About Chinese stamps --- Chinese Ancient Paintings
sier
Chinese lunar year of "snake". Today I'll show you an example of stamps
featured Chinese ancient paintings. As a nation with a history over
5000 years, China has a glorious past and profound traditional culture
and art. Here is just a glance of it.
Part 6:
(1) T89 Chinese Paintings: Beauties Wearing Flowers [Tang Dynasty]
(2) T89M Chinese Paintings: Beauties Wearing Flowers [Miniature Sheet]
View pictures of stamps at:
http://content.communities.msn.com/chinesestamps/PhotoAlbum
A: About the stamp of this set:
<1> T89
Time of Issue: Mar.24,1984
Perforation: 11
Printing Process: Photogravure
Size of Design: 54*40
Sheet Composition: 28(4*7)
Original Designer: (Tang) Zhou Fang
Designer: Shao Bailin
Printer: Beijing Stamp Factory
(1) 8 fen, Part 1 of the Scroll
(2) 10 fen, Part 2 of the Scroll
(3) 70 fen, Part 3 of the Scroll
<2> T89m [Miniature Sheet]
Time of Issue: Mar.24,1984
Perforation: 11
Printing Process: Photogravure
Size of Design: 162*40
Original Designer: (Tang) Zhou Fang
Size of Miniature Sheet: 176*66
Designer: Shao Bailin
Printer: Beijing Stamp Factory
(1) 2 Yuan, Beauties Wearing Flowers
B: Background:
"The Ladies Wearing Flowers in Hair" is a well-known
ancient Chinese painting significant in the history of art.
It depicts the comfortable, gorgeous, happy life of noble
women in the Tang Dynasty.
The painter is Zhou Fang of Tang Dynasty(A.D. 618-907),
famous for feature painting during the then times.
Zhou was born from a noble family in Chang'an, Shaanxi
Province in the last year of the Kaiyuan and died in the
year of Zhenyuan. Zhou was adept at painting ladies,
portraits and temple murals.
This painting is set on a scroll, 180cm long and 46cm
wide. It is now preserved in Liaoning museum located in
northeast China.
C: Design:
<1> T89 Chinese Paintings: Beauties Wearing Flowers
There are three stamps in a set. Stamp 3-1 depicts two
noble ladies playing with a pet dog. One tricks it with a
long, thick rope; the other is a spectator with her fingers
pointing at the lovely dog, which was a precious pet only
imperial family and aristocrats could afford to buy one from
Samaria in western Asia. It was a pet dog that accompanied
noble women to spend their leisure time, playing and
laughing.
Stamp 3-2 depicts a noble woman watching the flower she
holds in her right hand and a gold hairpin in her left hand,
as if thinking how to set them in her hair. On the left is
a crane fluttering its wings. On the right is a maiden
holding a fan, bending her head discomposedly.
On the design of stamp 3-3 are two noble women. One
catches a butterfly from the flowers nearby and turns
slightly back to look at the dog running and snarling behind
her and the slowly walking crane. Another noble young lady
is straightening her sleeves and walks gracefully.
This set of stamps mainly adapts the three parts of the
painting, preserving its major features. The painting is a
rich colorful painting in traditional Chinese realistic
skills characterized by the fine brushwork and close
attention to detail. The lines are the major means for
modeling in Chinese paintings. The lines drawn on this
painting are fine and colorful, simple and expressive. The
faces and hands of those noble women are drawn precisely,
refined and round and tender, a little exaggerative but
animated, for example, the delicate fingers of the butterfly
-catcher, the manner of the flower-holder, the nimble hand
of the rope-whipper. The silk clothes on those noble women
appear flowing and fluttering, showing their feel of good
quality. They look translucent and the women's skin and
flesh appear almost visible through those thin fabric. The
figures of those noble women look gracefully plump, which
shows the aesthetic view people held in the Tang Dynasty.
Figures on the painting are depicted differently, for
example, the mischievous and merry woman who plays with the
pet dog, the concentrated lady who examines the flower and
hairpin, the sublime woman who is taking a walk, the casual
lady who holds a butterfly, all are depicted animated. In
composition, various objects are arranged to render a sense
of variation and rhythm, for example, the ones in distance
and the ones in near, the large ones and the small ones, the
ones in rest, and the ones in motion. In coloring, the
colors are bright and intensive, simple and natural. The
women's skin is painted with white powder to look like as
tender as now, as beautiful as flowers. Their clothes are
painted with complicated colors to look as gorgeous as
golden foils decorated with bouquets of flowers.
<2> T89M Chinese Paintings: Beauties Wearing Flowers [Miniature Sheet]
There is only one stamp in this set. It shows the overall
view of the painting "Ladies Wearing Flowers in Hair", on
which six women appear; five of them are noble women, one is
a maiden. One is looking at flowers, one is catching
butterfly, one is taking a walk, and one is playing with a
pet dog--all depicts the leisure life of nobles in palaces.
Best wishes,
Sier
Victor Manta
year!
This info is much more interesting than the previous about marshals, at
least IMHO, as art on stamps fan.
Other ancient Chinese paintings, issued by the Republic of China, can be
admired on the page: http://www.values.ch/formosa.htm
Victor Manta
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"sier" <sie...@sina.com> wrote:
> Happy Chinese spring festival to all of you! Wishing you good luck in the
> Chinese lunar year of "snake". Today I'll show you an example of stamps
> featured Chinese ancient paintings. As a nation with a history over
> 5000 years, China has a glorious past and profound traditional culture
> and art. Here is just a glance of it.
>
> ...