The Combination Pattern Of Poems And Paintings In Imperial Paintings In Southern Song Dynasty

Empress Yang’s Poems and seals on a large number of paintings accomplished by court painters can be found in Chinese painting books and existing drawings.And some of seals and signatures like Yang Meizi,Yang Wa and Yang Xing,which arouse researchers’ argument,are actually what Empress Yang calls herself.Whereas Yang Wa related to Wang Shizhen’s inscription in Ma Yuan’s Water Painting is a misreading.Moreover,Empress Yang cites and quotes others’ poems to write on these paintings,which reflects that court paintings have developed into a new stage,namely court painters drawing according to poems written by emperors and empresses.The procedure is totally different with traditional poems for paintings.Because in the respect of relationship between words and images,the later is that poems aim to describe and clarify present paintings.While the former is that paintings visualize the stuffs in poems,which not only enables viewers find the stuffs in both of paintings and poems,but also makes the paintings meaningful.Painting according to poems derives Eastern Han to Southern Song and it is a period in which how poems and paintings combine gradually.Luo Shen Fu Tu,Mao Shi Tu created at this time present generational practice.This kind of practice reaches the peak in the Southern Song.Ma yuan’s paintings according to Empress Yang’s poems,Especially,are representative works for mutual interpretation between poems and paintings,as well as layout.And the requirement for composition of poems and paintings is the reason why Ma Yuan chooses to depict partial landscape paintings.There are three reasons about the phenomenon.For starters,the function of poems and paintings becomes entertaining people instead of educating them after Tang Dynasty.As the shared component of poems and paintings,then,visualized figures play a role of medium to connect poems and paintings and enable painters to visualize poems.Last but not least,the education about philology in Imperial Painting Academy during Northern Song has helped court painters distinguish words and identify stuffs.Therefore,they can visualize figures in the poems objectively and exactly.Based on the pattern,the theme of Ta Ge Painting is not eulogizing millennium,but praising Empress Yang’s minion Wang Ju-an who prefers to be a recluse rather than a officer.