The Qin and Han Dynasties were the period of the establishment and consolidation of China's unified multi-ethnic feudal country, and also the extremely important period of the establishment and development of China's national artistic style. In 22 1 year BC, after Qin Shihuang unified China, a series of reforms in political, cultural and economic fields brought about great changes in society. In fact, artistic activities to publicize achievements and show kingship promoted the development of painting. The rulers of the Western Han Dynasty also attached importance to painting, because painting could serve their political propaganda and moral preaching. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty, Zhao Di and Xuan Di, painting became an effective way to reward meritorious deeds, and the palace murals made extraordinary achievements. In order to consolidate the world and control people's hearts, the Emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty also advocated "harmony between man and nature" and "Fu Rui". Auspicious images and historical stories flaunting loyalty and filial piety became the common creative themes of painters. The custom of thick burial in Han dynasty makes it possible for us to see the painting relics at that time from the murals, stone reliefs and brick tombs discovered one after another today. The art of Qin and Han Dynasties, with its deep and heroic spirit, radiated dazzling brilliance in the art history of China.

1952, an ancient tomb of Han Dynasty was excavated in Dongerli, Wang Jun County, Hebei Province. The four walls of the front room and the two walls of the tomb tunnel are covered with murals. The painting is divided into two layers, the upper layer is the figure, and the lower layer is the animal, each with its own title. Draw clouds, birds and animals on the aisle ticket. The front room symbolizes the front room of the tomb owner, and the two sides of the south wall door are painted with the "temple gate pawn" and "gate pavilion manager" responsible for guarding. The paintings painted by the tomb owner on the east, west and north walls show all the officials, rafters and guards in the cliff temple before his death, such as the "hammer rafters" responsible for drumming, the "benevolence rafters" in charge of prisons, and the "thief Cao" who maintains public order. The portrayal of characters is different in posture and clothing because of their different status and responsibilities, which highlights the personality characteristics of characters. The petty officials under the door are brave and unstoppable; It is a gentle and leisurely "master book", which shows the typical image of civil servants in Han Dynasty. The expression method of painting outlines the morphological characteristics of characters with simple ink lines. Clothing lines are simple but conform to the law of motion, and the pen is smooth and powerful. It can be seen that after years of accumulation and long-term artistic practice, China's ancient paintings of Han Dynasty have made some progress in the change and application of painting language. Although the online application and shape description of Han paintings are still in the rough and simple stage of China's paintings, the whole mural has embodied the artistic skills of artists in the Han Dynasty to describe and understand life, and it is a brilliant page in China's ancient works of art.

The painting art in the Qin and Han Dynasties generally includes palace and temple murals, tomb murals and silk paintings. Paintings in the Qin dynasty rarely circulate in kind. Now, the only relics that can be used to understand the painting features of the Qin Dynasty are the die-printed portrait bricks unearthed in Lintong and Fengxiang, Shaanxi Province over the years, the mural fragments, carved portrait bricks and architectural tiles unearthed in Qin Gong site in Xianyang, and the decorative patterns on a few handicrafts found in other areas. The Han Dynasty, which lasted for more than four centuries, was an important period when the unique national spirit and formal style of China traditional art were basically established and further developed and consolidated. The rulers of the Han Dynasty attached great importance to the art of painting. Mao Yanshou, Fan Yu, Chen Chang and Bai Liu are all famous imperial painters in later generations.

From 1972 to 1974, two Han tombs in Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan Province, and several painted silk books in No.9 Han tomb in Quanqueshan, Linyi, Shandong Province were unearthed one after another, which enriched the physical materials of painting in the Han Dynasty, made up the blank of painting in the early Han Dynasty, and made people have a clear understanding of the actual face of painting in the Western Han Dynasty. Among them, the color painting of Mawangdui Tomb No.1 is the most mature, and it is the earliest treasure of meticulous and heavy color painting in China. The lines are even and powerful, soaring and leaping, which is consistent with the "four wonders of ancient travel" summarized by later generations. The color is mainly mineral pigments, which are heavy, steady, bright and harmonious; The composition is dense, and the regular and balanced pattern structure is combined with realistic images. The main body is prominent, coherent from top to bottom, and amazing in richness. In Mawangdui Tomb No.3, there are three noteworthy silk paintings. One is the Qigong diagram hidden in the lacquer cave, in which the figures are arranged separately, showing their fitness posture and different shapes and costumes. The other two paintings are hung on the east and west walls of the tomb, and their contents are considered to show the activities of the ruler's "agricultural shrine". Hundreds of chariots and horses are ceremonial ceremonies, which can be described as magnificent; In the composition, it overcomes the technique of arranging characters up and down in the prelude period, and depicts the whole picture of the chariots and horses from the perspective of overlooking. This is the earliest large-scale painting to record real life. Unfortunately, the peeling damage is serious, so we can only have a rough look.

Palace and temple murals

During the Qin and Han dynasties, murals were widely painted in palace offices, but with the gradual disappearance of buildings, murals were almost lost. The mural relics of Xianyang Palace in Qin Dou, which were discovered in 1970s, gave us the first taste of the splendor of the palace painting in Qin Dynasty. In the rest of the corridor in Hall 3 of Qin Gong Ruins, a parade consisting of seven carriages was found, each drawn by four galloping horses. Another surviving mural shows a maid of honor. These images were painted directly on the wall without prior outline, which can be regarded as the earliest example of boneless traditional painting in China. Murals in the Western Han Dynasty were mainly created to flaunt the "Qingming" of official management. Wang Yanshou recorded the grand occasion of murals in the palace built by a vassal king at that time in Lu Lingguang Dian Fu. Emperor Xuan Di painted the mural of 1 1 hero portrait in Qilin Pavilion, which was the first time for later generations to paint a portrait of a hero. There are many figures in this portrait brick, the picture is dense but not chaotic, and the composition is meticulous. Two wine bottles and two boxes are arranged in the gap, which means that this picture shows the scene of all cups and plates removed, feasting, singing and laughing. With simple relief, the characters are accurately portrayed, and line drawing is added to the relief image, which is wonderful, simple and ingenious, with thick and sure lines, skillful in drawing, ups and downs, strong in thickness change and turning point, very vivid and smooth, interspersed between faces, and set each other off. The point, line and surface blend naturally, which is full of rhythm and vividly serves the theme. The male geisha corresponding to the female geisha with thin waist holds drums, which is humorous and vivid. On the left side of the brick are three people who dance and dance with acrobatics. One person stretches and dances. The whole picture is full of warm atmosphere.

mural painting in tomb chamber

The remains of murals in Qin tombs have not been found so far. But the discovery of murals in Han tombs began as early as the early 1920s. The Balitai hollow brick mural group in Luoyang is the first important discovery of tomb murals in the Western Han Dynasty. 193 1 year, the mural tomb of Yingchengzi in Jinxian County, Liaoning Province was cleared, which unveiled the murals of the Eastern Han Tomb. In the following decades, more than 40 mural tombs were discovered all over the country, which provided the most important information for exploring the development of painting art in Han Dynasty. The most important mural tombs and tomb murals found in this period are: Buqianqiu Tomb Mural in Luoyang, Henan, Tomb No.61in Shaogou, Luoyang, and Sky Map in Xi 'an, Shaanxi; The mural of Xin Mang's tomb in Jinguyuan, Luoyang, belongs to the Xin Mang era; Belonging to the Eastern Han Dynasty, the mural painting of the Han tomb in Zaoyuan, Pinglu, Shanxi, the mural painting of the Han tomb in Anping, Hebei, the mural painting of the tomb in Wang Du/Kloc-0, Hebei, and the mural tomb discovered in Helinger, Inner Mongolia, etc. They depict celestial phenomena, five elements, immortal birds and beasts, some famous historical stories, sacrificial ceremonies for horses and chariots, portraits of buildings and tomb owners, etc. The meaning is complex, but most of them show the life of the tomb owner before his death, and wish him happiness after his death, hoping that the deceased can enjoy a rich life in the underground world created by the artist.

Silk painting in Han dynasty

There are many works painted on silk in Han dynasty, but after thousands of years, few have survived. At present, the most important discovery is the silk paintings of the Western Han Dynasty unearthed in Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan Province and Jinque Mountain, Linyi, Shandong Province in the 1970s. The silk paintings unearthed from Mawangdui 1 Tomb have the most obscure meanings, and scholars' explanations are extremely diverse. However, it is generally believed that the upper half and the lower half of silk painting depict the heaven and the underworld respectively, while the middle two parts show the life scene of the late wife. The description of the tomb owner and various gods, birds and animals is extremely vivid, with smooth lines and solemn and elegant colors, which shows the excellent level of painting in the Western Han Dynasty. In addition, the importance of three silk paintings in Mawangdui Tomb No.3 can not be ignored. In addition to the tomb owner, they also described the contents of "guidance" and etiquette ceremony, which was very beautiful. The content of Jinqueshan silk painting is similar to that of Mawangdui Han Tomb. There are fairy mountains above and dragons, tigers and ghosts below. The middle part depicts the life of the tomb owner. The combination of this painting "boneless" and sketch shows the diversity of Korean painting techniques.

Jing ke stabbed the stone statue of the king of Qin

Han dynasty stone relief

Stone reliefs in Han Dynasty are rich and distinctive historical materials of Qin and Han Dynasties. Artists use knives instead of pens to create many beautiful images on the hard stone surface, which are used as building components to build and decorate tombs and stone tombs. Thousands of Han stone reliefs have been found in China. According to records, the stone reliefs sprouted in Zhao and Xuan Dynasties in the Western Han Dynasty, developed in Xin Mang, and further expanded in the Eastern Han Dynasty, mainly distributed in Shaanxi, Sichuan and its surrounding areas in Lu Yu. In the late Western Han Dynasty, the stone reliefs were represented by the phoenix carving in Baozhai Mountain in Yishui, Shandong Province, and the portrait of Lugong Dining Hall in Wenshang, Shandong Province. During the Xin Mang period, more than 30 portraits were carved in the tomb of Feng Junru in Tanghe, Henan Province, depicting real life and strange animals. The representative works of stone reliefs in the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty are the Stone Temple in Xiaotang, Changqing, Shandong and the Stone Que in Nanwuyang. Stone reliefs in the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty were most famous at Wushi Temple in Jiaxiang, Shandong Province. Stone niches have been valued by tomb owners since the Song Dynasty, and were hidden underground after being flooded in the Yuan Dynasty. It was not rediscovered until the Qing Dynasty. Among them, the stone reliefs in the Infinite Temple are the most exquisite, all of which are carved by the technique of cutting the ground and carving the yinxian line. Most of them are historical stories, immortals, rare birds and animals, and their skills are superb. The author is good at grasping the superb contradictions and conflicts in historical stories, explaining the specific environment with necessary scenery, and handling the echo relationship between characters well, such as Jing Ke stabbing the king of Qin. Unearthed from Tomb Yang Zishan 1 and now kept in Chongqing Museum, You Yan Tu is an outstanding representative of the Han Dynasty stone relief in Sichuan.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25-220), the lintel relief stone unearthed from the Han Tomb in Dabaodang Township, Shenmu County, Shaanxi Province was 40 meters high, 196.5 cm wide and 1996 high.

Light gray sandstone collected by Shaanxi Institute of Archaeology. The picture is embossed and the details are outlined with ink lines, which are divided into two columns. The upper column is a hunting circle, which is a tense and intense hunting scene. The moon and the moon wheel in the left and right corners are painted with a jade rabbit and a golden bird respectively. In the lower column, there are three cars in a row. Before and after the motorcade, there were three attendants. These painted stone reliefs are brand-new materials of Shaanxi stone reliefs.

Qin and Han dynasty portrait brick

Portrait brick is a kind of architectural decoration component in Qin and Han Dynasties. From the Qin and Han Dynasties to the early Western Han Dynasty, it was mostly used to decorate the steps of palaces and halls. After the mid-Western Han Dynasty, it was mainly used to decorate tomb walls. The Eastern Han Dynasty was the heyday of portrait brick art. The portrait bricks in Qin Dynasty were made by two methods: die printing and carving, and their shapes were divided into two types: large hollow bricks and solid flat bricks. A "hollow brick with portraits of guards, banquets and hunting" unearthed from Lintong in Shaanxi Provincial Museum is a masterpiece of existing hollow bricks in Qin Dynasty. Western Han Dynasty portrait brick is represented by the products unearthed in Luoyang, Henan Province, and is famous for its simplicity, rigidity and vivid image. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the most portrait bricks were unearthed in Henan and Sichuan provinces. The highest artistic accomplishment is the solid brick of the portrait of the late Eastern Han Dynasty unearthed in Chengdu, Sichuan. The picture is printed at one time and the composition is completed. Many real-life scenes are shown, and the representative works are "Yishe Harvest Portrait Brick".