Art, Calligraphy, Music, and Culture
Huizong was a great painter, poet, and calligrapher. He was also a player of the guqin (as exemplified by his famous painting 聽琴圖 Listening to the Qin); he also had a Wanqin Tang 『萬琴堂』 ("10,000 Qin Hall") in his palace.
Huizong took huge efforts to search for art masters. He established the "Han Lin Hua Yuan"("Han Lin imperial painting house") where top painters around China share their best works.
The primary subjects of his paintings are birds and flowers. Among is works is Five-Colored Parakeet on Blossoming Apricot Tree. He also recopied Zhang Xuan's painting Court Ladies Preparing Newly Woven Silk, and Emperor Huizong's reproduction is the only copy of that painting that survives today.
He invented the "Slender Gold" (瘦金體) style of calligraphy. The name "Slender Gold" came from the fact that Huizong's writing resembled gold filament, twisted and turned.
His era name of Xuanhe is also used to describe a style of mounting paintings in scroll format. In this style, black borders are added between some of the silk planes.
In 1114, following a request from Emperor Yejong of the Korean court of Goryeo, Huizong sent to the palace in the Goryeo capital at Gaeseong a set of musical instruments to be used for royal banquet music. Two years later, in 1116, he sent another, even larger gift of musical instruments (numbering 428 in total) to the Korean court, this time yayue instruments, beginning that nation's tradition of aak.
Huizong was also a great tea enthusiast. He himself wrote the famous Treatise on Tea, the most detailed and masterful description of the Song dynasty sophisticated style of tea ceremony.
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Emperor Huizong of Song, Ting Qin Tu (Chinese: 聽琴圖, literally "Listening to the Qin"
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Emperor Huizong of Song (Poem and Calligraphy)
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Emperor Huizong of Song, Plum and Birds
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Emperor Huizong of Song, Golden Pheasant and Cotton Rose Flowers
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Emperor Huizong of Song, Two Finches
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Emperor Huizong of Song, Dragon Stone
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Emperor Huizong of Song, Cranes 1112
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Emperor Huizong of Song, Classic Thousand-character Grass script
Read more about this topic: Emperor Huizong Of Song
Famous quotes containing the word culture:
“It is not part of a true culture to tame tigers, any more than it is to make sheep ferocious.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)