Chinese Art History Midterm Review: Pre-Tang to Song Dynasty

Comprehensive practice flashcards covering Chinese paintings, stone carvings, murals, exam structure, and slide identification details from the Midterm Review lists.

Identify the artwork shown in this exam slide sample and state the specific short question asked about it in PART 1:

Attributed to Yan Liben, The Imperial Sedan Chair (Tang-dynasty composition, possibly a Song-dynasty copy; handscroll, ink and color on silk; Palace Museum, Beijing). The short question asks: "What are the functions of this painting?"

Identify the attributed artist, title, alternate title, date range, medium, and museum location of this painting:

Attributed to Gu Kaizhi; Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies ("The Admonitions Scroll"); 5th-7th century; ink and color on silk; British Museum.

Identify this full mounted handscroll, including its attributed painter and housing institution:

The Admonitions Scroll (Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies), attributed to Gu Kaizhi, housed in the British Museum.

Which specific scene from the Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies is represented in this detail?

The scene of Lady Feng bravely stepping forward to face the escaped bear, defending Emperor Yuan.

Identify the subject, date, dynasty, medium, and tomb provenance of this painted panel:

Paragons of filial piety and female virtue; before 484 CE; Northern Wei dynasty; lacquer-painted wooden screen; tomb of Sima Jinlong, Datong, Shanxi Province.

Identify this second lacquer-painted screen panel, including its dynasty and excavation site:

Paragons of filial piety and female virtue, Northern Wei dynasty, from the tomb of Sima Jinlong in Datong, Shanxi Province (before 484 CE).

Identify the attributed artist, title, copy date, medium, and museum location of this painting detail:

Attributed to Gu Kaizhi; Nymph of the Luo River; Copy dated to the Song Dynasty (960-1279); ink and color on silk; Palace Museum, Beijing.

Identify this complete narrative handscroll attributed to Gu Kaizhi and housed at the Palace Museum, Beijing:

Nymph of the Luo River, a Song Dynasty copy (960-1279) executed in ink and color on silk.

Identify the attributed artist, title, popular alternative name, period authenticity, format, and medium of this scroll:

Attributed to Yan Liben; Emperors of the Successive Dynasties ("the Thirteen Emperors scroll"); partial Tang-dynasty original; handscroll, ink and color on silk.

What work is shown in this detail showing emperors and imperial attendants?

Emperors of the Successive Dynasties ("the Thirteen Emperors scroll"), attributed to Yan Liben, partial Tang-dynasty original handscroll.

Identify the attributed artist, title, dating/composition status, format, medium, and museum location of this painting:

Attributed to Yan Liben; The Imperial Sedan Chair; Tang-dynasty composition, possibly a Song-dynasty copy; handscroll, ink and color on silk; Palace Museum, Beijing.

Identify the attributed artist, title, format, medium, dynasty, and repository of this painting:

Attributed to Zhou Fang; Court Ladies Wearing Flowered Headdresses; handscroll, ink and color on silk; Tang dynasty; Liaoning Provincial Museum.

Identify the subject, realm, provenance, date range, and current museum of this Buddhist painting:

Bodhisattva Guanyin as the Guide of Souls (Western Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha); originally from Dunhuang; c. 851-900; British Museum.

Identify the painter, painter's active dates, title, dynasty, medium, and museum collection of this horse painting:

Han Gan (c. 742-56); Night-Shining White; Tang Dynasty; handscroll, ink on paper; Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Identify the title, provenance, deceased person's death and reburial dates, and dynasty of this mural:

Murals from tomb of Prince Zhanghuai; Prince Zhanghuai died 684, reburied 706; Tang Dynasty.

For the stone carving General Qiu Xinggong pulling an arrow from Saluzi, what was its original site, who possibly designed it, and where is it now housed?

Originally in front of Zhaoling (the tomb of Emperor Taizong, Shaanxi Province); possibly designed by Yan Lide and Yan Liben; now at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology.

Identify the attributed artist, artist lifespans, title, period, medium, dimensions, and museum location of this painting:

Attributed to Li Sixun (651-716); Sailing Boats and a Riverside Mansion; Tang Dynasty (possibly a later copy); ink and color on silk; $101.9 \times 54.7\,\text{cm}$; National Palace Museum, Taipei.

Identify the scene title, text origin, sutra, cave number, date, and dynasty of this cave painting:

"Meditation on the setting sun" from Sixteen Meditations of Queen Vaidehi in the Visualization Sutra; Mogao Cave 320; c. 8th century, Tang Dynasty.

Identify the subject, tomb provenance, geographic location, date, and dynasty of this architectural wall painting:

Architecture and landscape, mural in Prince Yide's tomb; Qianxian, Shanxi Province; 706, Tang Dynasty.

Identify the attributed artist, title, format, medium, date status, and dimensions of this landscape painting:

Attributed to Li Zhaodao; Emperor Minghuang’s Journey into Shu; hanging scroll, ink and color on silk; probably a Song-dynasty copy of a Tang-dynasty work; $55.9 \times 81\,\text{cm}$.

Identify the title, object format, date, dynasty, and repository of this painted musical instrument panel:

Landscape with Musicians on an Elephant; painting on a biwa; late 8th c., Tang dynasty; Shōsō-in, Japan.

Identify the attributed artist, artist dates, title, historical period, format, medium, and museum location of this painting:

Attributed to Jing Hao (ca. 855-915); Mout Kuanglu; Five Dynasties; hanging scroll, ink and light color on silk; National Palace Museum, Taipei.

Identify the attributed artist, dates, title, format, medium, and museum collection of this snowy landscape:

Attributed to Jing Hao (ca. 855-915); Travelers in Snow-covered Mountains; hanging scroll in ink and white pigment on silk; Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City.

Identify the attributed artist, artist's death date, title, era, medium, and museum location of this landscape:

Attributed to Dong Yuan (d. 962); Xiao and Xiang Rivers; Five Dynasties; ink and light color on silk; Palace Museum, Beijing.

Identify the attributed painter, active dates, title, format, medium, and repository of this landscape scroll:

Attributed to Juran (act. 960-985); Distant Mountain Forests; hanging scroll, ink on silk; National Palace Museum, Taipei.

Identify the attributed painter, painter lifespans, title, date, dimensions, medium, and museum of this work:

Attributed to Li Cheng (919-967); A Solitary Temple amid Clearing Peaks; ca. 960; $111.4 \times 56\,\text{cm}$; hanging scroll, ink on silk; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

Identify the artist, active dates, title, approximate date, format, medium, and museum location of this monumental hanging scroll:

Fan Kuan (fl. 990-1030); Travelers by Streams and Mountains; ca. 1000; hanging scroll, ink on silk; National Palace Museum, Taipei.

Identify the artist, lifespans, title, format, medium, specific date, dynasty, and repository of this landscape:

Guo Xi (1020-1090); Early Spring; hanging scroll, ink on silk; 1072, Northern Song dynasty; National Palace Museum, Taipei.

Identify the artist, dates, title, date, dynasty, format, medium, dimensions, and museum location of this handscroll:

Xu Daoning (c. 970-1052); Fishermen on a Mountain Stream; ca. 1050, Northern Song dynasty; handscroll, ink and color on silk; $48.9 \times 209.6\,\text{cm}$; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

Identify the painter, active dates, title, date, dynasty, format, medium, and repository of this bird-and-animal painting:

Cui Bai (fl. 1050-1080); Magpies and Hare; 1061, Northern Song Dynasty; hanging scroll, ink and color on silk; National Palace Museum, Taipei.

Identify the painter, dates, title, dynasty, mounting format, medium, and museum location of this painting:

Huang Jucai (c. 933-993); Blue Magpie and Thorny Shrubs; Northern Song Dynasty; hanging scroll (mounted as handscroll), ink and color on silk; National Palace Museum, Taipei.

Identify the artist, lifespans, title, medium, and museum location of this city scene depicted in this rainbow bridge detail:

Zhang Zeduan (1085-1145); Spring Festival Along the River; ink and color on silk; Palace Museum, Beijing.

Identify this panoramic city panorama handscroll by Zhang Zeduan, housed in the Palace Museum, Beijing:

Spring Festival Along the River (1085-1145, ink and color on silk).

Identify the title, date, format, medium, dimensions, and museum of this painting showing an operating hydraulic mill:

The Water Mill; ca. 970s; handscroll, ink and color on silk; $21 \times 47\,\text{in}$ ($53.3 \times 119.2\,\text{cm}$); Shanghai Museum.

What painting contains this detail depicting a wooden scaffolding and grain delivery ramp?

The Water Mill (ca. 970s, Shanghai Museum).

Identify the imperial painter, title, format, medium, and museum collection of this painting:

Emperor Huizong; Hibiscus and Golden Pheasant; hanging scroll, ink and color on silk; Beijing Palace Museum.

Identify the artist, title, format, medium, and repository of this delicate bird and flowering branch work:

Emperor Huizong; Wax-plum and Birds; hanging scroll, ink and color on silk; National Palace Museum, Taipei.

Identify the artist, title, date, format, medium, and museum location of this painting depicting birds flying over palace gates:

Emperor Huizong; Auspicious Cranes; 1112; handscroll, ink and color on silk; Liaoning Provincial Museum.

Identify the scholar-painter, lifespans, title, medium, and dynasty of this minimalist ink composition:

Su Shi (1036-1101); Wood and Rock; ink on paper; Song Dynasty (960-1127).

Identify the work shown in this scroll section that features Su Shi's painting alongside accompanying calligraphy and colophons:

Su Shi (1036-1101), Wood and Rock (ink on paper, Song Dynasty).

Identify the artist, lifespans, title, format, medium, date, and dynasty of this landscape painting:

Li Tang (1066-1150); Wind Through the Pine Valleys; hanging scroll, ink and color on silk; 1124, Southern Song dynasty.

Identify the attributed artist, active dates, title, format, medium, dimensions, and museum location of this landscape panorama:

Attributed to Li Song (active 1190-1230); West Lake (Hangzhou); handscroll, ink on paper; $15.8 \times 81.6\,\text{cm}$; Shanghai Museum.

Which specific Tang-tradition landscape work is presented in the PART 2 essay prompt to illustrate the emergence of landscape painting?

Emperor Minghuang’s Journey into Shu, attributed to Li Zhaodao (probably a Song-dynasty copy of a Tang-dynasty work).

Which specific Song-dynasty monumental landscape work is paired in the PART 2 essay prompt to illustrate landscape painting reaching its peak?

Early Spring (1072, Northern Song dynasty) by Guo Xi (1020-1090).

What are the medium, date, and dimensions specified for Xu Daoning's Fishermen on a Mountain Stream?

Handscroll, ink and color on silk, ca. 1050 (Northern Song dynasty), measuring $48.9 \times 209.6\,\text{cm}$.

What are the two major Five Dynasties monumental landscape works included in the review list by Jing Hao and Dong Yuan respectively?

Mout Kuanglu by Jing Hao (ca. 855-915) and Xiao and Xiang Rivers by Dong Yuan (d. 962).

What three bird-and-flower / auspicious subject paintings by Emperor Huizong are included on the review list?

Hibiscus and Golden Pheasant (hanging scroll), Wax-plum and Birds (hanging scroll), and Auspicious Cranes (1112, handscroll).

What changed style wise from the Tang Dynasty moving into the Song Dynasty artistically

is the shift from the bold, expressive brushwork of the Tang Dynasty to a more refined, subtle, and naturalistic style in the Song Dynasty, emphasizing harmony with nature and meticulous detail.