Emperor Huizong, personal name Zhao Ji, was in reign from 1100 to 1126. Although he has never been considered as a good ruler, he has been thought to be one of the best artists in whole Chinese history. Besides being talented in music and poetry, he has made great achievements in calligraphy and paintings. He invented a very sophisticated and elegant calligraphy style which is called ‘Slender Gold’ (瘦金体); his paintings of flower and bird are just so great that whenever we talk about Chinese flower and bird paintings, we will always refer to his works. Professor James Cahill from University of California, Berkeley made a very nice lecture on emperor Huizong’s paintings. It is a nice lecture to watch if you want to know more about Emperor Huizong’s art works.
[…] Golden Pheasant and Cotton Rose Flowers by Emperor Huizong of Song (7June 1082 – 4 June 1135), personal name 赵佶 Zhao Ji. Emperor Huizong is so famous for his flower and bird paintings that no one can ignore him when talking about Chinese art history. Inkston once published one post about him. If you want to know more, please click and read: Emperor Huizong of Song and His Work of Art. […]
[…] art was developed at extremely high speed due to a series of art and culture policies initiated by Emperor HuiZong, who himself is a great artist. There are many great art works in this period, and one of the most […]