Chinese Art Vocabulary

Yangshao Culture

Shang Dynasty

Zhou Dynasty

Qin Dynasty

Han Dynasty

Tang Dynasty

Period of Disunity

Northern Song Period

Liao Dynasty

Southern Song Period

Korean Art

Three Kingdoms Period

Unified Silla Kingdom

KoryoDynasty

EARLY CHINA AND KOREA

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Chinese ArtConfucianism

School of thought founded by Confucius and his disciple Mencius (Mengzi) stressing social responsibility and order. The ideal social order is personified by the junzi ( “superior person“) who possesses ren (“human-heartedness”). Anyone can become a junzi by cultivating virtues such as empathy, pursuit of morality and justice, and respect for tradition.

Daoism

Philosophy arising from the metaphysical teachings of Laozi and Zhuangzi stressing an intuitive awareness and harmony with nature. The Dao is the “universal path“ where strength comes from flexibility and inaction. It stresses the cultivation of individuals, often in reclusion.

Clustered brackets

A system of cantilevering a roof to allow for broad overhang of eaves using beams, lintels, struts, purlins, and rafters, all interlocking without mortar or glue.

Bays

Spaces between supporting columns in architecture.

Yangshao Culture

The prehistoric Yangshao culture located along the Yellow River in northeastern China.

Its major artistic form was Earthenware pottery.

Yangshao Culture vases

from Gansu Province, China

mid-third millennium B.C.E.

Earthenware is fired at low temperatures in open pits or simple kilns and remains soft and porous, allowing liquids to seep through.

Stoneware is fired at a much higher temperature in a kiln, and has a stonelike hardness and density.

Potters of the Yangshao Culture produced fine decorated earthenware bowls in the 4th millennium BCE, prior to the invention of the potter's wheel.

Techniques for decorating earthenware and stoneware in early China relied on changes made to the piece during firing.

Decoration on Yangshao pottery included zigzags, lozenges, and spirals

Shang Dynasty

Guang

probably from Anyang, China

Shang dynasty12th or 11th century BCE. bronze6 1/2 in. high

Shang dynasty bronzes used animal forms probably connected with the world of spirits.

Bronze ritual vessels were most characteristic of the Shang period.

Standing figurefrom Sanxingdui, Chinaca. 1200–1050 B.C.E.bronze8 ft. 5 in. high, including base

Types of objects found in tombs of Shang rulers and those of Sanxingdui and the material from which they were made.

bronze vessels

Elephant tusks and an ivory beaker inlaid with turquoise

jade (nephrite) objects

Turtle shells and animals bones inscribed in the earliest form of the Chinese language

lacquer and gold objects

Bronze statues

Zhou DynastyThe Zhou dynasty was among the longest in Chinese history.

Bi disk with dragons

from Jincun(?), China

Eastern Zhou dynastyfourth to third century B.C.E. Nephrite6 1/2 in. diameter

When used in burials, the Bi is placed under the head or heart of the deceased, to conduct the “hun” soul to heaven

While all theories presented to date are speculative, we can forward one based upon the Warring States text Zhou li (Rites of Zhou), that "bi" are thought to represent symbols of heaven and were used in ancient rituals together with square tubes (cong) symbolizing the earth. "To worship heaven with a bi" explains their importance and use. "Bi" also symbolize status of high social rank and sheds light on why many carved jades have been found in Zhou royal tombs.

Among the most common finds in tombs during the Zhou dynasty are bi disks

Qin Dynasty

Army of the First Emperor of Qin in pits next to his burial moundLintong, ChinaQin dynastyca. 210 B.C.E.painted terracottaaverage figure 5 ft. 10 7/8 in. high.

In addition to his work on the Great Wall, the Qin ruler Shi Huangdi, the first emperor of China, is remembered in art history for the army of life-sized ceramic and bronze warriors and horses he commissioned for his tomb

What was found in excavations around the tomb mound of Emperor Shi Huangdi at Shaanxi?

A vast underground funerary palace filled with more than 6000 life-size painted terracotta figures of soldiers and horses, as well as bronze horses and chariots.

Han DynastyHan ancestral shrines documented the emergence of private, non-aristocratic families as patrons of religious and mythological art.

The Archer Yi? and Reception in a Mansion

Jiaxiang, China

Han Dynastyca.147-168 C.E.rubbing of a stone relief3 x 5 ft..

Stylistic characteristics of Han reliefs

Scenes are separated into horizontal courses each with its own groundline.

Slightly twisted perspective, giving a flat appearance with no depth of space.

Strong silhouettes with a mix of curvilinear and angular forms.

Funeral Banner from Tomb 1Mawangdui, ChinaHan Dynastyca.168 B.C.E.painted silk6 ft. 8 3/4 in. x 3 ft. 1/4 in.

The Silk Road The overland route that brought

silk from China to Rome and other

fine goods (and ideas, like

Buddhism) along the way;

a network of caravan tracts across

Central Asia linking it to the

Mediterranean world. Buddhism

was brought to China from India in

the first century BCE.

Model of a house

Han dynastyfirst century CEPainted earthenware4 ft. 4 in. high

Chinese raised-beam construction

Period of Disunity

Shakyamuni BuddhaFrom Hebei ProvincePeriod of Disunity338gilded bronze1 ft. 3 1/2 in. high

Three stylistic features, derived from Gandharan prototypes, that occur in the earliest Chinese image of the Buddha

The ushnisha and the cross-legged position.

The flat, relief-like handling of the robe’s folds.

The dhyana (meditation) mudra, which is actually misrepresented here, with the hands facing the stomach instead of the viewer.

Buddhism and Buddhist images became important in China during the Period of Disunity

Gu Kaizhi

Lady Feng and the Bear, detail of Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies

Period of Disunitylate fourth centuryhandscroll, ink and colors on silkentire scroll 9 3/4 in. X 11 ft. 4 1/2 in.

Shakyamuni and Prabhutaratna

from Hebei Province

Northern Wei dynasty518Gilded bronze10 1/4 in. high

The earliest extant precisely datable Chinese Buddhist image is a gilded bronze statuette of Shakyamuni Buddha

Tang Dynasty

Worldly and dignified typifies the Tang court and the art it commissioned.

Drawing of East Main Hall

Foguang Si

Mount Wutai, China

Tang dynastyca. 857

Vairocana Buddha, disciples, and bodhisattvasFengxian Temple, Longmen Caves, Luoyang, ChinaTang dynastycompleted 675LimestoneBuddha 44 ft. high.

The Vairocana Buddha is massive in size (44 feet tall), but in addition, is carved in the round with a geometric regularity of contour and smoothness of planes to emphasize the volume of the figure, as opposed to the flatter, more relief-like carving of the Zhao Shakyamuni Buddha.

Vairocana Buddha, disciples, and bodhisattvas

Fengxian Temple, Longmen Caves, Luoyang, China

Tang dynastycompleted 675LimestoneBuddha 44 ft. high.

Vairocana Buddha, disciples, and bodhisattvas

Fengxian Temple, Longmen Caves, Luoyang, China

Tang dynastycompleted 675LimestoneBuddha 44 ft. high.

Tang dynasty artists and craftspeople taught visitors from Korea and Japan, and some traveled abroad.

Unlike Egyptian and Greek architecture, Chinese architecture had roofs with curving silhouettes and were constructed differently.Builders laid beams between columns, decreasing the length of the beams as the structure rose. The beams supported vertical struts, which supported higher beams and eventually the purlins running the length of the building. The purlins carry the roof’s sloping rafters, which could be straight or curved.

Materials Wood (with lacquer), marble, and tiled roofs.Colors favoredRed, black, yellow, and white.Roof line favoredCurved, with overhanging eaves.

Type of perspective was used;Central, with objects that recede into space but do not converge onto one single vanishing point.

Paradise of AmitabhaCave 172, Dunhuang, ChinaTang Dynastymid 8th centurywall paintingwall approximately 10 feet high

Each figure exists in an undefined space.Importance is represented by size.The emphasis is on line drawing and flat colored washes, with simple shading to suggest volume.

attributed to Yan LibenEmperor Xuan and attendants, detail of The Thirteen EmperorsTang dynastyca. 650handscroll, ink and colors on silkdetail: 1 ft. 8 1/4 in. x 1 ft. 5 1/2 in. ; entire scroll, 17 ft. 5 in. long

The painting The Thirteen Emperors is attributed to Yan Liben

Palace ladies, detail of a wall painting in the tomb of Princess YongtaiQianxian, ChinaTang dynasty706detail 5 ft. 10 in. high

Devices used to give a sense of depth and space to the composition.

Paired figures facing into and out of the space of the picture.The figures are grouped in an oval with intervals that suggest a common ground plane.

HorseTang Dynasty8th to 9th century C.E.20 in. highglazed earthenware

Types of figurines commonly found in Tang tombs:

Chinese people (such as First Emperor of Qin’s army).

Foreigners.

Fantastic creatures.

Domestic animals.

Neighing Horse

Tang Dynasty8th to 9th century C.E.20 in. highglazed earthenware

Northern Song Period

Fan KuanTravelers Among Mountains and StreamsNorthern Song Periodearly 11th centuryhanging scroll, ink, and colors on silk6 ft. 7 1/4 in. x 3 ft. 4 1/4 in.

Stylistic characteristics

Shifting perspective where some objects are represented from a level ground and others from an oblique perspective.

Humans are dwarfed by overwhelming nature.

Distance is represented with smaller, paler brush markes and unrepresented space (in front of the mountain).

Shifting perspective is most characteristic in the paintings of the northern Song artist Fan Kuan.

Fan Kuan

Travelers Among Mountains and Streams

Northern Song Periodearly 11th centuryhanging scroll, ink, and colors on silk6 ft. 7 1/4 in. x 3 ft. 4 1/4 in.

A pioneer of Chinese landscape painting during the Period of Disunity was Fan Kuan

The six canons of Chinese painting include responding to things, depicting their forms and dividing and planning, positioning and arranging, but not making objects appear still and persons appear in motion

Scholars praised landscape Song dynasty painter Fan Kuan as a master of light, shade, and texture

Attributed to HuizongAuspicious CranesNorthern Song period1112section of a handscroll, ink and colors on silk1 ft. 8 1/8 in. X 4 ft. 6 3/8 in.

Calligraphy has been highly valued throughout China’s history and was required training for court painters. Chinese painting valued care with and variety of brushstrokes for both drawing and shading.

When Huizong reorganized the imperial painting academy, he required the study of poetry as part of the official training of court painters.

Meiping vase

from Xiuwi, China

Northern Song period12th centurystoneware, Cizhou type, with sgraffito decoration 1 ft. 7 1/2 in. high

Chinese potters applied slip to earthenware and stoneware vessels by painting, pouring, and dripping on a clay body not yet fully dried.

Meiping vase

Northern Song period 960-1127 C.E.Stoneware, Cizhou type with sgraffito decoration

Liao Dynasty

Foguang Si PagodaYingxian, ChinaLiao Dynasty1056 C.E.

A pagoda, or tower of winged eaves, was earliest used for housing relics and providing devotion to the Buddha, but later served other functions. The form developed from the tall towers of Indian temples and stupas.

Foguang Si Pagoda

Yingxian, China

Liao Dynasty1056 C.E.

Southern Song Period

Ma YuanOn a Mountain Path in SpringSouthern Song periodearly 13th centuryalbum leaf, ink and colors on silk10 3/4 in. x 17 in.

Elements typical of Southern Song landscape painting:Landscape reduced to a few elements that carefully frame a figure.Foreground, middle ground, and background arranged vertically.Abbreviated, expressive calligraphy-inspired ink painting, with a variety of wet and dry brush strokes.

The Chinese interest in landscape was most strongly influenced by Daoist nature cults and poetic themes

Liang KaiSixth Chan Patriarch Chopping BambooSouthern Song periodearly 13th centuryhanging scroll, ink on paper2 ft. 5 1/4 in. high

In Chan thought, the performance of even mundane tasks have the potential to become a spiritual exercise.

A scruffy, caricature-like representation suggests that the figure is not burdened by worldly matters such as physical appearance.

Quick and seemingly casual painting can be interpreted to mean progress towards enlightenment.

Zhou JichangLohans Giving Alms to BeggarsSouthern Song Period1178 C.E.hanging scroll, ink and colors on silk3 ft. 7 7/8 in. x 1 ft. 8 7/8 in.

Korean Art

Shakyamuni Buddhaat entrance to cave templefrom Sokkuram, Korea

Vairocana Buddha, disciples, and bodhisattvasFengxian Temple, Longmen Caves, Luoyang, China

Unlike at Longmen, the interior wall surfaces and sculpture were not cut from the rock in the process of excavation. Instead, workers built the rotunda wall by attaching hundreds of granite pieces by stone rivets. The result is more polished and geometric.

A colossal relief in the Longmen complex of caves from the Tang dynasty features a central figure of the Buddha that is 44 feet tall.

The sculpted granite pieces at Sokkuram were attached to the walls of the cave using stone rivets

Vairocana Buddha, disciples, and bodhisattvasFengxian Temple, Longmen Caves, Luoyang, China

Seated Buddha preaching first sermonfrom Sarnath, India5th century C.E.sandstone

The Korean Buddha shares compactness and stylization of features most with the Sarnath Buddha. The pose is elegantly simple, more balanced than the Longmen; the Buddha hardly seems to occupy much space yet it is definitely carved in the round and has a sense of quiet motion and peace that is best seen in 6-12.

Shakyamuni Buddhaat entrance to cave templefrom Sokkuram, Korea

Crown from tomb 98

Hwangnamdong, Korea

Three Kingdoms Period5-6th centurygold10 3/4 in. high

Three Kingdoms Period

Shakyamuni Buddhaat entrance to cave templefrom Sokkuram, KoreaUnified Silla Kingdom751-744graniteapproximately 11 ft. high

Unified Silla Kingdom

Maebyong vaseKoryo dynastyca. 918-1000celadon with inlaid decoration1 ft. 4 1/2 in. tall

Celadon

Korean pottery characterized by

highly translucent iron-pigmented

glazes, fired to produce gray, pale

blue, pale green, or brownish olive.

Incised or engraved areas created

tonal variations.

Koryo Dynasty

Impressive celadon ceramics were developed during the Koryo dynasty

The Koryo potters of Korea produced world famous celadon ware.