Messages Encoded in Bird-and-Flower Paintings (Part II).docVIP

Messages Encoded in Bird-and-Flower Paintings (Part II) 　　IN the West, red roses are a symbol of romantic love, yellow roses of friendship. To observe Valentine’s Day, various kinds of roses are marketed on China’s streets and lanes. In ancient China flowers symbolized sentiments. For instance, twin lotus flowers on one stalk or two trees with branches interlocked were imagined to be devoted couples. The lotus flower connotes nobility, and the peony, wealth and rank. For thousands of years these flowers have been key elements in the composition of bird-and-flower paintings. 　　 　　Lotus Flowers: Elegance and Purity 　　 　　In ancient China the lotus flower was admired for its statuesque elegance and purity, as described by the Song Dynasty Confucian scholar Zhou Dunyi (1017-1073) in his essay A Tale of the Lotus Lover as “Born out of sludge but unstained; delicately poised but without guile.” Zhou Dunyi likened himself to a lotus, holding himself aloof from politics and material pursuits. Since then, this flower has become a favorite motif for Chinese artists, and lotus flowers, one of the most common elements of bird-and-flower paintings. Its changes over four seasons and throughout the day are akin to specific auspicious meanings. 　　Yu Zhizhen (1915-1995) was the woman artist best known for her renderings of lotus flowers in the 1950s and 1960s. She was especially skilled at depicting the flowers in full bloom. In 1937, to learn from the more experienced older generations of lotus painters, she joined the Palace Museum’s Traditional Chinese Painting Research Institute. The artist started out by copying and researching important works from various dynasties in the museum’s collection. In 1946, she was formally apprenticed to Zhang Daqian (1899-1983), famous for his lotus flower paintings. In the 13 years from 1971 to 1984, she painted the huge bird-and-flower painting, employing the meticulous gongbi brushwork, for Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, with lotus flower