Zhou Wenju plays chess again

[Picture of Zhou Wenju playing chess on the screen]

Picture of Zhou Wenju playing chess on the screen, five generations, painted by Zhou Wenju, silk, colored, 40.3 cm vertically and 70.5 cm horizontally
This picture is not printed by the author. It was identified by Mr. Xu Bangda as a copy from the Song Dynasty. In addition to the fake inscription and postscript of Shen Du and Wen Zhengming of the Ming Dynasty, there are also authentic ink inscriptions that are close to people’s minds. There are 16 seals in total, including Qian Yuan Ke Jiusi’s “Zhen Zhai”, Qing Liang’s Qingbiao’s “Tang Estate Approval”, An Qi’s “An Yi Zhou Family Treasure” and Qing Neifu’s “Qian Long’s Imperial Treasure”. Among them, the seals of the Song and Yuan dynasties, such as the “Zhai Zhen Zhai”, the “Double Dragon Seal”, the “Xuanhe”, and the “Zhenghe”, are all fake
The picture depicts the scene of four noble men at the chess table in a beautifully decorated room. They have different attitudes and manners. Some urge the players to play, some are hesitant, and some are silent, which truly reflects the different attitudes of chess watchers and chess players. The names of these characters are not marked in the painting. At present, after several generations of in-depth research by scholars, the protagonist and content of this painting have been gradually identified. The picture depicts the happy life of Li Jing, the leader of the Five Dynasties Southern Tang Dynasty. The record of the plot of this picture was first seen in Wang Anshi’s poem “Jiang Lin’s Several Invitations to View the Calligraphy and Painting of Three Libraries” in Volume 50 of the Collection of Wang Wengong in the Northern Song Dynasty. The poem refers to the recognition of Li Jing as the person wearing a high hat in the picture; Wang Mingqing, in the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, recorded the process of his textual research with the portrait of Li Jing in his family’s collection in his “Three Records of Flying Zhu”; Yuan Jue’s Collection of Qing Rong Scholars and Lu Youren’s Yanbei Magazine of the Yuan Dynasty proved that the chess players were the four brothers Li Jing, and the screen painting was the poetry of Bai Juyi’s “My Sleeping”. Finally, the specific position of the figure in the picture is indicated by Zhuang Husun’s postscript recorded in Wu Rongguang’s “The Story of the Bitter Chou Selling the Summer” of the Qing Dynasty: “One person in the picture is sitting in the south, that is, the main figure of Li Zhong of the Southern Tang Dynasty; one person is sitting in the left side of the bed, that is, Wang Jingsui of the Northern Jin Dynasty; the two people are sitting in the corner of the bed to play chess, Wang Jingda of Qi and Wang Jingxuan of Jiang.”
As a realistic painting, the author vividly portrays the characteristics of the portrait, It also truthfully depicts the living utensils in the room, such as pitcher, screen, go, suitcase, couch table, tea set, etc., which provides important image data for future generations to study the shapes of various living utensils used in the Five Dynasties period and the activities of the early Chinese royal family’s music collection. The author draws the clothing patterns of the characters in the figure with “trembling brush”, shows the texture of the cloth patterns, and accurately outlines the shape changes of the characters under different dynamics, showing Zhou Wenju’s profound skill in shaping with lines. Although mineral pigments are mostly used for color setting in this drawing, they are not dyed layer by layer or heavily coated and repainted, but only lightly colored after the line is drawn. The patterns on the edge of several tables are hooked and dyed with slightly dark blue and green; Although Li Jing’s robe is also dyed with cinnabar, it is very simple, but the waiter’s belt is made of heavier cinnabar, in contrast with the light robe. The clothes of the other three were not dyed at all
Because the screen in the background of this picture is also painted with a screen, people call this picture a “double screen” picture. It has been widely transferred and copied by painters of various dynasties, and has been recorded in dozens of books, such as the Xuanhe Paintings Manual of the Song Dynasty, the Qinghe Calligraphy and Painting Boat of Zhang Chou of the Ming Dynasty, and the Collection of Calligraphy and Painting in Shigutang by Bian Yongyu of the Qing Dynasty. The painting in the Forbidden City should be a fine copy of the Song Dynasty, even if it is not the original work of Zhou Wenju
This picture has been scattered among the people since it left the court in the Xuantong Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty. After 1949, the National Cutural Heritage Administration bought this picture from Yu Lianke, a cultural relics dealer in Changchun, Jilin Province, and later incorporated it into the Tibetan Palace Museum along with Gao Kegong’s “Autumn Mountain Twilight Painting” and Ren Renfa’s “Two Horses Painting” of the Yuan Dynasty
Records of Moyuan Huiguan, Hu Jing’s Notes of the Western Qing Dynasty, and the Third Collection of Shiqu Treasures in the Inner House of the Qing Dynasty
Zhou Wenju, whose birth and death are unknown, was born in the 10th century in Jurong (now in Jiangsu), and is waiting for the imperial edict of the Southern Tang Painting Academy. When Li Jing was the center leader, he was famous for his ability to draw figures, carriages and horses, paintings of terraces and paintings of the life of nobles in the court. During the reign of the later emperor Li Yu, he was often instructed to paint. He was sent to see Han Xizai’s dinner life like Gu Hongzhong. However, the Han’s dinner picture he painted failed to pass down. His style of painting was greatly influenced by the trembling strokes of the later master Li Yu. He likes to paint with thin, straight and trembling strokes, and is famous for his unique style of painting.