SLIDE 1 - China Map (from Stockstad text)
China has a long, uninterrupted development.
One fifth of the human race lives within China’s borders, so Chinese art is of obvious
importance in the history of art.
Qinling Mts. divide China into North & South - different cultures, climates, histories.
Great Wall built during the Qin dynasty
Silk road – goods & ideas from the west flowed into China.
SLIDE 2 - Yangshao Pottery (Gardner). 3rd Millennium BCE. Earthenware.
These are from the Yangshao Culture in Northern China, along the Yellow River.
They are very sophisticated for Neolithic times. (Compare to Greek/Aegean vessels.)
Many Yangshao-style pots were made before the potter’s wheel was invented in the 4th
millennium BCE, but even these are nearly perfectly round.
Probably had many different functions, because there are many different shapes. Some,
like early Greek vessels, were used as grave markers, or to mix liquids, etc.
They used red, brownish-black, and cream-colored pigments to paint the pots.
Mostly done in abstract designs, but some have images of stylized animals, like fish.
SLIDE 3 - Fang Ding - Shang Dynasty Bronze. 12th Century BCE. 24”
Shang Dynasty 1600-1050 BCE, one of the better-documented early royal dynasties
Developed in the Yellow River Valley (North). Built walled cities, palaces, royal tombs. First used bronze to make weapons (warrior culture) and then for vessels.
This shape is called a Fang-Ding - a square or rectangular piece with 4 legs. This one is
large & heavy …it weighs 240 lbs.
Chinese Shang bronzes were made by piece-mold casting.
Some bronzes based on pottery shapes, some sculptural animal figures, some look like
wooden containers. About 30 standardized shapes evolved (like Greek pottery).
These bronze have been found items in tombs, particularly bronze vessels, which served
as containers for ritual offerings of food or wine. Shang burials were enormous, with lots of gold, jade, ivory, etc. Shang people worshipped ancestors as spirits, who could help the living. Human and animal sacrifices were made to the dead.
SLIDE 4 - Army of 1st Emperor of Qin. Lintong, China. 210 BCE.
Terra-Cotta. Average 5’10” tall.
Read page 401.
As long as anyone could remember, there was a huge mound in China’s Shaanxi province
in Northern China…it was just part of the landscape. No one dreamed that an astonishing treasure lay beneath the surface until one day in 1974 when peasants digging a well accidentally got a glimpse of what was buried there.
Archeologists began to excavate the mound, and they were stunned by what they found:
a vast underground army of 6000 - 7000 lifesize clay soldiers and horses standing in military formation, facing east, ready for battle. They had been painted in bright colors, but had faded to gray by the time they were discovered.
For more than 2000 years, they had guarded the tomb of Emperor Shihuangdi, the
ruthless leader who first united China into a single empire, the Chin dynasty. (Movie “Hero” about him). In the 3rd century BCE, Qin launched a military campaign and defeated other states of China.
The emperor was powerful, ruthless, and paranoid. He was very concerned about
rebellion and assassination. He may have started this mausoleum even before he united China. The building continued throughout his life, and even after his death. He obviously wanted to have an army to protect him even then.
His rule was harsh & repressive. Laws were based on a totalitarian philosophy called
legalism. All other philosophies were banned. Scholars executed and their writings burned. He molded China into one political and cultural entity. He united the writing system, coinage, built roads linking the country together.
These soldiers wear army uniforms, and each one is individualized. They were made
from molds, but each one was partially hand-modeled for individualization. Made by very skilled sculptors. Since they are life-size figures, tons of clay and huge kilns were needed to create this army.
SLIDE 5 - Painted Funeral Banner. Tomb 1, Han Dynasty, 160 BCE. Painted silk. 6’ 8” tall, 3” wide.
After Emperor Qin died, the people revolted and the Han dynasty came to power.
It was a mostly stable and peaceful reign. Chinese control of Central Asia led to the
opening of the Silk Road, the longest road in the world (5000 miles), from Rome to China. Westerners wanted Chinese silk, spices, laquer. The Chinese got metalware (gold, silver) and glassware in return, and new ideas & religious objects (Buddhist icons).
This banner is one of China’s most notable artworks, found in the tomb of a
noblewoman, draped over her coffin. It is painted with scenes representing 3
levels of the universe: Heaven, Earth, & the Underworld.
Heaven is at the top of the T. Sun is in upper right, marked by the crow - symbolic of
the sun. In upper left, a toad stands by a crescent moon. Between them are dragons, deities - “Great Ancestor”.
Gates (upside-down T’s) where post meets lintel, gates of heaven. In the center dragons loop through a “bi”, a circular jade piece that is a symbol of heaven - it divides the post into two sections: above the bi is earthly realm, see the deceased and her attendants on a platform. Below the bi the underworld - fish & strange creatures.
SLIDE 5.5 - Incense Burner. Han dynasty 113 BCE. Bronze, gold inlay. 10”
Found in the tomb of a Prince, Liu Sheng. An example of Daoism in Han dynasty art.
Daoists find immortality (afterlife) in “THE WAY” - meditation.
On this incense burner, an artist depicted the popular legend of the Isles of the Immortals
in the Eastern Sea. (Some Daoist followers believed that immortality was possible if one followed the right diet, exercise, meditation, etc.)
Around the bowl, gold inlay outlines the stylized waves of the sea. Above them rises the
mountainous island, full of birds, animals, and people who have discovered the secret of immortality.
This piece also shows the amazing development of bronze casting in China.
SLIDE 6 - Rubbing of a Stone Relief from Wu Family Shrine.
Han dynasty, China. 151 CE. Approx. 3’ x 5’
This is an example of Confucianism in Han Dynasty art. Han Emperor Wu made Confucianism the official imperial philosophy.
Confucius emphasizes social order & respect for authority, which appealed to Han rulers
trying to distance themselves from the tyrannical legalism of Qin.
It’s a philosophy that took the form & force of a religion.
This is a rubbing taken from a carved stone wall in the Wu family shrine.
It shows a 2 story building with women on the upper floor, men on the lower. The central figure on each floor is receiving visitors, who bear gifts. It depicts homage to the first emperor of the Han dynasty - the largest figures.
Birds and other small figures, mythical creatures, are on the roof. On the left, an archer shoots crows that represent the sun…according to Chinese legend there were originally 10 suns, until the hero Yi shot down nine of them to save the earth from scorching and drying up. Along the bottom are horses & people traveling through the street.
Compare this to the T funeral banner - both pieces are funerary in nature - in the T banner heaven & the celestial realm (afterlife) take up a huge portion of the work, and the human realm is small. Here, the human element dominates the work, it shows more of the importance of the emperor, and social order, which are Confucian themes.
SLIDE 7 - Model of a House. Han Dynasty, China. 1st Century CE.
Painted earthenware. 4’ 4” tall.
Nothing of Han dynasty architecture remains except ceramic models.
This one was found in a tomb (the house is for the deceased’s soul to inhabit) - similar to
idea of Egyptian “ka” statues.
Han dwellings were often up to 4 stories tall, and crowned with a watchtower. There was
usually a small, walled courtyard in front.
Set up for pigs and oxen on the ground floor, family lives above, in the upper stories.
The models had elaborate paintings on exterior walls (trees, crows, natural things) &
sometimes painted on structural features like posts & lintels.
There is a bracketing system supporting the broad eaves so walls don’t support the heavy tiled roof, which was typical of East Asian architecture, in homes, palaces, & temples.
Six Dynasties period
It is also called “The Period of Disunity”.
The Han Dynasty fell in 220 CE, and China split into warring kingdoms.
The Empire was briefly united by nomadic people from Central Asia invaded (which was
a constant problem for China) and forced the ruling court to flee to the South.
For the next 3 centuries, North & South developed separately.
In the South, 6 short-lived dynasties quickly overturned each other in constant turmoil.
All the chaos led some Chinese to embrace Buddhism, as it offered a comfort and
promise of something better. Some preferred Confucianism and its ideals of the heirarcy of respect.
SLIDE 8 - Gu Kaizni, Lady Feng & the Bear. Detail of Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies. Six Dynasties, China. Late 4th century.
Ink on Silk scroll. 10” high x 11’ 4” long.
This is a handscroll on silk, which is usually woven in bands about 12” wide and up to 20
or 30 feet long. Early Chinese painters developed the format used here, a long narrow horizontal composition, that was compact enough to be held in the hands.
These are intimate works, mean to be viewed by only 2 or 3 people at a time. You open and read the scroll from right to left, displaying only a foot or two at a time, and re-rolling it as you go. They were not really meant to be seen as we display them, unrolled and stretched out in a museum.
Confucianism still held strong, as seen in this painting. The scroll combines text &
illustrations to relate the seven Confucian stories of “wifely virtue”.
This is an eighth-century copy of the earliest and finest painting attributed to Gu Kaizhi. The protagonist is the court instructress who guides court ladies on correct behavior.
In this scene, we see Lady Feng protect her husband, the emperor, from an escaped
Circus bear that is attacking. Her husband is filled with fear, and everyone else seems paralyzed or turns to run. Two male attendants panic as they try to fend of the bear with spears. Only Lady Feng seems calm as she places herself between the bear and her husband.
In total, nine scenes were depicted on this scroll, though some are now missing.
SLIDE 9 - Seated Buddha. Cave 20, Yungang, China. Northern Wei Dynasty. 460 CE. Stone. 45’ tall.
The Silk Road brought Buddhism to China from India during the Han Dynasty, and it took a stronger hold during the warfare and devastation of the 6 Dynasties period.
It quickly spread to all social levels, in the North first, then the South.
Just like India, there were rock cut caves for Buddhist shrines & temples.
This one is from central China, the early phase of Buddhist sculpture in China.
The front of the cave has crumbled away, exposing the Buddha. He has the elongated ears, ushinsha (hair bump) and robe of India’s Buddha. But the mask-like face, full torso, and very shallow drapery are Chinese influence. The Chinese Buddha is more remote, more formal than the sensuous Indian Buddhas. Buddha becomes more formal in his portrayal as you head east.
SLIDE 10 - Great Wild Goose Pagoda Tang Dynasty. Shanxi Province.
645 CE. Masonry. 210’ tall. HANDOUT page 418.
Tang Dynasty was one of the greatest in Chinese history, from 618-907 CE.
Gained control over central Asia again, and Silk Road was re-opened.
Goods, ideas, and influence flowed back and forth.
The Tang Dynasty was tolerant & confident in itself, allowed foreigners in to study & work. Buddhist architecture ideas flowed in from travelers of India & SE Asia.
Pagodas are East Asian Buddhist structures. The forms grew from mounds to multi-story
structures, and pagodas based on those. It was like they combined multi-storied stupas with Han-style watchtowers and the pagoda was born. The word “pagoda” means “tower”.
According to historical records, the monks living on the site had no meat to eat. They wanted it so much that one of the monks started to pray to the Gods to bless them. At that very moment, a group of wild geese flew over them. Their heads dropped to the ground and they died. The monks were all surprised and thought it was the result of the Buddhist spirit so they decided never to eat meat again. A pagoda was ordered to be built in this place, hence the name.
This one imitates wooden architecture, though it is made of masonry. The walls are
decorated in low relief. There are brackets under the roof eaves. This building is the essence of Tang architecture, in its simplicity, grace, & symmetry.
SLIDE 11 - Foguang Si Pagoda Plan. Shanxi Province, China.
Liao Dynasty, 1056 CE. 216’ tall.
Part of a temple complex. It is made entirely of wood, so it is the largest wooden building in the world. Nine stories high. Early pagodas housed relics, like stupas, and later pagodas housed sacred images and texts. This pagoda contains several Buddha statues inside, all directly in the center of whichever floor they are one. The statue on the ground floor is a colossal statue of a seated Buddha.