During the Qin and Han Dynasties, flowers were widely used in people's lives. According to records, during the reign of Emperor Huidi of the Western Han Dynasty, Empress Xiaohui moved the flowers and trees of the four seasons indoors and placed flowers on the couch, coffee table and console table. In the mural paintings of tombs in the Eastern Han Dynasty, a ceramic round basin was depicted, in which six small red flowers were evenly inserted. The ceramic basin was placed on a square shelf, forming a trinity image of flowers, containers and shelves. This is the earliest example of flower arrangement found so far.
There is also a saying that ancient flower arrangement originated from the form of flower supply in Buddhism. According to the Biography of Prince Qi Jin 'an in Southern History, Wang Zi was sickly when he was young. Many monks used copper pots to hold water and dipped the lotus into them, so that the lotus remained unbeaten for several days. As a result, Wang Zi recovered quickly. This story fully shows that there was the embryonic form of flower arrangement in the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
Sui and Tang Dynasties are the heyday of flower arrangement art! Every year, February 15 of the lunar calendar is the flower festival, and a hundred flowers festival is held to commemorate the birthday of flowers. According to records, flower arrangement in that period has become a systematic and complete art.
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period! Scholars often express their feelings in the form of flower arrangement, so the art of flower arrangement has changed a lot. First of all, flowers tend to be common, wild flowers and weeds come at will, and the utensils are informal. Bottles, jars, bamboo tubes and baskets are all available, just seeking a natural wild interest.
In the Song Dynasty! The art of flower arrangement has reached another peak. Influenced by Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism, people pursue the philosophical meaning of flower arrangement more. Flowers are mostly taken from pine, cypress, plum, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum, and the style pursues elegance, simplicity and smooth lines. Therefore, the flower arrangement in Song Dynasty is called "concept flower".
The flower arrangement in Yuan Dynasty took another step forward! Pay attention not only to the meaning of flowers, but also to express the theme from the homonym of flowers. For example, there are two porcelain pots filled with Jingui and Yin Gui on the hanging basket, and there is a three-fold osmanthus floating on it, suggesting that Jingui and Yin Gui are not as leisurely as they are, reflecting people's desire for stability, peace and freedom.
Ming dynasty is the mature period of flower arrangement! Especially in the late Ming Dynasty, the pursuit of uneven natural beauty, pay attention to the beauty of pitching, density and tall and straight posture, although they are physical objects, the flower arrangement works have the artistic conception beauty of landscape painting.
The flower arrangement in Qing Dynasty embodies the spirit of advocating nature! It shows a wide range of nature between scale and form, and it has also become diversified. It invented three forms of flower arrangement: landscape flower arrangement, combined flower arrangement and homophonic flower arrangement.