"Six Laws" was put forward by Sheikh, a famous figure painter and art theorist who lived in Nanqi during the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Sheikh is good at portraits and ladies. It is reported that he was trained with keen observation and profound dictation skills. However, his position in China's painting history mainly depends on his theoretical contribution. His Catalogue of Ancient Paintings initially laid a complete system of China's painting theory and put forward the artistic standard of painting-"six methods"

What are the contents of the "six laws"? Including vivid charm, bone technique, pictographic response, color matching, quotient position, transliteration and touch writing:

Vivid charm: What does charm mean? It is the spiritual temperament of the image, and is called "God" by Gu Kaizhi, a figure painter in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Vivid charm means that the spiritual temperament of the image is lively, vivid and prominent. In other words, "both form and spirit", the requirement of Chinese painting is not only to describe the shape of objects, but also to express their spirit. Characters have spirit, so do landscapes, flowers and birds. Only when you reach the spirit likeness can you be vivid. Many painters believe that works without charm cannot be called paintings. Of course, to express the vividness and authenticity of artistic images, that is, charm, can not be separated from the other five methods. Vivid charm is also inseparable from composition conception and pen and ink techniques, so it is a whole with the other five methods. The other five methods are also inseparable from vividness, otherwise it will become a purely technical thing without soul.

Bone brushwork: Bone brushwork originally refers to the appearance characteristics of characters, and later refers to the outline of all painted objects. Using a pen is a unique skill of Chinese painting. Generally speaking, the use of bone pen refers to how to properly describe the shape and texture of objects with pen and ink techniques. If the charm is vividly understood as "spirit", it can be simply understood as "form", which is closely related to Gu Kaizhi's "writing spirit with form". The description of "shape" is written with the help of pen and ink, but writing shape is only a means, and its purpose is to express "God".

Pictographic representation of an object: that is, when painting an object, the painter should conform to the original appearance of the object and express it by modeling. In other words, describing things should be based on certain objective things as a support, and we can't make arbitrary assumptions. That is, objectively reflect things and portray objects. But as an art, we can also choose, generalize, imagine and exaggerate on the premise of respecting objective things. This can be said to refer to a creative attitude and method.

Classification coloring: refers to the application of colors, that is, different colors are applied according to different objects, times and places. The use of color in Chinese painting is different from that in western painting. Chinese painting likes to use inherent colors, that is, the original colors of objects. Although some changes have been noticed, the changes are very small.

Place of business: refers to composition. Management refers to the design method of composition, which is to arrange the image according to the needs of the picture, that is, to reflect the overall effect of the work through the layout of the article. Chinese painting has always attached importance to composition, and should pay attention to the relationship between subject and object, echo, truth, simplicity, density, concealment and unevenness.

Pass, touch and write: it means sketching and copying. Sketching real people and copying ancient works is a learning method to learn nature and inherit tradition.

For painters and painters, the six methods are the highest requirements, which are generally difficult to fully achieve. It is enough to be good at one section each. We understand and master the six methods, so that we can understand the standards and emphases of ancient people's evaluation of painting, and thus look at the artistic heritage of the motherland objectively, and we will also get some enlightenment from it when we appreciate Chinese painting.