Orthorhynchus ornatus
Orthorhynchus ornatus
Green and Blue Crest
- 学名
- Orthorhynchus ornatus
- 合集
- 古尔德蜂鸟图谱
- 绘者
- John Gould(约翰·古尔德)
- 年代
- 1854
- 图版号
- Pl. 206, Vol. IV
- 原书页码
- p.206
- 授权
- CC0 1.0 Universal (Public domain)
十观
- 纵幅 1.73∶1
第一眼
六法者何?一、气韵生动是也;二、骨法用笔是也;三、应物象形是也;四、随类赋彩是也;五、经营位置是也;六、传移模写是也。
—— 南齐·谢赫《古画品录》
一千五百年前的六条标准:气韵、用笔、形似、设色、构图、临摹。你在这幅图上一样样对过去,就是一次完整的读画。这一幅是竖的:眼睛从下往上走,落点在中段那只鸟身上。先别急着看羽毛,让姿态先立起来。第二步凑近一寸:看线与色的交界,色有没有压住线,线有没有断。第三步,把视线放到最深的那一小块:整幅的用色秩序,都是从那里排开的。
名与实
学名 Orthorhynchus ornatus:前一词是属,管它归在哪一类;后一词是种加词,管它在这一类里凭什么与众不同。名字是通行证,也是懒办法——记住两个词,就抓住了一整个物种。此幅尚无通行中文名,姑以学名相称;在没有本地名字的地方,学名就是它唯一的身份证。
形与色
蜂鸟为美洲最小之鸟,喙细长如针,舌分叉成管,可伸入花心吸蜜;翼小而振频极高,能悬停、能倒飞。此幅未作色相归档,只能就形制论。看羽:先看覆羽的层次,再看飞羽的排列,最后才看颜色——颜色是最后才被注意到的部分。
构图与呼吸
画幅高而窄,鸟栖在枝的中段,上下留白多——十九世纪鸟谱的标准版式,留给它飞走的余地。全幅只画一只,不作解剖附图——这类图更近于“观赏”,而非“鉴定”。空白不是没画完,是给眼睛留的落脚处:一张图若四边都塞满,花反而会闷。
一刀一色
十九世纪后半叶,石版与彩色石印渐成主流:颜色可以直接印出,不再依赖手工,线条反倒退居其次。图像的“准确”提高了,手性却淡了。还有一种证据在纸背:铜版压进纸里的那道痕、上色处微微凸起的颜料、再版时磨浅的线。扫描件里也能看出七分。想动笔临它的人记住一句:先铺大块的形与色,干后再收细部;石印的柔和层次来自薄涂与网点,水彩分两三遍淡铺即可逼近。
诗境
夫列子御风而行,泠然善也,旬有五日而后反。
—— 《庄子·逍遥游》
蜂鸟悬停于空,不落不飞,最近于“御风”。庄子说的是一种自由的姿态,蜂鸟把它做成了生理事实。古人写到这一层,已不只是赏花,是借花说人;画面则只负责把那朵花留住。
花语
阿兹特克以蜂鸟为战神与太阳的化身;欧洲维多利亚时代则以蜂鸟为收藏与装饰的极致,百万只羽毛被做成胸饰。中国旧籍无此鸟,故无象征——这空白本身,就是一部博物学交流史。象征多半来自形状与气味:像杯的、像泪的、香的、臭的——先有形状,后有意义。
时与地
温带种类的蜂鸟则随花北迁,一年往返数千公里。仅产美洲,自阿拉斯加南部至火地岛,以安第斯山最为繁盛。中土无蜂鸟,汉籍不载,晚清海外游记始见其名。图上所记的 1854 年是刊行之年,不是采到那只鸟的年份;真正的观察记录通常比出版早一两年。图上的产地常是“据说来自”,图上的花期常是“盛开那十日”——两处都要打个折扣读。
书与人
《古尔德蜂鸟图谱》只署了约翰·古尔德一个人的名字。版画是集体工程:绘图、刻版、上色各有其人,真正决定这幅图好不好看的,常是没留下名字的刻工与上色师。
带走一双眼睛
把这三件事带走:先整体后细节;先线后色;先看画再翻书。任何一张老图版,都可以用这三条读。图谱的用意是“以备查考”,看久了却会忘记查考:1854 年的一个人,为一只鸟花了整整一天。
关于本图版
《古尔德蜂鸟图谱》(Gould's Hummingbirds)由约翰·古尔德绘制,1849—1887 年间印行,本图即其中一幅。画面主体为 Orthorhynchus ornatus,在分类体系中列于蜂鸟科(Trochilidae)。
该合集全编共 421 幅图版,此图为其中之一,图版编号 Pl. 206, Vol. IV,对应原书第 206 页,版式为纵幅。扫描件取自公有领域原件,经高分辨率修复与色彩校正,可按原大放大查看线条与设色。
原书文字(英文 / 法文)
One of the Windward Islands ; but which of them, is unknown
Independently of examples of Orthorynchus cristatus and O. exilis, specimens of a third species somewhat intermediate in the form and colouring of the crest have for many years been contained in the Loddigesian collection at Hackney, and in my own; but from which of the West India Islands they were sent, is unknown.
For this bird I propose the name of O. ornatus. Its crest is longer than that of either of its allies, and the point, and point only, is blue; whereas in the O. cristatus the blue and green colouring is nearly equally divided, and in O. exilis the crest is wholly green. In the colouring of their bodies the three species are very similar. This is the bird alluded to in my account of O. exilis as being intermediate between that species and O. cristatus.
The following remark and description have already appeared in the Introduction, but I cannot perhaps do better than reproduce them here.
This species bears a general resemblance to the O. cristatus, but differs from that bird in being of a somewhat smaller size, and in having the basal two-thirds of the crest glittering green and the tip only blue; the crest is also longer and more elegant in form than that of O. cristatus or O. exilis. With the latter it can never be confounded, while the former may always be distinguished from it by the truncate form of the green portion of its crest. It is just possible that the birds represented on the 31st and 32nd plates of Lesson’s ‘Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux-mouches’ may have reference to this bird.
Basal two-thirds of the crest green, the apical third blue; upper surface deep grass-green; throat dark smoky grey, becoming much darker on the abdomen; flanks glossed with green; wings and tail purplish black; bill black.
Total length 3
The figures are of the natural size. The plant is the Tacsonia sanguinea.
References
- L’Oiseau-mouche huppé, Less. Hist. Nat. des Ois.-Mou., p. 113. pls. 31, 32?