Chinese Art Midterm

Diagrams of Neolithic houses, Banpo, Yangshao culture, 5000-2000 BCE, homes dug into ground, moat around city, kept out animals and elements

Bowl, ceramics, Banpo, Yangshao culture, 5000-2000 BCE, utilitarian, held water and food, lids to funerary urns

Grave 10, Dawenkou culture, Neolithic, 5000-2000 BCE

• coffin, chamber, ledge

• broken objects scattered around body, ceramics

• children buried in urns

Pottery mask, ceramic with jade, Hongshan culture, Neolithic, 5000-2000 BCE, represented spirits of dead, ritual-social objects, used in ceremonies

Painted dou, ceramics, Dawenkou culture, Neolithic, 5000-2000 BCE, utilitarian use, showed artistry

Stem cup, black pottery, Longshan culture, Neolithic, 5000-2000BCE, holding and pouring wine, showed advanced pottery techniques

Cong tube, Jade, Liangzhu culture, Neolithic, 5000-2000BCE, spiritual ritualistic object, symbol of the earth, found in tombs

Drawing of mask decoration on jade ax, Lianghzu culture, Neolithic, 5000-2000 BCE, manlike figure rising above mythical beast, intricate carving shows artistry and cultural significance of beasts

Jue ritual vessel, Bronze, Early Shang Dynasty, 1650-1050 BCE, serve warm wine during ancester-worship ceremonies, communication links between the living and their ancestors

Po wine container with inscribed lid, Bronze, Shang Dynasty, 1650-1050 BCE, pouring wine offerings, holding wine, found in tombs, showed hierachial status

Bronze figure “The Standing Man”, bronze, Sanxingdui, Sichuan, Shang Dynasty 1650-1050BCE, may have been used in ritual ceremonies to impersonate supernatural beings, religious leader or ancestor, held weapon

Zun ritual vessel, Bronze, Late Shang Period, 1650-1050, for wine in religious ceremonies, found in tombs, religious and social practices

Rack of bells, bronze and laquered wood, Tomb of Marquis Yi, Warring States Period, Zhou Dynasty, 1045-256 BCE, ritual enactment, sonic embodiment of human heart/mind, status and political statement

Water basin (pan) from the Tomb of Marquis Yi, Bronze, Zhou Dynasty, 1045-256 BCE, cooling/heating wine, intricate designs with dragons and other mythical creatures, lost-wax casting, replaced with bronze

Feasting and entertainment relief tile, stone, Eastern Han Dynasty, 202 BCE - 220 CE, servants, farmhands, musicians, ordinary life, entertainment

Sketch of tomb of Lady Dai at Mawangdui, Western Han, 202 BCE - 220 CE

• showed lining of pit, tomb chamber, and triple coffin

• makeup, toiletries, laquerware, servants

• hair and ligaments preserved

• different chambers for eating, sleeping, servants

Horse and Calvary Man, lifesize pottery figures, Tomb of First Emperor, Qin Shihuang, Qin dynasty, 221-206 BCE, realistic in size/weight, importance of ceramic sculpture/machine like production of unique soldiers

Kneeling Archer, lifesize pottery, tomb of First Emperor, Qin Shihuang, Qin Dynasty 221-206 BCE, representation of kind of society Emperor was building, unification of China, underground army

Carriage and horses, Bronze, tomb of First Emperor, Qin Shihuang, Qin Dynasty 221-206 BCE, advanced tech of war horses and chariots, tools for Empire

Figurines, tomb of Emperor Jing, Clay, Western Han, 202 BCE - 220 CE, armless since once made of wood, daily life—improved life of people, domestication

Money tree, bronze on molted pottery stand, Eastern Han dynasty, 202 BCE - 220 CE, brings dead affluence, austerity, fortune, representations of Queen Mother of West, buddha as protection

Archer Yi, rubbing from a stone relief panel, Wu Liang Shrine, Han dynasty, 202 BCE - 220 CE,

Rubbing from the low-relief carving of the Story of Virtuous Aunt Liang, Wu Liang Shrine, Han dynasty 202 BCE - 220 CE, saved matrilineal son instead of nephew, sacrificed self to demonstrate virtue/loyalty, morality messaging

Line drawing of banner, Silk, Mawangdui, Tomb of Lady Dai, Western Han Dynasty 202 BCE - 220 CE, cosmos and funerary practices; images of heaven and underworld, lavish tomb of lady dai ensured she’d enjoy

Detail of banner, Silk, Mawangdui, Tomb of Lady Dai, Western Han 202 BCE - 220 CE

• sacrifice to deceased taking place in mourning hall

Boshan lu (incense burner), bronze inlaid with gold, tomb of Liu Sheng, Han dynasty 202 BCE - 220 CE, utilitarian, shapes functional, ritual association, cloud vapor exhaled by fairy mountains — nature is alive and breathing

Burial suit, Jade plaques sewed with gold, tomb of Liu Sheng, Western Han 202 BCE - 220 CE, protect body from demons, protected royal family, showed status and beauty, ritualistic

Wang Xizhi, scroll with calligraphy,The Lanting (Orchid Pavillion) Preface, Tang Dynasty 618-907, semi-cursive script, meant to dance together, individual style and authorship, trace work of the past

Gu Kaizhi, handscroll, ink and color on silk. Nymph of the Luo River, Southern Song dynasty, 1127-1279, fairy birds say farewell to young scholar who had fallen for her, sails away on magic boat, continuous narative, landscape and humanity

After Gu Kaizhi, , ink and color on silk, Admonitions of the Court Instructress, Tang Dynasty 618-907,

Shakyamuni Buddha, Yungang, cave carving, N. Wei, Period of Division, 221-581

• looking South towards enemies, conquering, institute foreign authority

Offering Procession of the Empress, dark grey limestone, Longmen, N. Wei, Period of Division, 221-581, refine expression, Chinese style of secular themes, sloped shoulders, waterfall clothing

Vairocana Buddha, carved caves, Longmen, Tang dynasty, 618-907

• Payed for by Empress Wu Zetian, verified her authority, monarchy connected to femininity

• align self with post cosmic buddha, manifested in female body

• Tang naturalness, loss of sloped shoulders, half smile, smoothed drapery

Han Gan, Night Shining White, hand scroll, ink on paper, Tang Dynasty, 618-907

• depiction of named horse

• horses seen as heavenly creation, physical beauty, not moral quality

• eye carries emotion, individuality

• structure carried through single lines

Zhou Fang, Ladies with Flowers in their Hair, handscroll, ink and color on silk, Tang Dynasty 618-907

• art focused on female beauty; round moon face, moth artificial eyebrows, lipstick, white face, fake hair

• individualized clothes

• butterfly landing means sleep with emperor

• coming of spring

Guo Xi, Early Spring, hanging scroll, Northern Song 960-1127

• nature vehicle for self-reflection

• stands in for human body, trees = skeletal, mt = muscular, water = fluids of human body

• free, not fixed viewpoint, hidden architecture

Fan Kuan, Traveling amid Mountains and Streams, hanging scroll, Northern Song 960-1127

• many viewpoints, viewer supposed to insert self and journey up the mountain

• poetic, represented poetic forms visually

• land is the whole subject

• vertigo effect — mountain looming

Cong

• Jade tube with square exterior

• Likely used for ritual/as as sacrificial object

• Likely signified wealth and status

Bi

• Jade circular, disc-like articfact

• Ceremonial object, used for sacrifice

• Signified the heavens

Logograph

• Representation of a spoken word

• Tied to oral pronouncement

Oracle Bones

• Bone/shells used to mediate between another world/the gods for divination

• Would heat up and crack, visual and auditory crack is transcribed and interpretated

• Painted and carved to tell stories

• Used to ask the gods questions

Piece-Mold Bronze Casting

1. Make model out of clay, fire it

2. Put wet clay on outside of model to make mold, fire it in three pieces

3. Clay insert to hollow out vessel

4. Pour molten bronze upside down

5. Break the mold

6. Polish surface and smoothe bronze

Lost-wax bronze casting

• Casting wax around a scultural/ritual model

• Mold is heated, wax melts out, and it is filled with molten bronze

Taotie

• Ancient Chinese mythological figure

• Two faces confronting eachother or one face down the center

Di

• Conglomoration of ancestral figures

• Highest power

• Only King can communicate

Tian

• Zhou concept

• Diety seen as individual

• Used by Christian missionaries as “god”

• “Losing the right to heaven”

Sanxingdui

• Human faces out of bronze

• Sichuan basin

• No bronze foundations, no tomb complex, burial grounds more scattered, cemetery-like

• No evidence of writing

• Monumental figural sculpture (standing man)

• 6 pits, all with sacrificial objects, no people

Tomb of Lady Fu Hao

• Wife of King Wu Ding

• Never looted

• Pit tomb, single chamber

• Other humans/animals sacrificed and buried under her grave

• Ceremonial axe found in tomb, severed heads of buried

• Hundreds of jade objects, bone, bronze, shells, and weapons

Tomb of Marquis Yi

• Late Spring and Autumn/early Warring states

• Divided into chambers with timber

• A palace/bode underground

• High status womeb and servants buried

• Armor and weapons

• Music room

• Taking best parts of the overlord and bringing them into the afterlife

• Hole in coffin so soul can move around

Tomb of Lady Dai

• Most important piece was a painted banner, ink and color on silk (map of underworld and how soul would travel)

• Had household objects; music, incense, curtains, toilets

• Musicians, dancers, servants but no sacrifices

Mingqi

Spirit Objects/Magical representations of humans for sacrifice

Confucianism

• Philosophy

• Emphasis on familial relationships, (or individual to group)

• Importance of being good; right action without monetary compensation

• Idea of a gentleman

Xiwangmu

• Queen Mother of the West

• Prominent Chinese female diety

• Resides over mountain of immotality

Daoism

• Philosophy of roght behavior to a relationship between entites

• Non-action better than action

• Highly complicated

Legalism

• Rose in warring states period among a number of bureaucrats and philosophers

• People are not good, government should control them

• Supresses individualis, strict social representation, standardization, subordination

Lacquer

• Cut from a lacquer tree, release sap, harvest

• Very toxic chemicals

• Layers mixed with red or black, layered over wood

Qin Shihuang, the First Emperor of China

• “First emperor of China”

• His tomb was huge, “microcosm of the universe”, whole ideal city plan underground

• Forced labor of hundreds of thousands to build tomb

• Human and artificial sacrifice

• Teracotta army facing enemy land

Royal City Plan

• Walls of cities topped with towers each with three entrances

• Ideal, grid-like shaped streets

• Central palace for the most elite and royal; only they could enter, king buried there

• Walled city inide walled city

Po

• Female/ Yin, fixed, remains with body

• One of the two souls

Hun

• Male / Yang, unattended, flies free

• One of the two souls

Buddhism

• Reincarnation cycle until all ends are tied, then one can reach Enlightenment (Nirvana)

• Life is suffering, man drove my selfishness, material earthy possessions bad

• Buddhist representation as a symbol of protection/religious predisposed its text

Silk Road

• How Buddism was transmissed into China

• Trade routes that connected the Middle East and China

Empress Wu Zetian

• First woman who ruled under her own name

• Vairocana — cosmic Buddha, transcends time and space

• Aligned herself with Flower Garland sutra, inspired Vairocana

• Aligned herself with Great Cloud sutra, a diety manfested in the female body