Rare Canvas for Painting – Patterned Ling
The canvas of the ’Nine Pearly Peaks in Green’ used a piece of patterned ‘Ling (twill weave silk)’, instead of using the regular choice of ‘Zhi (paper)’ or ‘Juan (plain weave silk)’. This artwork is the earliest example of painting on a ‘patterned Ling’ known to date.
The decorations on the Ling are concealed by the ink, which is not easily noticed. Emperor Qianlong reckoned that they were cranes on the tapestry; thus, he wrote, ‘The painter achieved an extraordinary expression on this tapestry with crane decorations.’ Can you see the pattern of cranes? In fact, this piece of tapestry does not consist of crane decorations.
This exhibition reinforced the patterns through the specialized image process- the pattern of Luanque (phoenix and magpie) is its debut in public. The pattern includes a set of two phoenixes and four magpies flying up and down, as if patrolling in the sky with clouds.
Once Gongwang Huang stepped into the fame, people offered exquisite materials for him to place his paintbrush on. This Ling tapestry with Luanque patterns is believed to be a precious Northern Song production. Huang courageously took on this Ling for his painting, meticulously planning his layout, and his efforts accomplished this masterpiece of Taoist landscape painting.
