Jade Cong, Neolithic Period

-Symbol of religious/secular power

-Used in religious rituals and other ceremonies

-Cong: a rectangular stone with a large hole through its center and box-like registers at its corners

-Similar head types might represent guardian figures in later Chinese art

Oracle Bone, Shang Dynasty

-Mark question, heat up bone until cracked

-Crackle patterns examined by Shamans who could divine the future through patterns

-Means of divination and communication with the spirit world

Ding (Ceremonial Food Vessel), Shang Dynasty

-Derived from a well-known Neolithic art

-Taotie: face-type on vessel

-Visible Patinas

-Diffusionists: significant contact between Asia and Americas through the Pacific

-Some see enough difference in line of development

Yu (Ceremonial Wine Vessel), Zhou Dynasty

-"Animal Style"

-Represents a climax of a long period of formal and iconographic development that may date back to pre-Shang times

Plaque with interlaced dragons, Zhou Dynasty

-Qualities of Jade may have been understood by artist

-Late hook motifs, could represent:

      -Dragons (Solid areas)

      -Taotie (Interacting pattern of open space)

Tomb of Emperor Shihhuangdi, Qin Dynasty

-Reproduced the Qin image of the cosmos, the world of the gods where the emperor lived on after death

Four-horse chariot and driver from the tomb of Emperor Shihhuangdi, Qin Dynasty

-Simplified/rigid poses express the militarism of the emperor's reign, which did so much to reorganize war-torn China and establish its enduring cultural and political traditions

Lady of Dai with Attendants, Han Dynasty

-One of the best examples of Han paintings

-Found in the innermost of the coffins, may have been personal banner and symbol of deceased around which the mourners assembled during the lady's funeral and the procession to grave

-"Flying banner": designed to help elevate the soul to the upper world

-Represents the lady within the Han concept of the cosmos

-Shows the primacy of line in narrative and expression of religious and philosophical ideals and the secondary role played by the added color

Detail from a rubbing of a relief in the Wu family shrine, Han Dynasty

-Unlike the deep, sealed pit tombs of earlier times, designed to be reopened periodically for the reception of newly deceased members

-Tombs wre decorated with images that included stone bas-reliefs praising the family's Confucian virtues, which were designed to ehlp the soulds of the deceased reach paradise

-Some of the most important of early Chinese pictorial art

-Shows the complexity of one of these highly didactic series

Boshan lu, from the Tomb of Princess Tou Wan, Han Dynasty

-Vessel for burning incense

-Represents the sacred rivers that descend from the mountains and the Isles of Immortals in the Eastern Sea, where Daoist philosophers may ahcieve immortality

-May have been inspired by "Cult of the Sacred Mountains"

-Yunqi motifs on the burner, and the yungi-shaped curls of the smoke symbolize the spirit, force or qi of the sacred mountains

Flying Horse Poised on One Leg on a Swallow, from the tomb of Governor-General Zhang, Han Dynasty

-Sense for energetic lines and forms with elasticity and "vital spirit" of nature animates the movements of the small bronze horse

-Breed of barrel-chested horse with flaring nostrils

-Fascinated by the ligthness and agility of the horses' movements rather than the stiffness of the horses standing at perpetual attention in the tomb of Qin

Admonitions of the Instructress to the Ladies of the Palace, Period of Six Dynasties

-Illustrates a text by a Confucian poet, Zhang Hua

-Explain the virtues expected of a good wife and the proper behavior of women attached to the court, including those of the imperial harem

-Of very high quality and seems to reflect some important concerns of 4th century Chinese painters and their coutrly patrons

Colossal Buddha, Wei Dynasty

-Face, long ears, ushnisha (knot of hair symbolizing superior spiritual knowledge) and mudra pose signifying meditation: reflect the stylization of the Gandhara Buddhas of this period

-Sharply cut features, authoritative presence symbolize the spirit and strength of the religion that joined the Daoist and Confucian traditions to shape Chinese art for centuries to come

Guanyin as the Guide of Souls, Sui and Tang Dynasties

-a Bodhisattva (traditionally sexless) of mercy

-Express a universal or celestial form of love unlimited by issues of gender

-Image of princely dignity and utter calm

Yan Liben, Emperor Wu Di (from the Scroll of the Emperors), Sui and Tang Dynasties

-Scroll: one of the best surviving works reflecting the culture and authority of the imperial court of Chang'an

-Achieves class form in Tang period

Western Paradise, Sui and Tang Dynasties

-Cave Shrine

-Important stopping place on Silk Road

-Illustrate themes central to Pure Land Buddhism, a sect in which the faitful were promised a place in the Western Paradise of Amitabha Buddha

-Jatakas: scenes from the life of the Buddha, surround main image

-Courtly gathering and architectural background may represent the opulence of court life in contemporary Chang'an as an earthly reflection of Western Paradise

Fan Kuan, Travelers amid Mountains and Streams, N. Song Dynasty

-One of the best known of all Chinese paintings

-One of the first artists to develop a characteristic type of textured stroke

-Master of Cun: raindrop brushstroke which was used inside ink contour lines to shade, model and texture forms

-Appeals to sense of touch and gives great mass to objects

-The vast context within which people are a small part of the large scheme of nature

-Not intended to be the record of a single visual experience but rather an accumulation of experiences flowing out through the artist's brushstroke in a moment of great exhaltation

-Inspired by Chan Buddhism and Confucianism

Ma Yuan, Scholar Contemplating the Moon, S. Song Dynasty

-Literati used his painting frequently as examples of how not to follow Xie He's canons

-In Japan, formed one of the prime references for emerging school of Japanese literati painting

-Exploiting the powers of suggestion by using empty space to represent water, mist, and sky

-Captures rhythms of Daoists in his image of the vast empty silence of infinity

Hui Neng, the 6th Chan Patriarch, Chopping Bamboo at the Moment of Enlightenment, S. Song Dynasty

-The brushwork in the hastily executed bamboo, the quick broken washed defining the tree in the background, and the sketchy rendering of the Patriarch's folding limbs are filled with "happy accidents" that work in perfect harmony

-So well tuned to his subject and material that matters of technique have become second nature and brush can respond directly to his qi and lifetime of experiences

Guan Daosheng, Ten Thousand Bamboo Poles in Cloudy Mist, Yuan Dynasty

-Woman, renowned calligrapher and muralist

-Earliest surviving work by a woman in China

-Bamboo had long been a popular subject in Chinese painting because of its appearance and symbolism (allowed opportunities to demonstrate thier master of brush technique)

-May represent marital fidelity symbolizing the faitful views of a mythical sage and emperor who threw themselves into a bamboo grove on a river at the emperor's death

Zhao Mengfu, A Sheep and Goat, Yuan Dynasty

-Daosheng's husband

-Worked for Yuan government and was seen by many of his Chinese contemporaries as a traitor

Porcelain Vases, Ming Dynasty

-Chinese may have developed the techniques to produce porcelain

-Jingdezhen was arguably the single most imporant kiln site in the world

-This tradition of Chinese blue and white painted procelain continues to be an important part of Chinese art to this day

Wen Zhengming, Cypress and Rock, Ming Dynasty

-Made this work as gift for an ill friend, a writer, and the poem urges the young man to have the strength of the detailed, gnarled cypress tree and rocks

-Poem and painting have equal importance

-Member of Wu School

Dong Qichang, Landscape in the Manner of Old Masters, Ming Dynasty

-Late ming literatus, bureaucrat, teacher, artist, calligrapher, art historian

-Wrote a theoretical essay that had a tremendous influence on later Chinese artists and writers

-Said there were two parallell traditions in Chinese painting: one that was conservative, academic, formal, decorative, and courtly, another that was progressive, innovative, expressive and free

-Emphasized the abstract nature of painting, its distinctiveness from nature, said that the quality of a painting lay in the expressive Character of its brushwork

-The emphasis here is not on illusionism but on the equality and styleof his brushwork and the ideal of rustic nature as a place for retreat and meditation

Imperial Palace: The Hall of Supreme Harmony, Qing Dynasty

-Conceived as a microcosm of the universe

-The order and symmetry of this plan emphasized the closeness of the emperor to the gods

-North-south axis with the imperial enclosure at the north end of a walled, grid-planned complex

-Housed the throne of the emperor, where ceremonies celebrating the winter solstice, the New Year, and the emperor's birthday were performed

-Follow traditional patterns of post-and-lintel construction and decoration dating back to Shang and Zhous periods

-Emperor and families seldom left the compound so beautiful inner gardens

Woodblock Print, showing area around Changman Gate in Suzhou, Qing Dynasty

-Especially important center for the production of these highly informative, topographic woodblock prints, in which the city was presented from a bird's-eye view

-Such inexpensive, mass-produced works were novel, fashionable and very sellable

Kesi, (Silk tapestry wrapping for Admonitions scroll)

Peonies (a crowfoot family plant flower)

Period of 6 Dynasties

Calligraphy: Feng-Ju, Period of 6 Dynasties

View of the Waterfall on Mount Lu, Qing Dynasty