Exploration Of Connoisseurship Practice In Chinese Calligraphy And Paintings

From the 1950th, Chinese paintings and calligraphy are not collected by imperial families or court officials any more, which are now kept in museums. And modern higher education system was initiated at the same time, which required the traditional experiences of connoisseurship to be explained and concluded with modern scientific theories and methods replacing the traditional education system of apprenticeship. From then on, it is for the first time that connoisseurs of paintings and calligraphy tried to analyze the theories of traditional connoisseurship with western scientific method. By now there is still not any scientific testing methods which can take the place of the traditional connoisseur practice, therefore traditional method of the connoisseurs is still the most important and basic method for connoisseurship of Chinese paintings and Calligraphy. Since 1950th, it is under discussion about how to consider the words of the connoisseurship experiences and how to regularize, summarize and interpret this traditional method in order to inherit and carry forward the essence of it. It is necessary for us to recognize study and summarize the achievements on the connoisseur practice in past decades, which is much greater than those of the ancients.This essay aims to make analysis on the contents of the connoisseurship practice and tries to explore the rational structure of this method consisting of the connoisseur process on the basis of the history and aesthetic taste. With the understanding of its contents, we can then define those effective methods of connoisseurship practice, use some methods with some limitation dialectically, and finally make further researches on the theoretical structure and the connoisseurship methods.