Riding the wind of rebirth

Chapter 1790 Too hasty

Mr. Wang went on to say, "The most important feature of Bodhisattvas before the Song Dynasty is their masculine appearance. Bodhisattvas have plump faces, pierced ears, a halo at the back of their heads, and two beautiful beards."

"The figure is sitting cross-legged, wearing a crown with a transformed Buddha in it. He is wearing a cassock, with his chest bare and decorated with a necklace. He has six arms, the upper two arms each hold a round wheel with a bird and a tree in the wheel representing the sun and the moon respectively. The left hand of the middle two arms is in the mudra of preaching, and the right hand is blurred and the mudra is not discernible. The left hand of the lower two arms holds a lotus, and the right hand holds an object that cannot be discerned."

"On the upper right side there is a banner with the inscription: 'Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva who saves the suffering'. On the left and right are two female donors, wearing double buns and dark red long skirts."

"Compared with the silk painting of the Wish-fulfilling Wheel Bodhisattva, we can see that the details of the two paintings, especially the six-armed Dharma instrument, are very consistent."

"Another more similar comparison is the six-armed Avalokitesvara silk painting in the British Museum."

"Because both are on silk, the two are more similar. Guanyin occupies a very large proportion of the whole picture. Only in the blank space on both sides are there winding lotus stems, supporting the small Bodhisattva statues in the two upper corners of the picture. In the two lower corners of the picture, there are similar small statues kneeling, holding flowers and looking up. However, the British Museum's painting is difficult to distinguish due to fading and discoloration. There is also a large area of ​​silk missing between the two."

"This damage is very serious. Moreover, the gold pigment used on the Guanyin has mostly fallen off. Fortunately, the integrity of the original work has been preserved."

"The main deity is completely contained in a large white wheel bordered by a lotus. The halo has a wave pattern, and the back has interlaced white triangles and colorful patterns. The outer edges of the halo and back are surrounded by a circle of yellow 'flame'."

"In general, the large-scale painting of Avalokitesvara with similar characteristics is the one in the British Museum. The one in the British Museum is seriously damaged and has not been published as a color plate. This slide photo was obtained through the relationship with Cambridge University."

"The original painting we see now is larger than the one in the British Museum. The difference is that the central statue is slightly smaller, with blank space around it, and eight small Bodhisattvas and the Four Heavenly Kings are added. There are more figures and the painting is more delicate, making the central Avalokitesvara more elegant and prominent."

"Because it is a copy from the Six Dynasties, it was passed down in an orderly manner at least until the Song Dynasty, and the preservation environment after that should have been quite good. Therefore, the restored scroll is not only as complete as new, but also provides us with first-hand and complete data for studying Buddhist statues in the most important transition period in the history of Chinese painting. The degree of preservation is far better than the six-armed Avalokitesvara statues in the British Museum and the Palace Museum."

"So we believe this is the first authentic work of Cao Buxing to be discovered."

Mr. Qi still felt a little regretful: "Historically, Cao Buxing's best paintings were dragons and horses. It's a pity that they are not in this painting. We can only see some auspicious beasts on the armor of the Heavenly King."

"The most controversial one is actually the fourth painting, 'Hanwu Shooting a Dragon'. There is no signature on this painting, so we can only judge it comprehensively based on the background and mounting of the painting, as well as the material and weaving method of the painting silk. It is a work by a Song Dynasty artist, but it is difficult to judge whether it is a copy of Zhang Sengyou's 'Hanwu Shooting a Dragon'."

"From the current consensus, we can be sure that this is a painting with a strong Six Dynasties style. Judging from the patterns on Emperor Wu's clothes, he has not been deeply influenced by the Six Essays. The Emperor Wu in the painting has not become stereotyped like the emperors in later Chinese paintings, and still retains a considerable 'creative personality'."

"This can be seen from the carriage and clothing of Emperor Wu of Han, which are basically the same as those in the painting of the Goddess of Luo River of the same period." "In the first volume of the painting of the Goddess of Luo River, there is a scene where four people escort Cao Zhi out of the capital. Two riders hold Cao Zhi with bows. Cao Zhi wears a Tongtian crown and sits on a chariot. The painting of Emperor Wu of Han shooting a dragon has two more crown beams than Cao Zhi, but everything else is the same."

"Among the guards holding him, two were unarmored, and two held bows. They were not armored, but wore white silk robes and were running fast. This is a relatively realistic record of the real scenes of riding a carriage or hunting in the Han Dynasty."

"It is worth noting that the arm loops and arm guards used in the "shooting dragon" painting. The arm loops are a bunch of ribbons that pass through the sleeves, and then the long sleeves are rolled up, and then the ribbons are ended at the back to achieve the purpose of fixing the rolled-up sleeves."

Chen Shizhong said: "Such attire appears in "Night Banquet of Han Xizai" and "Along the River During the Qingming Festival", but I need to remind everyone that in both paintings, such attire appears on low-ranking maids and coolies. For the nobles or even the emperor in the portrait, such a creation method would definitely be "a great disapproval of the world" after the Song Dynasty."

The first voice that Zhou Zhi was somewhat familiar with said, "Judging from the material of this painting, it is from the Song Dynasty. However, the subject matter of the emperor's clothing is very different from that of the emperor. Doesn't that mean it is a true copy? A copy of the original work from the Six Dynasties, which was created relatively freely?"

"It is also possible that the people of the Song Dynasty fabricated the Six Dynasties based on their own experience?" Another voice that Zhou Zhi was somewhat familiar with said, "Compared to the other three paintings, the evidence for this one is still not sufficient."

"But we still have to consider one more thing. This painting and the other three appeared at the same time." Chen Shizhong said: "Among the other three paintings, two have been confirmed to be Song Dynasty copies based on the originals, one is a highly authentic Song Dynasty copy, and the last one can also be confirmed to be a Song Dynasty painting. So the possibility that it is also a Song Dynasty copy should be much higher than if it appeared alone, right?"

"I think this painting is more likely to be fabricated by the Song people." Ma Chengyuan said, "Who has seen this style of arm guard painted on the left arm of Emperor Wu of Han?"

"Yes, this is also a suspicious point. Such arm guards are rare in ancient paintings and calligraphy and cultural relics."

"Generally, shoulder guards are equipped with armor. They are mostly made of leather or metal, fixed with buckles, and the patterns are mostly in the shape of stacked armor or leather embossing. Have you seen the ones with ties like the one in the painting?"

The room was quiet for a while, and Zhou Zhi's familiar voice sounded again: "Even if this one is questionable, the other three are incredible. Although there are detailed video records from the unfolding of the original work to the completion of the restoration, including various backing papers, brocade water strips, water separators, and top and bottom headers used for surface decoration, all have been carefully preserved, and the National Museum laboratory inspection has also proved that it is a Song Dynasty work, but I still have to say that it was too hasty."

"Yes! I've been wanting to say this for a long time!" another voice said, "When such a national treasure comes to light, you should have informed everyone earlier! If you started the identification work before it was restored, you would definitely be able to get more information than you do now!"

"Wait!" Old Master Wang's voice rang out: "Old Xu, Old Luo, you don't think these paintings belong to our National Museum, do you?"

"What?!" The two people, called Lao Xu and Lao Luo by Mr. Wang, were even more shocked: "It's not from the National Museum?! It's..."

Mr. Qi's voice rang out: "I understand, they don't belong to the Forbidden City either."