How did ancient Chinese women live? Perhaps the answer can be found in ancient paintings.
On March 8th, the Zhejiang Provincial Museum’s “Beauty Tour – Cloud Exhibition of Ancient Chinese Women’s Images” will be launched online. We have gathered over 1000 female themed paintings from 32 domestic museums and will meet with the audience online.
In the 5th century BC, patterns with female images began to appear in China. By the Han and Tang dynasties, female images had become one of the common themes in painting. Many of the ancient paintings that have survived, especially the popular long scroll and cover paintings of the Ming and Qing dynasties, are specifically designed to depict women’s lives.
The information they contain is extremely fragmentation, and it is difficult to form a relationship with internal logic. After extensive research, Cai Qin, the curator of this cloud exhibition, deputy director of the Zhejiang Provincial Museum, and research librarian, attempts to connect these scattered paintings and explore the social living environment, daily life status, and inner state of ancient women from a contemporary and open perspective. Starting from March 8th, everyone can access the official website of Zhejiang Provincial Museum on www.Zhejiangmuseum.Com or official WeChat “Cloud Watch Exhibition”.
Exquisite and beautiful dressing up
It’s the self cultivation of an ancient little sister
A woman’s appearance is pleasing to herself. A beautiful little sister from ancient times was very concerned about her makeup.
When I think of the famous “boudoir grudge” by Wen Tingyun of the Tang Dynasty, which goes, “When I am lazy, I draw moths’ eyebrows, but it’s too late to make up and wash.” Even when I feel down, I am only “lazy” and “too late,” and eventually I will dress up beautifully. This is probably the self cultivation of an ancient urban beauty.
Cai Qin said that the dressing process of ancient women was secretive and private, and there were many themes depicting women’s dressing in ancient paintings, providing us with a way to glimpse the secrets of ancient women’s dressing. In painting, the beautiful women depicted are often meticulously dressed and adorned with exquisite accessories and colorful clothing, exuding an intoxicating charm.
For example, a Qing Dynasty painting by Hu Xiqian titled “The Painting of Dressing Maidens” in the Suzhou Museum depicts a woman like this in the painting. Unlike the common maid to mirror makeup diagram, it depicts a scene where a maid is dressing the hostess. The hostess sat on a rattan chair, covered in emerald and silk, with a maid behind her wearing a hairpin. In the painting, a dressing table with a marble countertop is adorned with emerald green jewelry plates. The indoor furnishings also include floral vessels, incense burners, and screens, which are both wealthy and elegant. At first glance, they are considered a scholarly family, and the white wealth and beauty of wealthy households.
Is it only wealthy ladies who have leisure time to dress up? Not really. In the Qing Dynasty, Pan Zhenyong’s “The Painting of Beautiful Women” (collected by the Guangdong Museum) depicts an ordinary boatman woman. Although she does not have jewels on her head to “show off her wealth” and her attire is quite simple, she still uses the lake surface as a mirror, holding a comb or hairpin to adjust her hair.
How to relieve boredom by staying at home full-time?
Embroidery, reading, gaming
After dressing up, these full-time “homestay girls” start their day of “killing time”.
The “persona” of ancient Chinese women were daughters, concubines, or mothers, but not herself. The boudoir space of their daily lives is also limited, microscopic, and orderly. There are often heavy curtains and curtains in paintings, which are not only the isolation and closure of women’s living space, but also the suppression and restraint of emotional nature.
Qualified literati will open up a backyard in their private homesteads for female family members to play and relax. Teaching children, weaving, embroidery, and other important aspects of women’s lives. Embroidery was a fundamental skill of ancient women. Women from poor families usually need to master textile skills. There is a famous painting by Wang Juzheng of the Northern Song Dynasty titled “The Spinning Wheel Painting”, depicting the labor of a poor family: an old woman sitting on a bench with patches on her clothes, facing a worn-out spinning wheel, holding a baby in swaddling clothes in her left hand, rocking the wheel in her right hand, and a boy behind her.Sitting on the mat, holding a thin thread in his hand and holding a frog under the thread, playing. Taking care of my children while working, I was bent down by life.
Women from wealthy families have a lot of leisure activities, such as playing the piano, playing chess, reading books, drawing, writing poetry, cooking tea, drinking alcohol, playing games, etc. The “Fragrant Boudoir Collection” by Wu Qiu in the Qing Dynasty (collected by Anhui Museum) and the “Spring Boudoir Exhaustion Reading” by Lengmei in the Qing Dynasty (collected by Tianjin Museum) both reflect the scenes of women reading and writing in the boudoir. Of course, if you’re tired and tired, you’ll also be in a daze for a while.
There was once a group of female poets in Xixi, Hangzhou
Join a group to sing and learn from Yuan Mei
However, being trapped in the boudoir cannot limit their talents.
For example, more than three hundred years ago, a group of beautiful women with orchid hearts formed the world-renowned “Jiaoyuan Poetry Society” in Xixi, Hangzhou. Every talented person in the poetry club has a collection of poems left in the world. Some members of the poetry club are also skilled in poetry and painting, and there are records in official historical records.
In this exhibition, Qing Dynasty painters You Zhao and Wang Gong’s “Painting of Accompanying the Garden and Inviting Industry” (partially in the collection of Suzhou Museum) depicted thirteen female poets carrying poetry and painting to the meeting, paying respects to teacher Yuan Mei at the Lake Tower of Baoshi Mountain Villa in Hangzhou, and inviting her to teach poetry and literature. This is also why Yuan Mei specifically invited You Zhao and Wang Gong to record the grand event.
The “Collection of Qing Dynasty Boudoir Poets” edited by scholar Shi Shuyi of the Republic of China records 1262 female poets. The large number of female poets in the Qing Dynasty emerged, which is related to the development of the times, the openness of ideas, and the strong advocacy of a few open-minded literati. Among them is the credit of Yuan Mei. Yuan Mei, a native of Qiantang, Zhejiang Province (today’s Hangzhou), is one of the representative poets of the Qianlong and Jiaqing period. His late name is Old Man Suiyuan, also known as Mr. Suiyuan. In modern words, he is equivalent to KOL (key opinion leader) in the poetry world of the Qianlong and Jiaqing period.
The feudal education concept blocked women’s access to formal education. Women cannot take scientific examinations, seek fame, or intervene in politics, and even write poetry. But Yuan Mei disagrees with the saying that ‘a woman without talent is virtuous’. He believed that women were no worse at writing poetry than men, so he opened classes in his later years to recruit female poets.
The birthplace of these Suiyuan female disciples is the highest in the Suzhou Hangzhou region. During the Qianjia period, Jiangnan experienced economic prosperity, social stability, and numerous wealthy families. During Yuan Mei’s contemporaries, the “Jiaoyuan Seven Sons” appeared in Hangzhou, and the “Wuzhong Ten Sons” appeared in Suzhou, both of which were highly talented “poetry creation troupes”.
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Five exhibition units exploring ancient women
The first unit is “Strong Appearance and Far Meaning”, which selects representative works of female images from the Warring States period to the Ming and Qing dynasties, sorts out the characteristics of female images in different periods, and reflects the social style of the corresponding era.
The second unit, “Embroidering Luo Cuiwei,” showcases the charm of ancient beauties through details such as makeup, jewelry, and clothing, depicting the theme of women’s makeup in ancient paintings..Pursuing their life “footprints” in their living and activity spaces.
The fourth unit, “Flowing Water and Time”, features scenes such as qin, chess, poetry, and painting, xiangfu, jiaozi, and needlework, comprehensively showcasing the life content of ancient women.
The fifth unit “Boudoir and Beauty” gathers female painters and their paintings, including both famous ladies, professional painters, and brothel women, showcasing the artistic achievements of female painters from different social classes.