Auspicious Cranes 瑞鹤图, Zhao Ji, Song Dynasty,Handscroll, ink and color on silk, 51x138.2cm
Zhao Ji (1082–1135), Emperor Huizong of Song, was the eighth emperor of the Song Dynasty. He was the 11th son of Emperor Shenzong, and never been educated as an emperor when he was young, because his older brother would be the following emperor. But in 1100, when his older half-brother Emperor Zhezong died without a surviving son, Zhao Ji succeeded himself the next day as emperor.
As a prince and finnally the ruler of this enormous empire, Emperor Huizong spent his early half life amidst luxury and art. Despite his incompetence in rulership, Zhao Ji was famed in painting, calligraphy, poetry and music.
As a well-known calligrapher, Zhao Ji invented the “Slender Gold” style of calligraphy. The name “Slender Gold” came from the fact that his writing resembled gold filament, twisted and turned.
Huizong sponsored numerous artists at his court, and the catalogue of his imperial painting collection lists over 6,000 known paintings. Huizong took huge efforts to search for art masters. He established the “Han Lin Hua Yuan” (the imperial painting house), where the best painters all over China share their best works. His era name of Xuanhe is also used to describe a style of mounting paintings in scroll format. In this style, black borders are added between some of the silk planes.
As true artist, Huizong neglected the army, and Song China became increasingly weak and at the mercy of foreign enemies. When the Jurchen of Manchuria founded the Jin Dynasty and attacked the Liao kingdom to the north of the Song Empire, the Song court allied with the Jin and attacked the Liao from the south. This succeeded in destroying the Liao kingdom, a long time enemy of the Song. However, an enemy even more formidable, the Jin, was now on the northern border. Not content with the annexation of the Liao kingdom, and measuring rightly the weakness of the Song empire, the Jin soon declared war on their former ally, and by the beginning of 1126 the troops of the Jin crossed the Yellow River and came in sight of Bianliang, the capital of the Song empire. Stricken with panic, Huizong abdicated and passed on his throne to his eldest son, Zhao Huan who assumed the title Emperor Qinzong.
Huizong, his son Emperor Qinzong, as well as the entire imperial court and harem were eventually captured by the Jin, and shipped north, mostly to the Jin capital of Shangjing (near today’s Harbin). The Jurchen ruler, Emperor Taizong of Jin, gave the former Emperor Huizong a title, Duke Hunde (literally “Besotted Duke”), to humiliate him. One of the sons of Huizong, Zhao Gou, managed to escape to Southern China where, after many years of struggle, he would establish the Southern Song Dynasty, of which he was the first emperor, Emperor Gaozong. Huizong died as a captive a few years later.
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