Riding the wind of rebirth

"So a new problem arises." Zhou Zhi frowned and said, "Although "Han Wu Shooting a Dragon" was painted according to the costumes of Han Dynasty characters, Zhang Sengyao was from Wuzhong, Wujun. He was a minister of the Liang Dynasty during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. During the Liang Tianjian period, he was the Minister of Wuling Kingdom, and was in charge of painting in the Secret Pavilion. Later, he served as the General of the Right Army and the Governor of Wuxing."

"He is a pure southerner. Did he have the opportunity to come into contact with an arm guard? Is it reasonable for him to paint the arm guard on the hand of Emperor Wu of Han?"

"Wouldn't it be easy to find out by looking up the information?" Dean Jiang said, "Let's first discuss whether it was possible for Emperor Wu of Han to wear a Western Region arm guard."

"That's really possible." Zhou Zhi said, "Historical records show that in order to leave a 'good impression' on Emperor Wu on their first meeting, Jiang Chong specifically requested to wear ordinary clothes to meet the emperor. So when Emperor Wu saw Jiang Chong, he was dressed like a coquettish rooster, 'wearing a gauze Zen robe, with the hems folded behind him, a Zen silk crown with a step-shaking crown, and a flying tassel', and he immediately bewitched Emperor Wu."

“Hahahaha…” Master Yang had a female body and a male appearance, and her laughter was as loud and deep as a man’s. Zhou Zhi couldn’t hold back his laughter, and the whole room echoed with his laughter: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry… Hahahaha, I can’t help it…”

"I didn't make this up!" Zhou Zhi quickly tapped on the keyboard: "Look! Here's the original text! This fully illustrates Emperor Wu of Han's love for strange clothes."

"By the way, the temporary position of Embroidered Robe Envoy was also established during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han."

Dean Jiang waved his hand and said, "In fact, there were many people from the Western Regions that Emperor Wu was able to meet during his reign. Among the famous ministers was the Xiongnu prince Jin Midi, who later became a minister entrusted with the care of the emperor's son. In addition, there were a large number of 'vassal Hu cavalry' and 'undisciplined people' under Huo Qubing, including the Xiongnu, Loufan and Yiqu people."

"In addition, a group of Han Dynasty warrior figurines were unearthed in Yangjiawan. Their costumes fully reproduced the magnificent and magnificent characteristics of the military costumes of the Han Dynasty. The costumes of the riders were in red, white, green, purple and other colors. One of the most special ones was the fish scale armor above the waist, the bottom of the armor was a green coat, the lower body was red and white "crotch", and the feet were wearing extremely gorgeous three-color high-waisted boots. Not only was the costume gorgeous, but it also clearly had the characteristics of the Hu people's costumes."

"So the painter's painting really reflects a great deal of the era in which Emperor Wu lived and the character of Emperor Wu of Han. Otherwise, he would not have been able to draw such an arm guard."

"And this arm guard is indeed a very unique item, which makes a deep impression on people at first sight." Master Yang said, "But the painter you mentioned is not from the Han Dynasty. If he wanted to paint this, he must have seen it before, right?"

"Here, Zhou Zhi pointed to the retrieved information: Emperor Wu of Liang was fond of Buddhism, and whenever he decorated Buddhist temples, he often ordered him to paint the walls. The Buddha statues he painted had their own style, known as the 'Zhang style', and became a model for sculptors."

"He was also good at portraits and genre paintings, and was brave enough to try new painting techniques. He once used the Indian painting method to paint 'convex and concave flowers' on the gate of Yicheng Temple in Jiankang with vermilion and turquoise colors. The three-dimensional effect made the viewers think that they were real flowers."

"This is probably why he knows about the arms of the Hu people." Jiang Tianxi pointed to another content he searched for: "Yao Zui's "Continuation of Paintings" said that he 'dressed in court and dressed in the wild, and the same clothes from ancient times to the present. His clothes were strange in shape and appearance, and they were from different places.' This shows that he attached great importance to textual research on the clothes of the characters in his paintings, but when he drew characters, he liked to draw those with strange shapes and special features."

"There is another point. He was once ordered to paint portraits of the kings of various countries at that time, and he was able to achieve the effect of 'looking at them like people'." Zhou Zhi said. "So he must have seen many Hu people and various Buddhist paintings from the Western Regions, and was deeply impressed by the arms of the Hu people. So he combined it with the character of Emperor Wu of Han and painted it on the arms of Emperor Wu of Han." Dean Jiang said: "In fact, if you think about it carefully, there is an underlying logic to this painting. The clothing of civil officials in the Han Dynasty advocated simplicity and simplicity, while the clothing of military officials advocated grandeur and magnificence. Although Emperor Wu of Han in the painting wears a crown and a wide robe, he wears a shoulder belt and a shoulder guard. What is his posthumous title?"

"Wu!" Zhou Zhi clapped his hands, "This is the fundamental reason why Zhang Sengyou painted the image of Emperor Wu in this way! As an emperor, his actions are restricted and his clothes are regular. Zhang Sengyou naturally did not dare to paint too much out of the ordinary. Therefore, he used the details of the shoulder and arm to show this aspect of the character! Absolutely!"

"This is just speculation." Dean Jiang adhered to the rigor of a historian: "But no matter what, the archaeological remains of Emperor Wu's armguard in "Han Wu Shooting a Dragon" have been found. The last doubt about this painting has been erased. It's a cause for celebration!"

"Then please tell the capital about our discussion, Mr. Jiang. I will go back immediately to restore the paintings of the Four Masters of the Six Dynasties."

"Don't be in a hurry!" Jiang Tianxi hurriedly stopped them: "I asked you to come here because Hotan wants to ask a definite question. Can this 'Five Stars Rising from the East' arm guard be copied?"

"To be precise, it is a replica of a standard brocade. The arm guard is actually made of only a small part of a whole piece of brocade." Zhou Zhi said, "The loom in the Han Tomb of Laoguanshan was originally a model. Although the parts are in order, the width is only 20 centimeters. We have combined historical data and enlarged it to a width of three feet. It would be difficult to make such a small one."

"So ambitious?" Dean Jiang was amused: "Then let's do it this way. This is the brocade of 'May the King and the Marquis Live Together for Thousands of Years and May Their Descendants Live Long' that I mentioned before, unearthed from Tomb No. 3 of the Niya Ruins."

"This tomb is the highest-profile one among all the tombs excavated this time. According to research, the tomb owner should be the King and Queen of Jingjue. This piece of fabric is a 'brocade quilt', a wedding item for the owner of Tomb No. 168, King Jingjue. It is made of two pieces of brocade sewn together. It is rectangular, 94 cm long and cm wide."

"How about we follow this range?"

This cultural relic is also very precious. Although the patterns and colors are not as bright as the "Five Stars Rising from the East" brocade, they are also very rich. The warp threads are made of navy blue, crimson, white, yellow, green and other colors. The patterns are also very complicated, including dancers, dogwood patterns, variant cloud patterns, etc., and the words "May the king and the prince live forever and have descendants" are interspersed among them. This is clearly a customized gift specially prepared for the king's wedding.

"Don't worry, Mr. Jiang. We now have a very scientific method for replicating brocade. As long as we can produce a high-definition image, we will have no problem. This can be easily solved using high-definition photos or scanned images plus computer drawing software."

"But for a brocade like 'Five Stars Rising from the East' that is split into two pieces and has a damaged part, we need to piece them together to restore their original appearance." Zhou Zhi said, "We don't even need photos or scans. We can go to the Central Academy of Fine Arts and find some experts to paint it. As long as the picture is more accurate than the original brocade, there will be no problem." (End of this chapter)