Picture page of Jiaoyin hitting ball

[Picture page of Jiao Yin hitting ball]

Picture page of Jiao Yin hitting ball, Song Dynasty, silk version, color setting, 25 cm in length and 24.5 cm in width
No author’s stamp. A poem inscribed by Emperor Gaozong Hongli of the Qing Dynasty. This picture, the opposite picture and the framed seal of Gao Zonghong’s “Ancient and Rare Son of Heaven”, “Treasure of Eight Symbols and Eight Concepts”, “Treasure of the Supreme Emperor”, etc., are collected and sealed in 6 directions
The Painting of Jiaoyin Hitting Ball depicts the baby scenes in the aristocratic courtyard of the Southern Song Dynasty. Strange lake stones stand out in the courtyard, behind which there are lush plantain bushes. The young woman in front of the stone is watching the second boy play croquet with the woman beside him. One child was about to sit down and hit the ball with a wooden bat, while the other boy shouted to him urgently. The eyes of the four people in the picture fall on the small ball that the boy wants to hit at the same time. The ingenious conception and vivid plot show the author’s ability to observe characters and capture details of life. In the composition of this painting, the exquisite lake stone is cleverly placed in the heart of the painting, which plays a role in suppressing the picture with its own integrity, gathering the overlapping banana leaves and scattered characters, avoiding the frivolous feeling of the picture due to the complexity of the scenery. In addition, the lake stone widens the distance between the foreground characters and the background plantain, enhancing the vertical layering of the picture. In writing, the author pays attention to the contrast and contrast between objects and images. The characters and plantain are the center strokes, with neat and fine lines, like flowing clouds and flowing water; Coloring and rendering are appropriate, and fresh and bright colors help to express relaxed and lively themes. The lake stone is represented by thick brush and heavy ink, with strong lines and free and easy turning. The hardness of the lake stone successfully sets off the delicate and graceful image of the characters and the elegant and moist natural beauty of the plantain
In the Song Dynasty, there were a lot of works similar to the “Picture of Jiaoyin Hitting the Ball”. It is a major feature of painting in the Song Dynasty to depict folk life with realistic brushwork and reflect the aesthetic taste of “fine people in the marketplace”. At that time, there were many famous painters who painted genre paintings, such as Wang Juzheng, Zhang Zeduan, Li Song, Su Hanchen, and so on. Their works occupied an important position in the history of Chinese painting with a rich flavor of life
The original signer is Su Hanchen. Although this painting is close to Su Hanchen’s style of painting in terms of subject matter and brushwork, it is far inferior to Su Hanchen in terms of artistic expression. Therefore, this painting should be the work of an unknown painter of the same era as Su Hanchen
Description of Shiqu Treasure Collection of the Qing Dynasty.