Xia Yong Yueyang Tower Drawing Page

[Drawing page of the Yueyang Tower of Xia Yong]

“Drawing of the Yueyang Tower” page, Yuan Dynasty, Xia Yonghua, silk, ink, 24.4 cm in length and 26.2 cm in width
This picture is not written by the author. On the upper right, there are 23 lines of “The Story of Yueyang Tower” in small regular script. There is the side of “The Imperial Family Collection of Atlas” printed by Jiancang. The seal on the picture reads “The life of Wu Di Li Zuo Xian is really appreciated”
The postscript of Li Zuoxian in the Qing Dynasty: “The Yueyang Tower is exquisitely painted, and the eaves of the flying pavilion are in perfect order. The characters in the building are delicate, and almost like ghost work. The Yueyang Tower is inscribed with regular script like flies and mosquitoes, which makes Li Lou blind. I don’t know how the author writes. These paintings and calligraphies are unique skills of Song people. After the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, they have become” Guangling San “. People can’t compare with each other in ancient and modern times, that is, art can be seen. Li Zuoxian knows.” Seal: “Zhu Peng”
Yueyang Tower is located in today’s Hunan Province. It is said that it was the first military parade platform for Lu Su, a famous general of the Eastern Wu Dynasty, to train sailors during the Three Kingdoms Period. It is also famous for the famous Northern Song Dynasty writer Fan Zhongyan’s famous “The Story of Yueyang Tower”. It, together with Tengwang Pavilion and Yellow Crane Tower, is known as the “three famous buildings” in ancient China
The composition and technique of this painting are the same as that of another piece of Yueyang Tower in the Palace Museum. It is only a fan and a album. Its fine and meticulous line drawing can be said to be “as fine as a mosquito’s eye, and as good as a ghost’s work”. This method of drawing architecture with ink and line drawing has become so popular since the Yuan Dynasty that Li Zuoxian of the Qing Dynasty mistook this drawing for the work of the Song Dynasty.