a rich artistic and cultural heritage for future generations.

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