Central Academy Of Fine Arts Reservoir Keiju Map "study

This paper take Celebrating a Birthday which is preserved in Central Academy of Fine Arts as research object, and aiming at determine its subject by careful observation, and its character, age, and background through antique verifying, reflection on similar works, etc.In order to answer these questions, this paper will firstly determine arena and matter of the work. By analyzing shape and structure of the building in the drawing, the author of the paper initially assess the prototype of the building should be De'he Hall in Summer Palace. Upon this assessing, the author believes that Celebrating a Birthday recorded how the Empress Dowager Cixi held a feast and invited guests to theatre on her birthday during Guangxu emperor's rule in Qing Dynasty. Then, is all paintings about royal life drawn by royal painting academy? In fact the answer is no. Etiquette and many details of antique offers us clues of its origin. The author consider that although Celebrating a Birthday's subject is on royal issue, many details in it does not match the royal etiquette and therefore it is not from royal painting academy or official who participated in such dinner party, but a nongovernmental piece. It is painted in about 20th century.Celebrating a Birthday illustrates us a completely different picture from royal paintings:the mysterious aura was gone and secular features manifested. Such effect satisfied taste of townsfolk class. Meanwhile, its subject indicates its special background:in late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China period, the royal family's prestige fell and curiosity for royal life increased. At that time when flow of information is not totally free, folk tales became a major channel of comprehending royal life. As a result, works like Celebrating a Birthday appeared. The new finding from Celebrating a Birthday enriches our understanding of paintings under this background.