The Joys of Floriculture
During the Southern Song dynasty, viewing flowers, writing poetry about them, and engaging in floriculture were all very much in vogue. These pastimes were in fact all continuations of Northern Song dynasty royalty and literati's similar passion for poetically singing the praises of various flowers and plants. Painters, like poets, had the ability to portray the world and its objects in exquisite detail, and they too turned their brushes towards giving full expression to flowers' beauty and vitality.
Painting from Life of Poppy Flowers- Ai Xuan, Song dynasty
Ai Xuan was a native of Jinling (present day Nanjing). A talented painter of flowers, bamboo, birds, and mammals, his remaining works are exceedingly rare. This painting is a renders the bright, colorful glory of poppy flowers in full bloom in summertime. The stems and leaves were outlined with a fine brush, while the flowers were painted with powdered clamshell pigments and colored washes, a technique that gave them equal parts density and brightness.
The accompanying poetry was written by Empress Yang (1162-1233), consort of Emperor Ningzong (r. 1194-1224); it carries the imprint of a seal reading "Emperor's Calligraphy." The style of calligraphy is that of the empress's later years, when she shifted from writing delicate characters to those with ample, lustrous appearances. The term "Palace of Eternal Springtime" appears in the poem—it is a reference to a side hall in the palace of Northern Song dynasty emperor Zhenzong. During the Southern Song dynasty, Zhao Sheng recorded this palace hall's name in Important Affairs of Court and Country, adding that it was a place where magnificent feasts were held. This union of poetry and painting allows the splendor of poppy flowers to blossom before the viewer, accenting the auspicious settings enjoyed in imperial palaces. The color palette, which was chosen in accord with gongbi painting methods, yields poppy flowers as glorious as the sun.
Yellow Oranges and Green Mandarins- Lin Chun, Song dynasty
Much as with flowers and certain plants, oranges and mandarins were an object of aesthetic appreciation in the Southern Song dynasty court. Zhou Mi's Remembrances of Wulin records that, on royal grounds, "oranges and mandarins could be enjoyed from the Gilded Pavilion at Lucid Swallow Palace." During the Southern Song dynasty, a trend of venerating literature dating to the Northern Song dynasty's Yuanyou reign period began under Emperor Gaozong, resulting in the poetry of Su Shi and his contemporaries rising in popularity and importance. A couplet from one of Su Shi's poems which reads, "remember, of all the beautiful sights the seasons bring, none are better than early winter, when the oranges are yellow and the mandarins are green," was especially relished during this period.
The left border of this painting is signed "Lin Chun" in regular script. Lin painted this small fan's surface by outlining branches laden with leaves and citrus fruit. The colored washes used to portray the oranges were further dotted with color, yielding gold-like patina, while the mandarins were rendered using washes of green ink with superb tonal variation. These advanced techniques for painting lifelike scenery deftly elicit the poetic sentiments in Su Shi's words.
Subtle Scents, Diffuse Shadows- Ma Lin, Song dynasty
This painting is unsigned, but it was previously catalogued as "‘Subtle Scents, Diffuse Shadows' by Ma Lin." It portrays white plum blossoms whose stems and calyxes were pigmented with malachite and carmine. This coloring matches the description of "green calyx plum blossoms" found in Fan Chengda's (1126-1193) Plum Taxonomy. Fan wrote, "in the Wu region there is another varietal, the stem and calyx of which are slightly green, and whose rims are of a pale purplish-red. It is most rare." This painting depicts the imagery found in a couplet by the Northern Song dynasty poet Lin Bu (968-1028), which reads, "Diffuse shadows crisscross the clear, shallow waters; subtle scents undulate beneath the twilight moon." The inclining branches of a plum tree can be seen mingling with leaves of bamboo. The composition moves diagonally from right to left, the angular turns of the plum branch painted with consummate elegance atop a featureless backdrop. In the reflection of the plum branch and bamboo leaves on the surface of the water below, the white flower buds and green stems and calyxes can be vaguely discerned. Refraining from painting the moon, but painting the shadows and reflections cast by the moonlight, the artist reached the apogee of refinement.