The ancient zither is present in paintings from the Song and Yuan dynasties, and the taste of the zither is pure joy (Part 2)

The ancient zither is present in paintings from the Song and Yuan dynasties, and the taste of the zither is pure joy

Scholars of Lü Zhi Culture

In contrast to the “Qin’s Suitable Things”, there are “Qin’s Unsuitable Things”, which have eight items in total:

"First, it is not appropriate to play the qin in a warrior's house. The sages consider the armor of a warrior to be a weapon of danger, so it is not suitable for the qin. It is often said that "there is no qin in a general's house, but the halberd gate is opened and the golden drum sounds", which is exactly what it means. Second, merchants should not play the qin. The qin is the origin of the sage's self-cultivation and character, and he is content with poverty and knows when to stop, and avoids the joy of abundance. Merchants are greedy and greedy people in the market, and they are not suitable for the way of the sage. Third, actors dare not play the qin. Moreover, in ancient times, there were actors who played the qin, not singing and dancing. They were the officials who promoted the music of gods in the Han and Tang dynasties, and the music of suburban sacrifices to heaven and earth. It is ridiculous to let them steal their names, which is what we should avoid now. Playing the qin in front of singing and dancing may be considered as disrespecting the sage. What's more, let them hold the sage's qin? Fourth, there is no village in China. Those who speak in foreign languages, with their incorrect pronunciation, how can they match the correct pronunciation of the sage? Therefore, it is not appropriate. Fifth, the zither is the music of the Chinese sages and gentlemen to cultivate their character and self-cultivation, not something that can be found in barbarian countries. Sixth, the zither is the music of solemn clothing, dignified appearance, and benevolence and virtue. It is not the music of mourning, bald hair, deformed clothes, and holding a drum. It is not appropriate to insult the music of the sage. Seventh, people with various skills are all called vulgar people, and holding a drum of the sage is to tarnish the instrument of the sage. Therefore, it is taboo. Eighth, anyone with underarm qi, playing the zither offends the sage's elegant things, which is to sully the sage's virtue, so it is taboo. Playing the zither is especially vulgar and taboo: those who have no virtue in their hearts, no beard on their mouths, and no ink in their stomachs are not appropriate. "

It can be seen that the ancients excluded warriors, merchants, craftsmen, actors, foreigners and Buddhist disciples of lower social status from the art of playing the qin, making it exclusive to the scholar class. Among them, it is understandable that warriors, merchants, craftsmen and actors are not suitable for playing the qin, as the qin has always been associated with killing, profiteering, vulgarity and enjoyment. However, it is unreasonable to exclude foreigners and Buddhist disciples. However, in the existing Song and Yuan Dynasty paintings, there are indeed no foreigners and Buddhist disciples playing the qin.

As for the rule that "people with armpit qi" should not play the guqin, it is understandable. The guqin is a sage's instrument, a clean thing, and should be kept away from dust and dirt. Therefore, the ancients often bathed, changed clothes, burned incense and washed their hands before playing the guqin. In the Ming Dynasty, Jiang Keqian's "Guqin Book Collection" "Playing the Guqin and Washing Hands" states:

Before playing the zither, wash your hands first. Hand moisture can stain the strings and damage the sound, especially in summer.

If the fingers are wet and sweaty, it is difficult to play the zither. However, dry fingers are also not suitable for playing the zither. It can be seen that wonderful sounds also rely on wonderful fingers. Therefore, Xu Shangying of the Ming Dynasty wrote in "Xishan Qin Kuang" that "run" means:

"All sounds produced by strings are valued for their harmony, and the wonderful use of harmony lies in their warmth and smoothness. If the fingers are left to move impetuously, the sounds will be mixed, and the up and down syllables will not be beautiful. Therefore, if you want to make the strings sound smooth without killing sounds, you should seek smoothness under your fingers. Smoothness means purity and brightness, which is why it emits pure and lustrous energy. Cut away the thorns with your left hand, melt the harsh nails with your right hand, and play the strings with both hands, and you will naturally achieve purity. And if you strive to seek the method of up and down movement, the smooth sound will gradually come. Therefore, the strings are moist, warm like jade, and full of vitality."

If dry hands and dry fingers play the zither, not only will bad sounds easily occur, but the sound of the zither will also be mixed and it will be difficult to produce a "neutral" sound; only when the fingers are warm and moist, and the jade fingers are interlocked with the ice strings, can the hands and strings respond, and the heart and the zither be in harmony. In the paintings of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, such as Li Gonglin's "Gao Hui Xiqin" and the anonymous "Book Inspection", there are scenes of servants carrying water for washing hands, which shows that this detail was also important to the ancients.

In addition to keeping their hands clean, the ancients also often burned incense and played the qin.

"As an instrument, the qin is played alone, with incense burning and quiet conversation, without being included in the scene of singing and dancing; as for the sound of the qin, it is solitary and quiet, without being mixed with stringed instruments."

There is also a statement in the "Guqin Discussion" in the "Dongtian Qinglu Collection":

"When burning incense, only those with light fragrance and little smoke should be used. If the smoke is thick and overwhelming, it will ruin your mood. You should use water agarwood or Penglai, and avoid using ambergris or Du Nuo. All those with childish appearances should be avoided.

In the dead of night, with the moon shining brightly in the pavilion, incense burning and water sinking, ancient tunes playing, this is different from the harmony with Emperor Xi. "

The fragrance can indeed add to the pleasure of playing the qin, but only when the fragrance is pure and the qin is elegant can they complement each other. For example, Li Gonglin's "Gao Hui Practicing Qin", Liu Songnian's "Qin Ming under Pine Shade", and the anonymous "Pine Wind and Qin Melody" all depict incense burners, and the smoke from the burners is only a wisp, which does not dominate the scene. In addition, after the anonymous "Huaichang Nine Elders Scroll", Qian Nai of the Yuan Dynasty wrote the words "burning incense and playing the qin to create the sound of nature". Although there is no scene of burning incense in the scroll, it can be seen that "pure fragrance for the qin" has become a consensus among qin players.

[Song Dynasty] Anonymous "Huaichang Nine Elders" Part of the scroll, collected by the Palace Museum

Guqin performance is very particular about etiquette, which is not only reflected in the instruments and their placement, but also an expression of the literati's spiritual realm. Yang Biaozheng of the Ming Dynasty mentioned the etiquette of playing the guqin in his "Miscellaneous Talks on Playing the Guqin":

"If you want to play the qin, you must first dress neatly, either in a crane cloak or a deep robe. You must know the imagery of the ancients before you can call it a sage's instrument. Then add water and burn incense, then you can sit on the couch and place the qin near the table."

In the New Sounds of Luqi written by Xu Shiqi of the Ming Dynasty, it is also said that it is not appropriate to play the instrument if one is not dressed properly and has strange clothes that disfigure the body. In the Picture of Hundred Children Playing in Spring with a Silk Fan, attributed to Su Hanchen of the Southern Song Dynasty, even the children playing the zither are dressed neatly and respectfully, without any playfulness or blasphemy.

(Attributed to) [Southern Song Dynasty] Su Hanchen, "Hundred Children Playing in Spring" on a Silk Fan, Collection of the Palace Museum

Listening to the Piano

Ancient zither players often worried about "wanting to play the zither, but hating that there is no connoisseur to appreciate it". It can be seen that not only the zither player must be well-versed in literature and writing, but the zither listener must also be well-mannered, so as to achieve the best of both worlds. Therefore, in "The Five Things Not to Play the Zither" in "The Ancient Sounds", it is said that "Don't play it for vulgar people". In Song and Yuan Dynasty paintings, the listeners of the zither are often unworldly, free and easy, and even comparable to the zither players. For example, in "Listening to the Zither" by Zhao Ji of the Northern Song Dynasty, the red-robed man "lowers his eyes" on his knees, as if clapping his hands in appreciation; the green-robed man sits upright and "looks up", with a dignified demeanor; and in "Bo Ya Playing the Zither" by Wang Zhenpeng, the author uses vivid and accurate brushwork to depict the appearance and inner activities of Zhong Ziqi, and the fascination of the listener is vividly portrayed on paper; and in "The Zither Playing in a Pine Stream" by Zhu Derun of the Yuan Dynasty, three people sit cross-legged on the slope under a tree by the water. Except for one person playing the zither, the other two listen with fascination, especially the person on the right waving his left arm, with a strong intention to sing along. In addition, in many zither paintings, listeners can be seen holding zither music scores and reading them carefully, such as Liu Songnian's "Ziqin Book and Music Picture" and an anonymous author's "Kanshu Picture".

[Yuan Dynasty] Wang Zhenpeng, "Bo Ya Playing the Qin", Collection of the Palace Museum

[Yuan] Zhu Derun, "Playing Lute in Pine Stream", Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei

The reason why ancient zither players "did not play for vulgar people" was because it was similar to playing the zither to a cow. For example, in Li Gonglin's "Gao Hui Practicing the Zither", the servant boy standing by grinned, committing the two faults of "Ten Flaws of the Zither" of "undignified appearance" and "unfocused sight and hearing". Fortunately, he was a young boy, so it was not a big deal. In other paintings, servants were busy with miscellaneous tasks and turned a deaf ear to the music of the zither, forming a sharp contrast with the connoisseur.

Interestingly, both the guqin player and the listener are familiar with the rhythm of music, and the boundary between their identities is not obvious, overlapping and transforming into each other. In the scroll of a person playing the guqin alone, the player and the listener are actually one person, and their identities overlap; the transformation is like in Li Gonglin's "Gao Hui Practicing the Guqin", where one of the listeners is washing his hands and staring at the back of the player, as if ready to appear on stage. Therefore, it can be inferred that the listener will transform into the player in the next moment, while the player will retreat to become a member of the listeners.

The man with the harp

In paintings from the Song and Yuan dynasties, it is not uncommon to see people carrying guqin to visit friends or attend banquets. “Carrying guqin to visit friends” has become an independent painting theme, and behind it is a true reflection of the exchange and learning between guqin players in the Song and Yuan dynasties. In particular, the emergence of the Zhejiang School in the Southern Song Dynasty had a profound influence on the guqin world at that time and even on guqin players in later generations. Guqin players of the same school often sought teachers and friends to exchange their guqin skills, and spread the guqin learning ideas through playing the guqin and compiling guqin scores.

In fact, the two images of "carrying a zither" and "walking with a cane" are often combined in paintings of the Song and Yuan dynasties. The zither player walks slowly with a cane, passing through the ancient roads, desolate skies, cold forests and secluded valleys, and his figure is particularly lonely. For example, in the painting "A Lonely Pavilion at the End of a Tree" attributed to an anonymous Southern Song Dynasty artist (inscribed to Li Song), it depicts the scene of the river bank in autumn, with a cliff protruding by the river, a lonely pavilion shaded by trees, a hazy sky in the distance, and the river and the sky are one color. Under the cliff, an old man walks slowly with a cane, as if he wants to climb the steps to the pavilion, and a boy follows him with a zither. The river is connected to the shore, and green trees and grass are faintly visible. The zither player takes the trouble to carry the zither to the magnificent and strange places, as if in the seven strings, his heart is washed by the flowing water, and the eternal sound flows under his fingers.

(Attributed to) [Southern Song Dynasty] Anonymous "A Solitary Pavilion at the End of a Tree" Collection of the Palace Museum

In Ma Yuan's "Spring Walk on a Mountain Path", the protagonist is walking in the spring, with his clothes and demeanor carefully depicted, his head held high and his beard twirled, his posture elegant. The servant behind the protagonist is holding a guqin and following closely behind him, making the whole picture full of movement. This picture is a masterpiece combining people and landscapes. The author does not stick to depicting the scene of the person playing the guqin, but starts from the spiritual level of the picture, especially the role of the guqin in the life of literati and scholars, and emphasizes the spiritual world and life state of the people in the painting. There is a poem written by Emperor Ningzong of Song in the upper right corner of the picture:

"Wild flowers dance when they touch my sleeves, and birds stop singing when they avoid people."

The poem inscribed on the painting skillfully integrates the relationship between people and scenery. When the wild flowers on the roadside are touched by waving the sleeves, they start to dance, thus startling the birds resting on the trees. This is a fresh and remote work, but it adds a lot of interest. Here, the guqin is not only a pastime for the owner when meeting friends and traveling, but also a true reflection of the owner's leisurely state of mind.

[Southern Song Dynasty] Ma Yuan, "Spring Walk on a Mountain Path", National Palace Museum, Taipei

Similarly, in the Yuan Dynasty painting “A Scholar Looking Out” by Sun Junze, the scholar has reached a high place and is sitting on a rock looking out into the distance. The ideal of Chinese literati often pursues is for the zither player to stay away from the mundane world, retire to the mountains and forests, and travel around the world. This painting inherits the style of the Southern Song Dynasty’s Ma Yuan and Xia Gui’s court landscape painting. The spatial expression of clouds and mist is extremely natural, with a lingering aftertaste and is thought-provoking. However, in Gui Guan’s “Landscape Page”, the host and his followers are not so leisurely. In the heavy snow, the four people walk with difficulty, and a sense of desolation comes to the face.

[Yuan] Sun Junze, "A Noble Scholar Looking Out into the Sky", Collection of Tokyo National Museum, Japan

[Song-Yuan] Gui Guan "Landscape Painting Page" Tokyo National Museum Collection

It is worth noting that the way of holding the zither in many paintings has lost its ancient meaning. In the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Quan's "Taiyin Daquan" discussed the way of holding the zither, namely "the way of holding the zither by the ancients", saying:

The method of holding the zither is to hold the face as the yang and facing outwards, and the back as the yin and facing inwards, with the head facing forward and high, and the tail behind and low. Nowadays, many people hold the zither with the back facing outwards, taking advantage of the dragon pool, which allows for the fingers to hold it. However, this is unreasonable and not appropriate.

Looking at the people carrying zithers in paintings from the Song and Yuan dynasties, apart from the correct ways of carrying the zither in Li Gonglin's "The Descent of the Spirit of Mount Xiyue", an anonymous's "Walking with a Cane in the Shade of Pine Trees", an anonymous's "Water Village with Pavilions", an anonymous's "Walking with a Zither" and an anonymous's "Wall with Willow Creek Hall", the rest are mostly ways of carrying the zither that are not in line with the ancient style, and there are even more indecent ways of carrying the zither, such as the vulgar ways of being carried on the shoulders, in the arms, or on the back by a child servant in the painting.

[Song Dynasty] Anonymous "Pine Shade and Cane Painting" Collection of the Palace Museum

The painting of a boy carrying a guqin on his shoulders can be seen in the painting "Chess Game in the Mountains" by an anonymous artist from the Liao Dynasty. In the painting, the boy is carrying the guqin like a shoulder pole, which is very funny. There is also the painting "Clouds in Taihang Mountains" by an anonymous artist from the Yuan Dynasty. In the painting, a servant carries the guqin and other items on his shoulders and walks forward with difficulty in the snow. The painting of a boy holding a guqin horizontally around the waist can be seen in "Exploring Plum Blossoms in Snow Clogs" by Xia Gui. The guqin and the boy's body are crossed, and the guqin is top-heavy and slightly unstable. Fortunately, the guqin bag protects it from bumps.

[Yuan Dynasty] Anonymous "Taihang Mountain Clouds" Collection location unknown

The zither bag is one of the "Ten Friends of the Zither World". Zhao Boju's "Autumn Scenery of Rivers and Mountains", Ma Yuan's "Appreciating Plum Blossoms Under the Moon", Xia Gui's "Exploring Plum Blossoms in Snow Clogs", Liang Kai's "Appreciating Three Highs", and the anonymous (formerly attributed to Zhao Mengfu) "Painting Tao Yuanming's Return" all depict this object. It can be seen that the ancients often used zither bags to store the zither when taking it out to protect it from dust and rain. In addition to zither bags, there are also zither cases, which are also one of the "Ten Friends of the Zither World". However, zither cases are mostly placed indoors to protect the zither, but unfortunately they are not seen in paintings from the Song and Yuan dynasties.

[Southern Song Dynasty] Liang Kai's "Three Highs Touring" Collection of the Palace Museum

[Yuan] Anonymous "Painting of Tao Yuanming's Return to the Countryside" Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei

Afterword

Qin, chess, calligraphy and painting are the must-learn arts for ancient Chinese literati, and the guqin is the first choice. Huan Tan of the Eastern Han Dynasty said in "New Theory of Qin Dao" that "the eight sounds are extensive, and the guqin is the best. The ancient sages played the guqin to nourish their hearts." Since the guqin is based on the principles of moderation and peace, and self-cultivation, it is often used as a subject in paintings, so painting and music have been integrated. In the painting, it is like being in the scene, listening to the clear sound of music; in the music, with the rise and fall of the string sound, a series of beautiful pictures are presented in front of us. In addition, the scrolls related to the guqin in the paintings of the Song and Yuan Dynasties reflect many aspects of the development of guqin studies in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, restore the historical appearance of the guqin world at that time, and provide valuable first-hand materials for modern people to study the guqin studies in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, and even the development of guqin music. What is more important is that the image connotations carried by these paintings are consistent with those recorded in the guqin books of various dynasties, and the two can be referenced and complement each other.