Internal painting has a deep historical origin with snuff and snuff bottles. Snuff is a kind of yellow powder, which is made of tobacco after careful brewing, mixed with vanilla and spice flower dew, and has the effect of "dispelling cold and preventing epidemic". During the Wanli period of Ming Dynasty, Matteo Ricci, an Italian missionary, was introduced to China as a tribute. By the Qing dynasty, this kind of palace supplies had been introduced to the people, and there was a custom of "handing snuff bottles to everyone". People have a special liking for snuff, and "competing for beauty" makes the production of snuff bottles more and more sophisticated. 1696, Emperor Kangxi, who had excellent snuff, established the first glass factory in China, specially making snuff bottles, and presented them to construction ministers and foreign envoys. Snuff bottles have become one of the symbols of the Eight Banners' children boasting about their status and identity. In Qianlong period, the production of snuff bottles developed from branch lines (glass) and porcelain to ivory, amber, coral, agate, crystal and bamboo root. In the song of snuff in Xianfeng period, it was written that "the phoenix bears cranes, the birds sing, and the unicorn lions are like arowana." The fairy mountain pavilion is full of smoke and clouds, and the spring stone benefits the forest frog. "Snuff bottles cover a variety of materials, including material selection, craftsmanship, decoration and decoration. Its materials cover six categories: metal, jade, stone, pottery, food and organic matter. The technological contents include traditional writing, painting, carving, engraving, engraving, chiseling, burning, welding, chiseling, grinding, embedding, casting, misplacing and gluing. At the end of Qianlong, the snuff bottle with internal painting was born. The inner painting makes the snuff bottle craft achieve the artistic effect of "an inch of land, a thousand miles of potential", and makes the snuff bottle craft reach a superb level, becoming an art praised by the world as "incredible and ingenious".

Ji pai nei Hua

Hengshui gallery

From 65438 to 0968, collectors all over the world established the International China Snuff Bottle Society. Experts divide China's painting art into four schools: Beijing, Hebei, Shandong and Guangdong. Beijing School is the earliest school, which originated in Qianlong period. Many outstanding masters of internal painting have emerged, such as Ma Shaoxuan, Sun and Ye Zhongsan, who are good at figures in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, and more than a dozen Zhou Leyuan, Ding and Zi, who are good at landscape flowers and birds. Liu shouben is a representative of modern Beijing School. Beijing School maintained the traditional techniques and painting style of "Ye School", and painted with bamboo and willow hooks. The painting style is simple, the brushwork is vigorous and elegant, and the colors are full and round. During Guangxu period, Bi Rongjiu, an old Shandong artist, brought the art of internal painting back to Boshan. After nearly a hundred years of development, the "Lu School" was formed. This school not only improved the dyes of internal painting, but also reformed the tools of internal painting, painting with bamboo and willow brushes, forming the characteristics of Lu school with full pictures, slender lines and fluidity. "Guangdong School" inner painting, also known as "Taojiang inner painting", was founded by Wu Songling, an old artist in the late Cultural Revolution. Guangdong-style fumigation furnace is light and elegant, and its body is decorated with gold lacquer patterns, which is resplendent and unique in style.

Wang Xisan, the founder of "Ji School" inner painting, is the cotyledon of Ye Zhongsan, an old Beijing painting school artist, and Xiaofeng's direct disciple. In the late 1950s, Wang Xisan introduced the cat into the snuff bottle after mastering the technique of "Ye Pai" internal painting. He used meticulous brushwork to "tear the hair" to draw the watery cat's eye and the fuzzy texture of the cat, which solved the problem that the freehand brushwork Chinese painting technique was dull and lacked realism. Bob Stevens, a foreign expert, said, "His cat looks so lively that it seems to jump out of the pot soon." 1966, during the "Sweeping Four Books" movement during the Cultural Revolution, Wang Xisan was sent back to Fucheng County, Hebei Province for "reform". He was in adversity and experienced ups and downs, but he pursued artistic progress with indomitable perseverance. In Fucheng county, painting with hook pen as a sideline laid a solid foundation for the creation of "Ji school" internal painting, and successively accepted four batches of disciples and devoted all of them. At present, no matter in artistic style, craft technique, color variety, artist, marketing, social influence, etc. Ji Pai's inner painting is in the leading position for the time being.

The style of "Ji School Inner Painting" can be summarized as: profound conception, rigorous composition, rich line drawing techniques, harmonious color setting, rich calligraphy and painting, and appealing to both refined and popular tastes. There are three innovations in painting tools, painting techniques and painting forms: metal hook brush, internal painting oil painting and snuff bottle series.

The painting tool of "Ye Pai" is bamboo and willow hook pen, which is slightly insufficient in depicting nuances. "Lu Pai" is hooked with willow branches or bamboo branches and wrapped with wolf hair or wool, which opens up convenient conditions for the fine creation of internal painting, and the tools for internal painting have also been improved, but there are also some defects such as weak writing and inconvenient operation when encountering a smoking pot with a dead corner on the shoulder. Inspired by the wire ends cut by the village electric scissors, Wang Xi Sanchuang made his own metal rod hook brush "XI Tri-bend Hook Pen". The pen holder is straight and can be changed at will according to the needs of creation. This kind of pen is more flexible, strong and durable than Lu Pai's pen. This kind of pen has also become a characteristic tool of Ji School.

On the basis of inheriting the elegance of Ye School and blending the traditional painting methods of Lu School, Ji School's internal painting introduces the techniques of wrinkling, rubbing, dyeing, dots, hooks and silks in Chinese painting, painting clothes by scraping, rubbing to remove the color, dyeing to remove the true color of clothes and tearing off the cat hair. Before 1980s, Chinese painting of snuff bottles in China was always dominated by Chinese painting. Its style of pursuing "the beauty of artistic conception" and paying attention to "painting the essence before caring with a pen and writing the spirit with form" is completely different from western oil painting, especially in portrait painting. How to make the painting inside the snuff bottle more expressive has become a further new topic of "Ji School". 198 1 year "Ji school" tried to draw portraits in order to achieve the solemn and profound effect of oil painting. Because the pot wall does not absorb oil, the original inner brush is not suitable for oil painting. After repeated experiments, I managed to use fixative, finally explored and mastered the techniques of oil painting, broke the limitations of traditional single watercolor painting, and made the picture, shape and spirit of internal painting perfect, which was called the pioneering work of "combining Chinese and western".

Wang Xisan has painted three sets of historical hookah series, which is a set of large hookah series with historical miniature nature and another pioneering work in the history of China painting. "The Terracotta Warriors are a very beautiful work of art, that's all; A series of terracotta warriors and horses give people a mighty and exciting momentum. " (Wang Xisan) These three sets of pots are:

1. Empress of the Qing Dynasty (from the Qing emperor Nurhachi to the last emperor Puyi, *** 12 emperors, 10 queens). The creation time is from 1978 to 1979. The smokehouse adopts a single-color fine glass pot, and adopts the traditional single-line flat painting portrait technique in China, and accurately locates line drawing according to the differences of facial features, muscles, bones and costumes. In the painting, the hook is light and heavy, deep and shallow, combining rigidity and softness, hiding the front and exposing the front, turning the front and opposing the front, and lying freely. The characters are eye-catching and lifelike. John ford, president of the International China Snuff Bottle Society, called this set of works an "immortal masterpiece" and wrote to the collectors saying, "Fortunately, you will have a real sense of accomplishment and pride in an unparalleled set of snuff bottles painted by famous artists". The New York Times called it "a landmark masterpiece, an unparalleled treasure".

2. Portrait of the President of the United States, completed at 1984. It is painted with portraits of 39 presidents from Washington to Reagan. This set of works selects high-quality rock crystals, and employs senior grinders to grind out 40 folding hookahs that float on the water (the "floating on the water" pots, for one thing, are as thin as paper and do not sink into the water, and are made into plain pots, which are crystal clear, luxurious, unified and solemn. Secondly, with the oil painting method of "combining Chinese and western", the characters are fine-tuned, lifelike, accurate in perspective and radiant, just like color photos. The president's signature and autograph at the bottom of the portrait are the same, and the artistic interest is doubled. Thirdly, in the packaging and decoration, the lid of the pot is made of pure gold and black cushion, which is magnificent. Made of red wooden cases with drawers, each cigarette pot is equipped with bronze instructions, which is convenient for collection and carrying. The whole set of works is noble and solemn, unified and harmonious, orderly and imposing. Once exhibited, it caused a great sensation, and it was called "the epitome of American history", "the crystallization of China art" and "the artistic peak of wonderful craftsmanship".

The National Treasure Map of Famous Kings in the Twelfth Dynasties in China is the third in the portrait series. There are Xia, Shang, Zhou Wuwang, Qin Shihuang, Emperor Gaozu, Sima Yan, Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty, Emperor Taizong, Song Taizu, Yuan Shizu, Ming Taizu and Qing Taizu. On the back of each famous monarch's portrait pot, typical dynasty art treasures were drawn in a realistic way, such as Yu, Shang bronze tripod, Gui, Qin terracotta warriors and horses, Han bronze horse-stepping flying swallow, iron, Sui stone Buddha statue, Tang tricolor camel, Song Guan kiln Guan 'er bottle, Yuan blue and white red glazed jar, Ming cloisonne dragon ear bottle and snuff bottle. This set of works can be said to be the epitome of China's 4,000-year history, culture and art. The features of this set of works are different from those of the previous two sets: the empress uses ink painting with solemn and elegant characters, and the president uses oil painting with rich light and shade and bright colors. This set of works is mainly based on the cross-line drawing of China's figure painting, and the facial coloring absorbs the western painting method, highlighting the change of light, making the picture soft and delicate, and the characters are not only simple and elegant. The whole picture is seamless, beautiful and the art is more mature. When it was exhibited at the 20th annual meeting of the International Salt Lake Society in San Francisco, it was praised by people and called "an ingenious work".

"Ji School" has a large number of talents in internal painting, and there are ten first-class painters with different styles and specialties. For example, Wang Guanyu's works are bold, magnificent and poetic, such as Three Dogs-Expectation, Hundred Horses and Luming Literature's Son. Oriental studies have a solid foundation in painting, and portraits are light in color, distinct in layers and rich in texture. Masterpieces: Portrait of Deng Xiaoping, Portrait of Four Danish Celebrities. Zhang Rucai is good at figure genre painting. Beautiful and smooth lines, elegant and generous manners, delicate and vivid, "the meaning is still unfinished." His masterpiece "Listening to the Qin".

At present, Jipai has nearly 40,000 employees and annual sales of about 800 million. It is the most influential and powerful art industry in Hebei. In recent years, Wang Xisan, with the cooperation of his son Wang Yousan, founded Xisan Arts and Crafts Secondary Technical School and China Exhibition Hall, which played a positive role in the level and influence of painting art in Ji School.