Emily Feng, Michelle Bellin, and Hannah Block

Chinese and Korean Art before 1279

• Agricultural based communities based around rivers: Yellow, Yangzi, Xi

• Climate much wetter, with a variety of animals in forests; hunting and gathering prevalent

• Silk cultivation already developed in N. China

• Yangshao in mountainous N/W China develop Painted Pottery

• Lungshan in E. plains develop Black Pottery: predecessor of later pottery

• Jade art used in E. provinces esp. by Liangzhu

History of China: Neolithic cultures (4000-2000 BCE)

4,000 BC 0 CE 4000 CE 8000 CE 12,000 CE

Bowl, Yangshao culture

• 5000-4000 BCE• 7”• Found in Banpo• Shallow red bowl • Marks along the rim may be evidence of first Chinese

writing• Stylized fish – important part of villagers lives• Face – someone worshipped for their skills• Part of the Yangshao culture, which is one of the most

important painted pottery cultures of Neolithic China

Jade ring from Liangzhu culture 2700-2500 BCE

Jade Cong• Neolithic era• Jade-working culture –

Liangzhu (3300 BCE)– Intricate carvings

• Found buried in a large tomb– Object of importance

• Used to contact spirit world – Circle = heaven, square = earth,

hollow = axis connecting realms• Low relief carvings depicting

combination of human and animal features – Supernatural beings, priests’

helpers or alter egos

• Transition between neolithic cultures and following Shang dynasty

• Largely regarded as mythic until excavations in 1928

• Evidence of bronze tools, communities, and tombs; largely agricultural

• Hereditary system of rule, lunar calendar system developed: jade and bronze crafts refined

• Xia dynasty overthrown by Tang, leader of Shang tribe after corrupt and lazy Jie

3 Bronze Age Dynasties: Xia (2000-1500 B.C)

Bronze Age Dynasties: the Shang (1700-1100)

• Ruled from Yellow River capitols; walled cities, palaces, and large royal tombs found

• Society highly stratified; surrounded by rival or allied states in constantly fighting atmosphere

• Refined bronze craft for art and weapons

• Very mystical, religious society; rulers claimed as divine intermediaries between realms

• Religion fostered art forms and earliest writing

• Culture of ancestor and spirit worship, violence, and grandeur in death and glittering court life

• Bronze vessels: 30 shapes form, some based on animal forms

• Served ritual purposes, illustrate significance of tombs

Ritual bronze vessel in shape of owl

Fang Ding

• 12th century BCE• Bronze, 24.5”, 240 lbs• Found in royal tombs

near Shang capitals–Largest Shang

recovered• Large deer head on

each side, deer on legs, birds, and dragons

Bronze Age Dynasties: the Zhou (1100-221 BCE)• Conquered Shang; feudal society est.

w/nobles ruling over small states underneath king ruling under Mandate of Heaven

• 771 BCE defeated by western nomadic tribe; new capitol est. in east but Eastern Zhou dynasty much weaker

• States more independent; constant warfare between states

• During Spring and Autumn period (722-481 BCE) 10-12 states merged into 7 powers

• Warring States period (481-221 BCE) intrigue and ruthless conflict common

• In contrast, great philosophers arose: shift from spiritual to human world

Bronze Bell• Found in tomb of Marquis Yi

of Zeng• 433 BCE• Part of carillon of 65 bells

arranged in 25 ft formation• Make two sounds (hit near

center or side)– Music for rituals

communicating with supernatural

• Taotie on front & back of each bell

• Intricate due to lost-wax casting

1st Imperial Period: Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE)

• 1st semblance of empire; military campaigns unite states under single emperor, Shihuangdi

• Obsessed with immortality, building mausoleum in Shaanxi province until rebellion in 206 BCE that ends dynasty

• 1974 mound over mausoleum unearthed; army of terra cotta soldiers & horses discovered

• Harsh/repressive regime: laws based on legalism, other schools of thought banned, enforced with execution

• Central bureaucracy est, writing/coinage standardized, roads built, Great Wall connected

The Great Wall of China

Hadrian’s Wall

Han Dynasty (206 BCE -220 CE)

• Modified harsher aspects of Qin: adopted vassal principalities and Confucian ideals

• Confucianism: human beings are teachable, improvable and perfectible through personal and communal endeavor esp. through self-cultivation and self-creation, submitting to life to achieve ren and yi

• Peaceful/prosperous; Silk Road est. to Rome

• Period of intellectual & artistic revival: paper, porcelain, clocks, astrological instruments developed

• Shiji described court life and “barbarians”

• Civil service examination installed

Han Dynasty, cont.

• Era of military expansion: invaded N. Vietnam pushed W/S, allowing for secure travel

• Enforcement lax; tributary system est. with intermarriage common

• Diplomacy expanded to Japan, Korea, even Roman empire.

• Briefly disrupted by (Xin) intermediary; regained power but corruption proved to be end

• Disputes among court factions and imperial consorts

• Devolved into age of civil war between three dynasties (6 Dynasty period)

Painted Banner

• Found in tomb of Marquess of Dai

• 160 BCE• 6’ 8.5”• Mythocentric age-

relationship with supernatural

• Silk banner painted scenes of the three levels of universe– Heaven, earth, underworld

Incense Burner• 113 BCE• Bronze with a gold inlay• 26 cm• Found in the tomb of Prince Liu

Sheng• Depicts waves and mountainous

islands occupied by animals and people who have discovered immortality

• This piece represents the development of bronze casting in China

• Relates to Daoism, which emphasizes the relationship betweens humans and nature and humans searching for immortality

Rubbing of a Stone Relief

• Wu family Shrine

• Two story building–Women and men on

separate floors, visitors have gifts, birds on roof

–Depicts homage to first emperor of Han Dynasty (hieratic scale)

Relief in Wu Family Shrine compared to Han Dynasty Banner

• 300 year time difference

• Han Dynasty Banner– Equal emphasis on heaven,

earth, and underworld

– Supernatural and divine are more important than humans

• Wu Family Shrine– Human realm

– Importance of emperor

– Social order

Architecture: Han Dynasty

• Much storied architecture, but nothing remains except for clay tomb models

• Favored multilevel construction with bracketing system to support tiled eaves

• Became standard for imperial architecture

• Stories describe elaborate painting to bring outdoors indoors, perhaps inlaid with precious materials

Angkor Wat Djoser’s step pyramid

Tympanum, Notre Dame Cathedral

Six Dynasties (220- 581 CE)

• Split into three warring kingdoms (called Three Kingdoms period); 280 CE briefly united until court fled south from invasions by nomadic tribes in central Asia

• For next 3 centuries, N/S China developed independently:

• North= 16 kingdoms in constant warfare; thousands fled south

• South=six dynasties quickly came and went in constant turmoil during Southern/Northern dynasties period (265-480 CE)

• Confucianism lost popularity to escapist Daoism; intellectuals sought independent from society and government

• Militaristic and hierarchal society, but painting and calligraphy flourished + new poetic styles

Painting

• Few survive from 6 Dynasties: most drawn from literature

• Emphasized landscape paintings (Daoist influence); could wander through landscape as mental exercise and inspiration

• Spiritual, not just didactic, element to painting

• 6 Principles set out by scholar Xie He on painting:

• Capture “spirit” or “qi” in painting; contain essence of things

• Brushwork= “bones,” primary structural element of piece

• Each stroke= vehicle of expression, “spirit consonance”

Detail of Admonitions of the Imperial Instructress to Court Ladies

Admonitions of the Imperial Instructress to Court Ladies

• Figures drawn with a brush in a thin line, even-width line

•A few outlined areas were filled with color

•Facial features are well depicted

•Movements and emotions are shown through conventions such as bands flowing from Lady Feng’s dress, indicating she is rushing forward

-Upturned strings on both sides of the emperor’s head suggest fear

•No setting- artist relies on careful placement of figures to create a sense of depth

• Importance of brushstrokes shown in calligraphy; revelaed character and style of the writer

• Highest forms of expression

• Practiced by intellectual elite and government officials

• most important calligrapher= Wang Xizhu; surviving work in Feng Ju album

• “Walking style;” fluid and dynamic, done freely, mix between formal and informal

Calligraphy (6 Dynasties Period)

Sui Dynasty (581-617 CE)• General from N. dynasties replaced child emperor, defeated

opposition and centralized China into Sui Dynasty• Compared to Qin in cruelty and ruthlessness: tyrannical demands,

high taxes, compulsory labor (lots of building projects, including renovation of Great Wall)

• Fell under through assassinations, rebellion, Korean invasions• Strongly Buddhist; reached peak during Tang dynasty

Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE)• High point; arts and literature flourished, civil service examination

perfected, drawing in talented gov. officials• Block printing invented • Expansion of territory

• Power ebbed 8th century from Arab defeats; Song dynasty emerges

Buddhist Art & Architecture• Buddhism spread from India

during 5th cent. BCE along Silk Road; popular in North, then South during tumultuous 6 Dynasties Period

• 1st patron: Emperor Liang Wu Di; built thousands temples/monasteries built

• Almost none of this remains; inferred from Japanese temples based off Chinese

• Favored light, weightless appearance

Rock-cut Caves on the Silk Road

• 100s along trade routes carved straight from cliffs; some caves were spiritual retreats, home for hidden temples/shrines

• Yungang in Shanxi contains Seated Buddha

• Carved during late 5th century during N. Wei dynasty (short-lived, but supported Buddhism)

• Long ears, ushnisha (bun), pattern like pleats, strong body and wide shoulders, and mask-like face draw on Southeast Asian art

Seated Buddha

• 460 CE• Stone • 45 ft.• Located in the cave 20 of the

rock cut caves of the Silk Road

• Carved for a ruler of the Northern Wei Dynasty

• Traditional attributes of Buddha such as elongated ears and monk’s robes.

• Full torso, mask like face, large shoulders, and stylized drapery show Central Asian influence

Altar to Amitabha Buddha

•New Sui emperor= devote Buddhist (593 CE)

•His reunification of China coincided with several styles of Buddhist sculpture that had developed

•One of many Buddhas of Mahayana Buddhism

•Amitabha dwelled in Western Pure Land-- paradise where faithful followers were promised rebirth

•Altar depicts him in his paradise

•Seated on lotus throne

•7 celestial nymphs sit on topmost clusters

•Ropes of pearls hang from tree trunks

•Bodhisattva Guanyin holds a pomegranate

•Another bodhisattva clasps his hands in prayer

•4 disciples who first preached teaching of Buddha

•Filled with objects symbolizing his power

•Altar combines sensuality of Indian styles, schematic abstraction of Central Asian art, and Chinese emphasis on linear grace and rhythm into a harmonious new style

Great Wild Goose Pagoda at Ci’en Temple in Chang’an

-645 CE

-For famous monk Xuanzang on his return from a 16-year pilgrimage to India

-Pagoda originated in Indian Buddhist stupa-- elaborate burial mound that housed relics of the Buddha

-Built entirely in masonry and imitates the wooden architecture of the time

-Walls decorated in low relief, bracket system are reproduced under the projecting roof of each story

Architecture -Pagoda still preserves the essence of Tang

architecture in its simplicity, symmetry, proportions, and grace

Figure Painting in the Tang Dynasty

• Very few scroll paintings survive; those that do are among the finest

• Many copied, much like Romans of Greek art

Detail of Ladies Preparing Newly Women Silk by Zhang Xuan (known for his depictions of women at Tang court)

• Attributed to Emperor Huizong early 12th century

• Long hand scroll in several sections; depicts activities of court women as they weave and iron silk

• Original no longer exists-- don’t know if copy is faithful (but refined lines and bright colors share grace and dignity of Tang sculpture and architecture

Song Dynasty (960-1279)• United after brief period of turmoil; new capitol at Kaifeng

• Unlike Tang, much more introspective; weakened military

• 1126 Jurchen tribes from Manchuria invade, took control of N. China

• Song retreated south to Hangzhou (S. Song)

• Territory decreased, but wealth flourished from technology/artistic advances

• Cities developed as administration/cultural centers

• Wealthy group of merchants created

• Idea of “ideal man” inc. scholar, statesman, poet, artist

• Neo-Confucianism est.: infused w/Daoist and Buddhist thought

• Cleansing of impurities to have li reach Great Ultimate

Northern Song Painting: Fan Kaun

• Neo-Confucian ideas found visual expression in art, esp. landscape

• Studied nature closely to master its many appearances

• Passion for realistic detail was artist’s form of self-cultivation: mastering outward forms showed an understanding of principles behind them

• Balance of natural forces

• Not actual location

Travelers Among Mountains and Streams

• Fan Kaun- one of first great masters of Song landscape

• Early 11th century• Whole painting conveys feeling of climbing a

whole mountain, leaving human world behind to come face to face with Great Ultimate in spiritual communion

• All elements depicted with precise detail and in proper scale

•Jagged brushstrokes describe contours of rocks and trees

•Express their rugged nature

•Contains realistic details, the landscape represents no specific place

•The landscape-a view of nature uncorrupted by human habitations

- expresses a kind of Daoist ideal

•Goal of Chinese painting: precisely avoid limits and show a totality beyond what we are normally given to see

•Ideal of Western painters was to render what can be seen from a fixed viewpoint

-Ideal of Chinese artists: reveal nature through a distant, all-seeing, and mobile viewpoint

Travelers Among Mountains and Streams Cont.

Xu Daoning

Section of Fishing in a Mountain Stream

• Mid-11th century

• Mobile Perspective-- can follow along

•Starting from a thatched hut in right foreground

•Follow path leads to broad, open view of a deep vista

dissolving into distant mists and mountain peaks

Zhang ZeduanSpring

Festival on the River

Early 12th century

•Domesticity-everyday life

- industry and busy

commerce

Xia Gui: Southern Song ArtTwelve Views from a Thatched

Hut

• Early 13th century

• Landscape painting took very different course

-Fall of the north and the removal of court to its new capital in the south

• Southern Song=refined style

• Interested in landscape and cultivated his own style

• Intimate with ink washes=simple

• Limited himself to few essential details--> evokes a deep feeling for what lies beyond

Guan Pottery• Most highly prized of many types of

Song ceramics

• Made mainly for imperial use

• 13th century

• Guan Ware Vase

• High neck

-Show a strong sense of harmony

• Crackle pattern on glazed surface: Cracked Glaze Technique

-Can sense the same spirit that hovers behind the self-effacing virtuosity and freely intuitive insights if Xia Gui’s landscape

Korean Art: 3 Kingdoms Period (57 BCE – 668 CE)

• Three independent nation states est: Shilla (SE), Baekje (SW), and Goguryeo (N) from tribal leagues

• Most notable pieces are large tomb mounds

• Highly sophisticated state organizations based on Confucian/Buddhist hierarchal structures

• Dominated by tribal infighting and conflict between three states

• Flower of Youth Corps est in Shilla (voluntary military service)

Tomb Contents

Ceramics Golden Headdress

High-Fired Ceramics

•Important advancement at this time

•Most containers are for offerings of food placed in the tomb to noutish the spirit of the deceased

-Similar to Chinese

•Generally unglazed stoneware-unaffected by liquids

•Most imposing-tall stands that were used to support round-bottomed jars

-Long cylindrical shaft on a bulbous base

•Little surface ornamentation

•Some wave patterns or circles

Golden Headdress

An enduring monument of this period:

-Found in large tomb mounds

•Crowns were most spectacular items found

-Made specifically for burial

•Made from cut pieces of thin gold sheet and wire

•Comma-shaped ornaments of green and white jadeite

•Tall, branching forms resemble tees and antlers

•Appendages suggest wings or feathers

•Shows relationship with animals and natural world

Unified Silla Period (660-935 CE)

• 660 CE Silla kingdom conquered other two with Tang alliance

• Buddhism flourishes; spate of temple building

• Period of prosperity: attempt to create ideal Buddhist state

Seated Shakyamuni Buddha ( at Seokguram)

moment of his enlightenment

751 CE

Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392 CE)

• Court-centered governance: known for courtly refinement and celadon glazed pottery

• Celadon: high-fired, transparent glaze of pale, bluish-green hue, typically applied over a a pale gray stoneware body

• Invented by Chinese potters

• Korean potters experimented with such glazes

• Little decoration in 11th century

• Carved or molded decoration in 12th century- mimicked contemporaneous Chinese ceramics

-Inlaid decoration stamped into body

-Black and white slips create contrasting colors

Buddhist Art in Ancient Korea

•Buddhism introduced into Goguryeo kingdom from China in 372 and

into Baekje by 384

•Gained recognition as official religion of Silla

state in 527

•At first, Buddhist art in Korea was a mere

imitation of Chinese art

•But by late 6th century Korean sculptors

created a style of their own

•Most sumptuous Buddhist works

produced during Goryeo period were paintings

Bodhisattva Seated in Meditation

•Korean sculptors style illustrated by magnificent gilt bronze image of a bodhisattva

seated in a meditation (17th century)

•Distinguished as Korean:

•Slender body

•Elliptical face

•Elegant drapery folds

•Tri-lobed crown

The Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara

•Late 14th century

•Buddhism enjoyed patronage under Goryeo Dynasty

•Paintings were wrought in ink and colors on silk

•Hanging scroll

•Luxurious taste of the period:

-Flesh tones used for its face and hands

-Rich colors and gold pigment used for the deity’s clothing

Bibliography

• http://amityarthistory.blogspot.com/2010/03/chinese-and-korean-art-before-1279.html

• http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/?period=07&region=eak

• http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core9/phalsall/texts/chinarts.html

• http://amityarthistory.blogspot.com/2010/02/chinese-and-korean-art-after-1279.html

• http://www-chaos.umd.edu/history/time_line.html

• http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/ancient_china/neolithic.html

• http://www.asianinfo.org/asianinfo/korea/history.htm

• http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cneo/hd_cneo.htm

• http://www.chinatownconnection.com/china-black-pottery.htm

• http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/history/xia/

• http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1988.20.7