Lang Shining Wuruitu Axis

[Lang Shining Merit Map Axis]

Merit Map Axis, Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty, painted by Lang Shining, silk, colored, 140 cm vertically and 84 cm horizontally
This is a work similar to a European still life painting. The celadon bottle is filled with cattail leaves, pomegranate flowers and sunflowers. The tray is filled with plums and cherries, and several Zongzi are scattered. The Zongzi, cattail grass and other objects in the picture suggest that the painting was drawn for the Dragon Boat Festival, a traditional Chinese festival. As far as the composition is concerned, the objects in the painting are concentrated and scattered, presenting an equilateral triangle layout, giving people a sense of visual stability. The painting method uses the changes of color depth and light and shade to display the three-dimensional sense of flowers, leaves, fruits and porcelain vases, especially the “highlight” technique of the shoulder of porcelain vases, which can be seen in European paintings but not in Chinese paintings, so that the viewer can clearly experience the skills of western oil painting. Although the picture is not dated, according to the archives of the Office of the Interior Affairs of the Qing Dynasty, this picture should have been painted in the tenth year of Yongzheng (1732), and belongs to Lang Shining’s early work in China
As a foreign visitor, in order to make Christianity widely spread in China, many missionaries who arrived in China in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties adopted the missionary strategy of integrating Eastern and Western cultures, and then gradually implementing the doctrine. Lang Shining is undoubtedly a thorough practitioner. Although his technique of still life in this picture is derived from European oil painting, its content reflects the customs that contain the essence of Chinese culture for more than 2000 years. It is precisely because of the eclectic skills of both Chinese and foreign, and the selection of subjects that cater to the interests of Chinese emperors that Lang Shining became a Western painter who was deeply appreciated by the two emperors, Yongzheng and Qianlong, and was greatly used. Many of his paintings survived and benefited from this
The signature of the paragraph: “I am Lang Shining’s painting”, with two seals under the seal, and the seal is illegible. The collection is printed with the “Treasure of Emperor Qianlong”