Klares Wasser und wunderschöne Berge

Kapitel 76

When Madam Yang learned of this, she came to the princess and said, "The gifts for the princess's husband are to be sent to the palace as part of the gifts. Why don't we let the husband procure them? Since marrying the princess, he hasn't had much opportunity to show his filial piety to the Emperor and the Empress. It's only right that he personally prepares a generous gift."

The princess said, "Huaiji used to serve the emperor and empress in the palace, and he knows their preferences very well. It would be more appropriate for him to procure the gifts."

Madam Yang was displeased and said, "The Imperial Son-in-Law is the son-in-law of the Emperor. Does he think his taste in choosing gifts is inferior to that of a servant? He has prepared gifts for the Emperor's brother-in-law's residence several times in previous years, and the Emperor has never disliked them."

Seeing the princess's expression change, I immediately spoke first: "The Empress Dowager is right. The fact that the gifts were personally arranged by the Prince Consort shows the princess and the Prince Consort's filial piety. His Majesty will like them even more."

Supervisor Liang also chimed in, praising the suggestion and urging the princess to accept Madam Yang's advice. In the end, the princess had no choice but to reluctantly agree.

Li Wei's attitude was far more humble than his mother's. Before going out to shop, he first asked for my opinion, asking what kind of gifts would be appropriate.

I told him, “The palace is not lacking in rare treasures. The emperor and empress are usually frugal and do not like luxurious objects, but they both love calligraphy and painting. If the captain can present them with a few fine paintings and calligraphy, they will surely accept them gladly.”

Li Wei did as he was told, and a dozen days later, he brought back six paintings and calligraphies for me and the princess to look at.

I unfolded them and looked at them one by one, then silently handed them to the princess. The princess first looked at the most expensive piece of calligraphy by Wang Xizhi, savoring it for a moment. Suddenly, she frowned slightly and glanced at Li Wei.

Li Wei was startled and turned to me anxiously, as if to ask, "Is there something wrong with this character?"

I smiled at him kindly and said, "Captain, you've worked hard. Go back and rest early. You can leave the rest of the miscellaneous tasks to Huaiji."

After he left, the princess threw down the letter in her hand, looking quite angry: "That silly rabbit has been ripped off again, spending a lot of money to buy a copy."

Bai Maoxian was also serving at the side at that time. Upon hearing this, he picked up the letter and examined it carefully before asking the princess, "How did Your Highness determine that it is a copy?"

The princess said, "Wang Xizhi used purple paper to write when he was young, and he used hemp paper in his middle age. He also used paper made by Zhang Yongyi. Although this letter has been carefully aged, it can still be seen that it is bamboo paper coated with wax. Since the founding of the dynasty, scholars have used bamboo paper to write. If a Jin dynasty person used bamboo paper for a letter, it must be a fake."

After she finished speaking, she asked me, "Are there any forgeries in the other volumes as well?"

I selected two scrolls from the paintings and calligraphy that Li Wei had sent and gave them to the princess.

The princess first looked at a painting of palace ladies attributed to Zhang Xuan, pondered for a moment, and noticed its flaws.

"Judging from the texture and pattern, the skirt this woman is wearing is made of lotus pond-dyed silk, a fabric only available in our dynasty," she said, pointing to the figure in the painting.

I nodded, then pointed to a person in the painting who looked like an imperial eunuch, and said, “Zhang Xuan was a person from the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang. At that time, imperial eunuchs wore round-headed palace-style headscarves, but the person in this painting is wearing a turban wrapped with lacquered gauze. This style only appeared at the end of Tang Dynasty.”

Bai Maoxian also approached quietly, looked at the painting, and said, "Mr. Liang mentioned Zhang Xuan to me, saying that he especially liked to use vermilion to shade the area behind the ears of women, and that he was good at painting babies, capturing both their childlike appearance and lively spirit. But this painting lacks both of these characteristics. The baby held by the maid looks mature, as if it were just a miniaturized adult face..."

He glanced at him briefly, and he immediately lowered his head and fell silent. The princess saw this and said to me, "Xiao Bai didn't say anything wrong, why did you stop him from continuing? This painting is indeed a forgery by later generations, even Xiao Bai can see that, it's a pity that Li Wei is still clueless."

She sighed and shook her head, then unfolded another painting, "Reading the Stele by the Rocks," supposedly by Li Cheng, a famous landscape painter of the Five Dynasties period. This time, she pondered for a long time but still found nothing suspicious. So she asked me, "This painting is set in a secluded and elegant place, with a refined and graceful style. The brushstrokes are sharp and skillful. The trees and rocks are first outlined and then colored, resulting in a clear, bright, and charming effect. It is indeed Li Cheng's style. The silk painting is also colorless. So how did you determine that it is a forgery?"

I replied, “The forger of this painting is clearly much more dedicated than the previous two. The copy is incredibly lifelike, even the inscriptions and names are almost indistinguishable from the original. But precisely because of this dedication, the forger adhered to a principle of master forgers: deliberately leaving a flaw in the copy for connoisseurs to discern. The flaw in this painting is on the stele. On the side of the original stele, there is a faint line of characters, ‘Wang Xiao, figures; Li Cheng, trees and rocks,’ which is Li Cheng’s signature, indicating that the figures in the painting were commissioned from his friend Wang Xiao. However, this line of characters is missing from this painting, therefore I conclude that it is a copy.”

"Then how do you know that there were those words originally?" the princess pressed.

I told her the reason: "Several years ago, Pei Chengzhi obtained the original painting from the common people and has kept it in the secret archives. I have also seen it."

The princess put down the scroll, gazed into deep thought, and felt extremely melancholy. After a while, she sighed again: "Li Wei has mountains of gold, yet his insight is not as good as you courtiers. He spent a lot of money to buy six paintings and calligraphies, half of which turned out to be forgeries. Thinking that I will have to be tied to him for the rest of my life, I suddenly feel that there is no point in living."

I remained silent, and finally offered this advice to her: "But the prince consort treats the princess very sincerely; he is an excellent person."

She smiled faintly and changed the subject: "Huaiji, it seems I will have to trouble you to go out and find some pleasing paintings and calligraphy to present to Father and Aunt."

I bowed and accepted the order. She then looked worried and said, "But time is running out, and you rarely travel around the city. Do you know where to search?"

I replied, "Princess, there is no need to worry. I know where to go."

The Lonely City Closed (A Princess Who Fell in Love with a Eunuch) Leaning idly against the twelve balustrades 9. Elegant Gathering

Chapter word count: 3488 Update time: 08-08-21 17:34

9. Elegant Gathering

The next day, I took Bai Mao away from the princess's residence and headed straight for Cui Bai's residence.

By this time, Cui Bai had become a renowned painter in the capital, highly appreciated by scholars and officials. He often gathered with literati and artists, and his residence had been moved from the narrow alley to a scenic spot near Xiangguo Temple.

Following the directions of passersby, I found the Cui residence. After knocking a few times, the door opened with a creak, and a child of about ten years old peeked out from inside, looking me up and down with his eyes, but he didn't say a word.

"Yuan Yu, who is the visitor?" I heard Cui Bai's voice coming from inside.

So I introduced myself to the child and asked him to pass on the message.

The child nodded and ran back. A moment later, Cui Bai came out to greet me personally, bowing deeply with a broad smile, saying repeatedly, "Long time no see, Huaiji, how have you been?"

After exchanging pleasantries, he led me inside. Still preoccupied with the matter of purchasing paintings, I briefly explained the situation to Cui Bai as we walked, asking if he would be willing to select a few of my new works for the Emperor and Empress. He laughed and said, “I was originally rejected by the painting academy; how dare I present my scribbles for the Emperor’s appreciation? But as fate would have it, I am currently in the garden with two friends, drinking tea and appreciating paintings, exchanging ideas. Their skills are quite good, and they have some new works here. Go and take a look; if you find anything suitable, ask them to bring you a few.”

Just as I was about to ask him who these two friends were, I saw that after turning a corner of the winding corridor, he had already led me into the back garden.

The backyard is not large, but it is planted with pine, cypress, paulownia and bamboo, and has a small bridge and flowing water. It is quiet and elegant, and people walking in it feel as if they are in a painting.

Beside the small bridge stood a pavilion built of bamboo, where Cui Bai's friends were all. One was over fifty years old, wearing a tall hat and a cross-collared robe with the sleeves tied in both directions, and was drawing on a scroll on the table with a brush. Another was about the same age as Cui Bai, in his thirties, wearing a scholar's hat and a long-sleeved robe, and was sitting by the tea stove, seemingly waiting for the sound of the kettle to be used to pour the tea.

Cui Bai led me inside and first introduced me to the two gentlemen, who then came over to greet me. I asked Cui Bai how to address the two gentlemen, but he smiled and did not answer, only saying, "Please take a look at the works of the two gentlemen."

I moved to the table and first looked at the unfinished work of the gentleman who had just painted. He painted a peony, the flowers not depicted with ink, but only with cinnabar powder, delicate and beautiful, but lacking the strength of brush and ink, quite different from the Huang-style double-outline and color-filling painting method popular in the painting academy.

So I had my answer: "His boneless flower and bird paintings have the style of his ancestors, yet they also have new ideas. He must be Mr. Xu Chongsi, the eldest grandson of the Xu family in Nanjing."

The Xu family of Jinling refers to Xu Xi, a flower-and-bird painter of the Southern Tang Dynasty, whose unrestrained style was admired by Cui Bai. Xu Xi's descendants were also skilled in painting, among whom his eldest grandson, Chongsi, used the "boneless" method to paint flowers, combining his ancestor's style with the rich and noble spirit of the Huang family, which was an innovative move in the art world of the dynasty.

As I had predicted, the gentleman smiled and bowed, saying, "I am ashamed to say that I am Xu Chongsi."

Cui Bai then showed me several landscape paintings hanging on one side of the wall, saying they were the work of another gentleman. I examined them one by one, and saw that his brushwork was skillful and elegant, slightly influenced by Li Cheng's style. He painted landscapes in the four seasons, with varying distances, depths, wind and rain, light and shadow, and morning and evening scenes. The peaks rose majestically, and the clouds and mist changed and disappeared, creating a myriad of shapes and forms amidst the haze. His composition and brushwork were quite unique.