Heavenly Plum Heart - Song And Yuan Dynasties Mei Flower Art

Plum (Mei) is one of the original ecological plants which are most enriched in Chinese cultural characteristics and emotional contents in China. It is a typical carrier which possesses the unique features of Chinese nation, and flowering plum in painting as an important subject matter of traditional Chinese painting, appeared prosperity of development in Song and Yuan dynasties and the influence of this prosperity spread to the two dynasties of Ming and Qing as well as the outside country (Japan), and still exists today.In this thesis, by means of combining theory with practice, the pattern of first-and-second part is adopted to illustrate the flowering plum in Song and Yuan painting theoretically and comprehensively. In the first part, by taking the historical exploration for the source and the new change in inheritance & innovation as its theme, the two dynasties of Song and Yuan are focused on to analyze and illustrate the two sources—the court painting genre and the scholar painting genre from the aspects concerning painters, works, artistic features and the achievements of painting history etc, and the historical fact that the flowering plum in painting was flourished in Song Dynasty and developed in Yuan Dynasty is confirmed. Besides, the spiritual implications and the cultural value of the flowering plum in Song and Yuan painting are explored and researched through specialized sections, and further more, their influence on Ming Dynasty, Qing Dynasty and the overseas country (Japan) is developed and thus the important values and far-reaching influence of the flowering plum in Song and Yuan painting are reflected. The theme of the second part is the evolution and features of image and genre, from the introduction of the natural ecological plum blossom to the flowering plum painting sketch, the stylistic characteristics of flowering plum in Song and Yuan painting on brush-and-ink skill, painting style and image etc. are systematically elaborated, and thus forms a mutual corroborating relationship with the first part. The aim of this thesis is to enrich the obtained academic achievements in the fields of Chinese flower-and-bird painting, scholar-painting and Mei culture, and deepen the rediscovery and reasonable holding of the flowering plum in Song and Yuan painting, and then to inherit, innovate and develop its value as a classic tradition.