Chapter 1 : Introduction of Beauty and Aesthetics

Beauty : The communication between the human mind and the world, it is the expression of all
phenomena in people's sense, and it is unique universe created by the blending of scenes (The
Realm of Art) by 宗白华

Aesthetics : The philosophy study of beauty and taste. Closely related to the philosophy of art,
which is concerned with the nature of art and the concepts in terms of which individual works of
art are interpreted and evaluated.

Characteristic of Aesthetic Education:

1. Visualization education : Aesthetic education is always carried out through a certain
medium aesthetic object
2. Emotion education :
Aesthetic education should arouse the educatee's emotional activities and act on their
minds through the emotional experience

Why do we need aesthetics ?

Aesthetic is considered as one of the growth needs that each individual must have based in
Maslow's motivation model

Three facets of someone life

1. Daily life : Secular affairs
2. Job and Career : Benefit the society
3. Aesthetics : Disinterested level

Confucianism : Benevolence and righteousness, pay attention to the improvement of morality

and personality
Taoism (Natural Law) : Pursue natural beauty and fresh style
Zen Enlightenment : Intuition and insight

Chinese art : Calligraphy, painting, music, poetry, architecture, pottery, porcelain, bronze work,
jade carving, and other fine or decorative art forms.

Traditional festivals : part of the culture created and shared by the whole nation, crystallize the
cultural quintessence of a particular nation. A strong spiritual force for national cohesion.

Chinese traditional festivals

Are part of the culture created by and shared among the whole nation, crystallize the cultural
quintessence of a particular nation. Festivals are a strong spiritual force for national cohesion.
1. Qingming (tomb sweeping) festival: visiting the burial grounds of their ancestors and
offering sacrifices.
2. Dragon Boat festival: Underpinned by the vast expanse of Chinese territory and ethnic
diversity, together with a myriad of folklores. Traditionally, the married daughters would
 go back to their parents’ houses for reunion. People would join in parades of ships made
from paper and carry amulets made from leaves.
3. Chinese Lantern festival: 1st day of the full moon in the New Year, falls on the 15th day
of the first lunar month in the Chinese calendar. Traditionally, people would light
thousands of colored lanterns.
4. Mid Autumn festival (中秋节) : Falls on the 15th day of the fifteenth lunar month in
chinese calendar. It is time for a family reunion.
5. Spring / Chinese New Year festival (guo nian) : 1st day of the first lunar month in the
Chinese calendar. It enjoys a long history that can be traced back to the Yin and Shang
dynasties when sacrifices were performed at the beginning of a new year. Most valued
and widely observed festival in China.
6. The double ninth festival: According to the Book of Changes, 9 is considered as “yang”.
The ninth day of the ninth lunar month in the Chinese calendar called as “chongyang”
(重阳节). In chinese, 重 means double. In 1989, China set it as a day for showing
respect to the elders.

Chapter 2 : Pre-Qin
Background : China is one of the world's oldest civilizations.
The beginnings of Chinese culture can be traced back to the Paleolithic age, the days of
Yuanmou man (元谋人)，around 1,7 million years ago in the South and Lantian man (蓝田人)，
around 600,000 years ago, and Peking man (北京人)，around 20,000 to 70,000 years ago,
Upper Cave man (山项洞人), around 20,000-30,000 years ago in the North.

Stone tools :
- Chipped stone implements：Found in the middle paleolithic age, about 70,000 years
ago, 1954, Shanxi Xiangfen Ding scholar.
- Polished stone implements：Found in Neolithic age, about 2,200-2,100 BC, the ruins of
Binchuan Baiyang village.

We can see from the new stone ages that stones became
smaller and sharper along those periods. It can be said that
ancient people have learned how to make stones more
useful, for example, to cut things.
The Decoration of the Caveman
The earliest ornament: Necklace of the caveman in Zhoukou Store, Beijing.
The appearance of primitive decoration reflects the ancestors' conquest of nature and
huntinglife.
Made from: processed drilled gravel, animal teeth, fish bones, calm shells and others to make
strings and wear them between the necks.

CAVEMAN STONE & BONE TOOLS

1.Gravel Stone Tool 2. Bone Needle
3. Stone Bead 4. Gravel Stone Pendant
5. Drilled Fish Eye Bone6. Ornament-Perforated Shell

Earliest humans’ dim understanding of art : smooth and

regular forms, clear and distinct colors, and took pleasure in
stringing together objects of the same kind or size.
The creation of ornaments objects represented the embryonic
stirrings of sentiments and ideas that would develop into
religion, art and philosophy.
Aesthetics or art was not yet an independent or distinct field of human endeavor, it was still
concealed within the totemic activities of various kinds of primitive magic.

The significance of ornaments:

● The creation of ornamental objects represented the embryonic stirrings of sentiments and
ideas that would develop into religion, art, and philosophy.
● Primitive humans used and wore red not out of an animal-like physiological reaction to it,
but because the actions associated with its use had taken on socially shared symbolic
significance.
● Aesthetics, or art, was not yet an independent or distinct field of human endeavor; it was
still concealed within the totemic activities of various kinds of primitive magic.

Earliest musical instruments : Jiahu Bone Flute, the oldest musical instrument discovered in
China so far. Predicted to be found in the Neolithic age and can be found in Henan Museum
now. It was found more than 9000 years ago in the civilized age of ritual music.

Ancient Pottery
Yangshao Culture (仰韶文化), lasted from 土 5,000-3,000 BC
Is an important Neolithic culture in the middle reaches of the Yellow river (黄河). It is the longest
lasting and most powerful branch of Neolithic culture in China. This culture was distributed
throughout from today’s Gansu to Henan Province. At present, Shaanxi Province (陕西) has the
most Yangshao culture, with a total of 2,040 sites (40% of all). The painted pottery
craftsmanship of Yangshao culture has reached a very perfect level, and is a model of the
original Chinese painted pottery craftsmanship.
Pottery Basin with Human Face and Fish Patterns
It is believed that this basin served as a children's coffin
cover and the patterns are related to primitive Banpo
religious symbolism. Some scholars guess that the
painting depicts the triumph of one tribe over another as
they believe that stork is the totem of the tribe which the
owner affiliated to while fish is that of the enemy tribe,
and the axe here is a symbol of power.

The significance of ornaments

- “Yangshao painted pottery unearthed at Banpo village, is noted for its abundance of animal
designs and images, especially fish, of which more than a dozen varieties have been found.”
- “Some of the geometric patterns of Yangshao and Majiayao clearly evolved from realistic
animal images into abstract symbols. The direction of development, in form and content, was
from simple imitation to stylized abstraction, from realism to symbolism. This was the primary
process in the development of the concept of beauty as 'significant form’，(有意味的形式)
- Thus abstract geometric patterns were not merely formal beauty, for there was content in the
abstract form and concept in what was perceived by the senses. This is a characteristic that
beauty and aesthetics have in common.” (“内容积淀为形式，想象、观念积淀为感受。”
- Many pottery decorated with fish or reticulated patterns, which seems to reveal the symbiotic
relationship between humans and the Yellow river in the Yangshao culture area.

Significant form: The direction of development, in form and content, was from simple limitation
to stylized abstraction, from realism to symbolism.

Patterns on vessel : Swirl-shaped pointed bottom vase, pays attention to color contrast in terms
of technique, combining yin and yang.
The patterns are mainly humanoid, animal, plant, flower, cirrus, dot, diagonal, geometric, etc.
Mainly used to hold water.
Originally belonged to the Majiayao culture of the Neolithic age, 5100-4700 years ago,
unearthed in Gansu Province.

The earliest stargazer : 6,000 year old human headed jar/head pot discovered in 1953 at Jiao
village site in Shaanxi province. Depicts a vivid and real human face in the Yangshao culture
period and the combination of the head and the body of the pot resembles a pregnant woman,
which reflects the importance attached by the matriarchal clan society to the reproduction of
women and human beings.
 Primitive dances

Animal shaped cauldrons shows that the

practicality and the shape design of Chinese
living utensils can achieve very beautiful
fusion. Ex : Hawk shaped cauldron
"What it actually portrayed were totemic
activities with serious magical intentions or
the function of prayers... The basin design is realistic and allegorical. …lt was not, as modern
observers might believe, a portrayal of leisurely moments but a realistic expression of solemn
and serious rituals. Dancing was the form of activity in magic and rites."---李泽厚

Jade Culture
Began in the period of Xinglongwa culture, more than 8000 years and becoming one of the core
connotations of Chinese traditional culture.
In the early development stage of the formation of China’s 5000 years of civilization, jade is the
core material carrier that connects the heavens and the earth, communicates with ancestors
and gods, and demonstrates etiquette. Jade has played an important role in continuing the
blood of civilization and consolidating the consensus of the nation and has become one of the
symbols of Chinese culture.

Hongshan culture (红山文化）：

- Neolithic culture in the West Liao river basin in northeast China, have been found in area
stretching from Inner Mongolia to Liaoning (4700-2900 BC)
- Known for carved jade. Hongshan burial artifacts include some of the earliest known
examples of jade working
- In the late Hongshan culture, the types and quantity of jade articles increased
significantly, and the jade
carving technology made
great progress

Hong Shan Yu Long (红山玉龙) :

Jade Dragon from Hongshan
Culture (红山文化)
There is a hole on the back of the
jade dragon used in Asian Culture to keep the horizontal line.

Jade Pig Dragon from Hongshan

Culture (红山文化)

Liangzhu Culture (良渚文化)

In June 2006 near Hangzhou, was identified the
largest and earliest walled city in ancient China
which archaeologists date from 3300 to 2250 BCE.
Have high number and outstanding quality of jades
found in their tombs.

The only jade phoenix among a large

number of jade articles in the tomb of Fu
Hao. Earliest jade phoenix shape so far
and the most exquisite piece of
decorations in the tomb of Fu Hao.

The phoenix body is light, thin, turning

sideways and bending like a C shape, has
round eyes, pointed beak, triple crown,
drooping short wings, forked end of long
tail, and hollow decoration. The lines of
the sculpture are graceful and smooth.
Bronze Era
Chinese civilization made great advances as it emerged from the Neolithic period and entered
the Bronze Age. One factor in this change was the ability to locate and extract natural deposits
of copper and tin for making bronze. Foundries capable of heating the ores to high enough
temperatures for mixing and casting metal were established in northern areas of China around
1700 BCE.

Tremendous social and political change resulted as technologically advanced cultures grew in
wealth and power :
1. Tools and weapons made of durable bronze replaced stone implements and
revolutionized agriculture and warfare.
2. Trade expanded to distant areas.
3. Rituals for honoring ancestors by equipping tombs and offering symbolic banquets,
replete with highly decorated cast bronze containers for wine and rice which became
more elaborate.

The ability to make bronze tools, weapons, and ritual vessels was such a significant
advancement in world civilization that it lends its name to an entire era : the Bronze Age.
The skill and resources needed to fabricate bronze were in place in ancient China by 1700 BCE.
Making bronze requires two things : copper and tin ores, sometimes mixed with lead and
intense heat for refining and casting. Chinese founders made their metal objects using clay for
both models and removable section molds.

The casting of the legendary 9 ding in the Xia Dynasty was probably the beginning of the bronze
age in China although much is uncertain. The general trend in pottery designs—from lively to
playfulness to gloom and mystery—is indisputable evidence of the transition to the bronze
age. The discoveries at Longshan and Erlitou, in Henan Province was made in Xia Dynasty.

Although the clan democracy was still the nucleus of the social structure, an early form of
hierarchy system based on slavery gradually evolved. Two distinct classes: Aristocracy and
the common people, or countrymen (which later became the virtual slaves of the aristocracy).
There emerged the beginnings of a shamanistic culture with a strong religious character
which was expressed by ritual for ancestor worship. The primitive magic and rites that belonged
to the whole people became the laws and regulations of a society ruled by religion and under a
hierarchy system monopolized by (tribe-clan) aristocrats.

Taotie (饕餮)
An auspicious symbol which asserted itself to protect society, to coordinate the upper and
lower classes, and to inherit the fortunes to heaven. It is in the shape of an animal but not
sure what kind of animal it is. Its head seems like an uncommon ox head and some people
believe it was the sacred ox associated with magic and religious sites of remote antiquity.

Bronzes were not objects of aesthetic enjoyment but articles used with fear and apprehension in
religious rites. Only in a civilized society where material culture is highly developed and religious
thinking on the wane, where cruelty and barbarism are of the past, can art that represented
forces of progress and human destiny in ancient history be understood and enjoyed, and its
aesthetic value appreciated.

Motif in Bronze Items

Taotie : a stylized monster motif with symmetrically arranged eyes, ears, horns, snout, and jaw.
Despite its one face, it usually has two bodies that end in coiled tails. Early in the Bronze Age,
the creature was depicted as a linear design with central eyes and spiraling extensions that are
easily lost in the surrounding decoration Over the centuries its abstracted features were
presented in high relief to distinguish them from background designs. As the Shang dynasty
progressed, the contour of the motif was eliminated entirely and isolated features of the taotie
were raised above the patterned ground.

Dragons : a creature that provided a bountiful source of inspiration for the artistic imagination,
easily recognizable because of its horn and coiling tails even when combined with other
creatures.

Fish, tiger, birds : represent all creatures of sea, land, air. Frequently appear on vessels,
naturalistic representations and appear more in southern China. In northern China, the artists
use their preference for compartmentalized designs to create fanciful ewers that seem to
combine the shapes of various creatures, an amalgam of actual mythical creatures.

Fu Hao Owl Zun from the late Shang dynasty, found in the tomb of Fu Hao, has a vivid shape,
incorporating the image of a standing owl into the bronze ware. The owl holds its head high and
its wings are folded, giving a smug look, with round eyes, wide mouth, and small ears. The owl’s
head is made to have an opened semi circular mouth to pour wine, there is also a lid on the
mouth. At the front lid there was a standing bird with a pointed bill, and a standing dragon with
an arched body and curly tail in the back.

HouMuWuDing or SiMuWuDing from the Shang dynasty,

unearthed in 1939, Anyang city, Henan province. It is the
heaviest bronze ware in ancient China with 832.84 kg. This
demonstrates that in the late Shang dynasty, not only was the
bronze ware large in scale but also closely organized and
meticulous in division of labor.

He Zun, a bronze wine vessel

from early Western Zhou, used
by a nobleman named He for sacrifice. He Zun is a national
first class cultural relic in China and prohibited from going
abroad for exhibition. Now in the BaoJi Bronze museum. It has
a solemn and heavy shape, exquisite and magnificent
decoration and casting.There are 122 inscriptions on the inner
bottom which provide historical data for studying the
early western zhou. He Zun is also the earliest known source
of the word china which refers to the Chengzhou area,
the capital of Western Zhou dynasty.

Late Shang Dynasty : Ladle with a sheep head shaped

handle
 Sanxingdui helps
archaeologists to
understand that
there are multiple
centers of innovation
jointly ancestral to
Chinese civilization.
Sanxingdui bronze
culture exhibits the
spirit of Chinese
culture that
transcends reality
and pursues the
future.

Square chin, crescent shaped eyebrows aligned to form V

shaped pattern and the tips are slightly curling up, eyes are
slanted and prolonged, two protruding extreme exaggeration
cylindrical eyebrows, fully stretched out ear and the tips are
shaped like pointed fans. Its nose looks like an eagle's beak
with two helical wings each adorned by the patterns of a
counter-clocked whirlpool. Its mouth is carved deep and broad as a furrow, forming two uplifting
curves at the ends.It seems that the tip of tongue is slighted sticking out ， almost as if it is
smiling enigmaticall. At the center of its forehead, there is a square opening which probably had
decorations attached. We therefore imagine that in the original look, the mask would have been
more fantastic to behold. It is an idol to represent the ancient Shu people's ancestors.

The bronze statue of maybe the most supreme leader of Sanxingdui, ancient
Shu kingdom integrating the identities of gods, sorcerers, kings, and a
symbol of highest authority.

4 stages of bronze art:

- The stage of excessive production of wine cups
 Bronze had just appeared and the objects were roughly made, the design was crude and
had no beauty aspects.
- The stage of prosperity for bronzes
Lasted from late Shang to the Western Zhou. Marked the zenith of Chinese bronze art and
during this period bronze objects had higher aesthetic value than those made earlier or later.
- The open stage
Stage of disintegration of the bronze age. Society was progressing and civilization
advancing rapidly and productive forces were being improved through large scale use of iron
tools and oxen in plowing. The disintegration was linked to ideological emancipation which
caused mystical ornament designs to die, lose their power to intimidate and rule people and
relegated to secondary roles. Chinese society entered the first era of rationalism at this
stage.
- The new style stage
Warring states period, a time of transition reflected in the bronze objects in this stage.
Degenerate type : followed the path of the preceding stage, becoming even cruder and
simpler, largely unornamented
Progressive type : light, handy, generally bizarre, the designs were more refined but less
deeply engraved. Although it is only variations of earlier designs but had the connotations
that were completely new that consisted in the removal of religious constraints. Human
interests were expressed more freely in the bronze ritual vessels and the method of
expression changed from symbolic to realistic

Chinese Characters

It was developed and majored in the Bronze Age. Appreciated

animals’ bones and shells. Picture in the right is an oracle
character. It is a specific picture and symbol of real things. A
symbolistic to older Chinese characters. Many of the bronze
wares contain the oracle bone inscriptions.
 Zhong = bronze musical
instrument
Ding = bronze vessel
instrument

Black pan=xizhoushiqiang
(西周史墙), ancient bronze
pan vessel (basin). It is
inscribed by text that
describes as “the first
conscious attempt in China to write history”. Its exterior is a cast with taotie design and was cast
around the reign of King Gou of Zhou for member of Wei clan.

The
document
ary books
were
returned
by
historians and
archeologists.

Hu fu/虎符 (Tiger
Tally/Ship/Amulet)
Used for the governor
of the army to call and
mobilize the army in
ancient China.
The governors are
afraid that the Chinese
army is too powerful to
rebel against the emperor.

Chinese Literature
The book of Songs
- A collection of China 305 oldest poems
- Early Western Zhou to middle spring and
autumn period
- Earliest realistic literature in China
- Three sections :
风：ordinary daily song
雅：song from the governor, emperor
颂：sacrificial son
- Writing technique :
赋 (fu) : Narration
比 (bi) : Metaphor
兴 (xing) : Evocation

The Songs of Chu

- Derived from the songs of the southern state of Chu during the Warring states period
- Pioneered romanticism in Chinese poetry
- The character 兮 (xi) often put in the middle or end of some lines
- “The journey is long, I’ll search up and down” “路漫漫其修远兮，吾将上下而求索。”

Qu Yuan
- Furthered the development of poemic style
- First writer to have his name associated with his work in the history of Chinese literature.
- Masterpieces:
- Sorrow after departures, Ask heaven, Nine elegies, Nine songs
 - Qu Yuan drowned himself in the Miluo river out of disappointment, sorrow, and anger.

Prose of the Pre-Qin times

- Historical prose : The book of history, Spring and autumn annals, Zuo’s commentary,
Intrigues of the warring states, Discourses of the states
- Philosophical prose : Laozi, Mozi, Mencius, Zhuangzi, The analects of confucius
Literature in Han Dynasty
Literature in Wei, Jin, Northern, and Southern Dynasty
Tang poetry
Song Ci poetry
Yuan dramas in Yuan Dynasty
Fiction in the Ming and Qing Dynasty

Confucianism and Taoism

The development of Chinese philosophy
- Philosophy in Pre-Qin times
- Orthodox philosophy during Han dynasty
- Metaphysics during Wei and Jin
- Buddhist philosophy during Sui and Tang
- Neo confucianism in Song and Ming
- Application philosophy in the Ming and Qing

Beginning in the Eastern Zhou dynasty was the development of “hundred schools” of philosophy
which laid the foundations for all major schools of Chinese thought with the exception of
Buddhism. Philosophers began to travel around offering advice, from how to run the state, how
to achieve victory in battle, and how to achieve immortality. The most famous developed one
during this time were Confucianism, Taoism, Mohism, and Legalism.

Confucianism : The unity of beauty and kindness. Respecting benevolence and righteousness.
Paying attention to the improvement of morality and personality
Taoism (“Natural Law”) : Pursue natural beauty and fresh style
Zen Enlightenment : Intuition and insight (Influence artistic intuition and conception)

Rationalism is one main trend through the Spring and Autumn and Warring states period.
Rationalism freed society of primitive magic and religion, and laid the foundations of the Han
people's cultural and psychological structure.
This was manifested primarily in the school of thought represented by Confucius and the
opposing, but supplementary doctrine of Taoism represented by Laozi and Zhuangzi.
Mutual and complementary roles which were played by Confucianism and Taoism are
important for all Chinese aesthetic thinking.

Confucianism
- Found by Confucius
- Moral code are set on basis of 5 merits : benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom,
trustworthiness
- Benevolence is the cornerstone, stand for faithfulness, filial piety, tolerance and
kindness
- Ask people to keep good harmony among others and establish a community ruled by
standard manners and behaviors
Short history of Confucius :
The most famous teacher in Chinese history is Confucious, even more famous than the king.

Why did Confucious say Terracotta warriors are a waste of time and money ?
He said that we should think the real life world is more important than after life.

Why did Confucius say that if

one couldn’t understand life,
why should one think much
about death ?
Confucius pays closest attention
to human reality which is
concerned with human affairs
and more interested in the
secular world.

Taoism
Laozi and Zhuangzi are the founders, but Laozi is really mysterious. Based on 2 classic texts,
the Tao Te Jing (attributed to the sage Laozi) and Zhuang Zi (written by Zhuangzi, ca. 369-286
BE), Taoist texts are difficult to decipher because they are written in poems and parables. Taoist
deemphasized ambition and greed, which are ultimately leading to oppression, instead they
follow the way of nature and influenced many aspects of Chinese art and culture
 Why can’t Dao be
spoken? Dao can not
be described in words
because it is profound,
obscure, and always
creates. Its existence
can be felt but can
not be expressed
because it will make
it lose its fundamental,
basic, and lasting.

What implication
does water give to
Laozi’s thinking through
opposition?
Water is weak and soft but it can
turn to strong and hard and
destructive like flood. Constant
dripping of water can also wear
away a stone.

Terracotta army consists of 3 pits

depicting the armies of Qin Shi
Huang, first emperor of China.
There are warriors, horses, and
chariots. It is a funerary art buried
with the emperor in 210-209 BC
to protect the emperor afterlife.
There are also non-military figures
found in other pits.
Chapter 3 : Romanticism of Han, Wei, and Jin
3.1 Art of Han: A Dazzling World
During Western Han dynasty, the capital was located in
Chang’an but then in the Eastern Han dynasty it was moved to
Luoyang. In the upper part of China, located a big area named
Xiongnu which often had quarrel between China and Xiongnu.
Many foundations were laid for the lasting development of
Chinese society, established by the Qin and maintained by Han have more or less defined the
nation of China up to present day.

Han and Chu culture are identical especially in literature and art. Chu-Han romanticism was
ancient China’s 2nd great artistic tradition, emerged in the wake of the rational spirit of pre-Qin
and both paralleled and complemented that spirit, and became the aesthetic trend that
dominated the art of both Western and Eastern Han Dynasties.

Han art ideas were pervaded by ancient myths and legends such as Fuxi and Nüwa with their
heads and snake bodies; Dongwanggong and Xiwangmu, the fairy king and queen. These give
deep allegorical meanings and mystical symbolism. The artistic content and aesthetic is in the
world of myth and magic which those marvelous beings were the signs and symbols.

To them, the world of immortals

is near the world of reality.
People wanted to ascend to
heaven to partake of the deities’
joys instead of heavens dominate
control and rule the world. The
gods did not conquer humanity
but it's the opposite. Providence,
at this stage of history, was but
an extension of humanity.

Buqianqu Murals
The man doesn’t have legs and
has a snake tail instead. There is
black bird in the center of the sun,
which is the romantic source of
Han people, and describes the
legend.

Mawangdui Han Tomb

Excavated 1972-1974 in
Mawangdui Street beside the
Liuyang River, Changsha,
Hunan. It is the tomb of 3
members of the family prime
minister of Changsha and the
Marquis of Li Cang in the
Western Han dynasty. Have >
3000 precious cultural relics
unearthed, is important

archaelogical discoveries in 20th century.

The design is complicated and also has the sun with

black bird in the middle. The paintings here describe
the sky, world, and underground. It is so important
because they want to be happy in the afterlife and
don’t want their spirit to get lost after the dead.
Therefore this silk is put on the corpse.

Left Picture :
Important silk robe
in this Han Dynasty, which is not heavy.
Artworks of Han dynasty
Portrait stones
- Appeared in the Western Han Dynasty and prevailed in
Eastern Han Dynasty
- Tombs, ancestral halls, ques, and coffins
- Common: Flat + concave carving, high relief; have broad
themes, rich contents, profound meanings, simple and
straightforward
- Show all aspects of
social life and material
culture, highlight the yin
yang and 5 elements,
belief in Gods, and
Confucian ethics and
morality.
- Jian Bozan: “If all are
collected systematically, they can become Han
 dynasty history with embroidered statues”

Wuliang shrine

Basic
features
and
essence
of Han
dynasty
art :
Vast
scenes of reality, centuries-
old traditions, primitive myths
and fantasies combined in
glittering, colorful images that
reflected man’s conquest of
the material and natural
world

Carvers carved stone based on the original shape of the stone

and combined by the skills of relief, line and circular carving
which make them have sense of strength.

Mirrors in Han
Wei and Jin dynasties

Important changes in Chinese history of all aspects, great turning points brought about by a
second change in social formation since that of the pre-Qin era. Witnessed a re-emancipation
and great activity in the ideological domain where many questions were put forward and much
progress was made. Under these conditions, in contrast to Confucian classics and art and
literature of the 2 Han era, which extolled feudal merits and virtues and stressed practicality, a
genuine speculative and rational pure philosophy and a genuine lyrical and perceptual
pure literature and art were born. The awakening of humankind is the new ideological trend.

The seven sages of the

Bamboo grove is a group
of Chinese scholars,
writers, and musicians of
3rd century CE. Several of
them were linked with
Qingtan school of Daoism
in the state of Cao Wei.
They became the ideals of
the Six Dynasties.
 The aim of such exaggerated
descriptions was to express a lofty
inner character through an
impressive outward appearance,
being the aesthetic ideal and
interest of ruling the class.

Ji Kang or Xi Kang or Shu Ye was a Chinese

poet, writer, Daoist philosopher, musician, an
author, composer, GuQin player and alchemist
of the 3 kingdoms period. He was one of the
seven sages of the bamboo grove who held
aloof from the dangerous politics of the third
century to devote
themselves to art and
refinement. Ji Kang
was an author,
composer, and guqin-
player.
Taoqian maybe regarded as a personified idea representative of Wei-Jin style.

Chapter 4 : Tang
After the collapse of the Han dynasty, China unified under the Sui dynasty. The political and
governmental institutions in this era lay the foundation for the growth and prosperity of the Tang
dynasty. Tang has strong and benevolent rule, successful diplomatic relationships, economic
expansion and cultural efflorescence of cosmopolitan style which emerged them as one of the
greatest empires in the medieval world. Merchants, clerics, and envoys from India, Persia,
Arabia, Syria, Korea, and Japan thronged the streets of Changan, the capital of Tang.

In the Tang dynasty, several centuries of national disunity and civil wars and the implementation
of the juntian land system from the central plains to the northern border brought power and
prosperity to the Li-Tang empire politically, economically, and militarily. Crowns and glory
prevailed over more typical traditional customs and concepts such as marital relations, personal
character and kinship with the imperial family. These changes were linked to the rise and fall of
social and political power. The most distinguished families of the southern dynasties such as
Wang and Xie had already degenerated during the Qi and Liang dynasties. For the large
number of intellectuals and secular landlord class, a new path full of hope was now open and
waiting to be explored.

Externally, this was an era of extension of the country's frontiers and flaunting of its military
prowess which seems that this path led first to military glory. Internally, it was an era of unity
and stability. The interflowing and fusing of northern and southern cultures enabled the Han and
Wei (Northern) and the new voices of the Qi and Liang (Southern) to supplement and benefit
each other, in which the old was weeded out to make way for the new. Trade and transportation
between China and the rest of the world by the Silk Road (Network of people, objects, ideas
that moved across Afro-Eurasia during the first millennium AD) not only brought foreign trade
fairs but exotic rites, customs, clothing, music, art, religion. Foreign wine, songstresses,
headdresses, and music were the height of fashion in Chang’an.

The picture is the figure of “Sancai Camel with Musicians” from Tang dynasty
Tang dynasty art
Li Bai was a Chinese poet who was acclaimed as a genius and the greatest romantic poet who
elevated traditional poetic forms. He and Du Fu were the two most prominent figures in the
flourishing of Chinese poetry in the Tang dynasty which is often called the “Golden Age of
Chinese Poetry”. “Three Wonders” denotes Li Bai’s poetry, Pei Min’s swordplay and Zhang
Xu’s calligraphy. Li Bai poems are often called Immortal poems, the greatest romantic poet
in Chinese literature. Imagination, exaggeration, diction, sonorous rhytms blends effortlessly.
Thinking in the Silent Night, Hard is the road to Shu, Invitation to wine, Drinking alone by
moonligh,t and Dreaming of sight seeing in the Tianmu mountains are some of his poems.

Left : Mural painting in

tomb chamber

Middle : Grotto art

Right : Temple mural

Chamber murals produced in burial activities as a preparation for the tomb owner’s journey to
the other side. It is both religious and artistic at the same time. The ancients believed in the
immortality of the soul after death. It was the fashion for some local powerful families from late
Western Han to Eastern Han period, to be buried generously, creating lavish burial chambers
for them which later affected Tang dynasty chamber murals.

Life in Tang
Seated Musician
This amiable flute (chi) player is posed in anticipation of bringing the
instrument to his lips, the chi was the predecessor of the two types of flute
used in Chinese music today. The end blown vertically held xiao and the
transverse flute depicted here, which is now known as the dizi.
 This object was made in the shape of a ball
that was divided into 2 hollowed
hemispheres with a pattern consisting of
flowers, honey, suckle, grape four birds.
Inside the lower hemisphere there are 2
concentric rings. It could remain in a
horizontal position most all the time so the
condiment in it wouldn’t spill.

Thirteen emperors from Emperor Zhaodi of the

Western Han dynasty to Emperor Yangdi of the
Sui dynasty were illustrated in the painting. Each
emperor is surrounded by several servants,
making the total numbers of 46 characters. There
are texts next to each group of characters.
Stating the time span of the emperor’s reign and
his majesty’s attitude towards Confucianism and Taoism.

Court ladies
preparing newly
woven silk
Zhang Xuan, 907
Chang’an as an international metropolis was probably the largest in the world at that time,
nearly 10,000 meters from east to west, more than 8,000 meters from north to south and more
than a million people lived in the 84 square kilometer city. Changan's open and inclusive attitude
toward foreign cultures enabled Changan to develop into the most prosperous international
metropolis in the world of the time. Foreign envoys, merchants and students were a common
sight in the city. Honglu temple received envoys from more than 70 countries, most coming in
large groups. Japan sent more than 10 delegations to Tang including students, scholar monks,
craftspeople, and specialists in different fields. The largest delegation number was 800. 100-200
students from Silla studied regularly in Chang'an.

Du Fu poems, Yan calligraphy

standardized the powerful
moods and momentum of the
prime Tang, refining them into
fixed forms and styles
governed by rules and
regulations. Consequently,
their beauty was not of the
kind created by genius which
could never be learnt or
imitated but the creation of
man which everybody could
learn, master and re-create.

Chapter 6 : Ming and Qing

Ming and Qing are noted for their fiction and drama. In this era, they focus on a world of some
dimension and depict the everyday life of city dwellers and social customs that were
commonplace but yet still varied and colorful, differs from Han’s conquest of nature or flaunt the
triumph of ancient brute force. The heterodox school was more urban bourgeois-quite obviously
in the ideological sphere and perhaps in the economic sphere as well. It's disruptive. The effect
on the feudal system was greater especially in the field of art and literature where it had more
direct and important influence.

Pinghua and Huaben （平话&话本）

New type of literature which became popular
during this era, it evolved from the monastic
teachings of Tang and was used mainly for
storytelling and singing. In Pinghua, artistic
beauty is less important than the sense of
everyday life and refinement has given way
to crude reality.

XiQu（戏曲）or traditional Chinese drama

4 masters of the Yuan dynasty : Guan Hanqing, Wang
Shifu, Bai Pu, Ma Zhiyuan. After the mid Ming, the
emergence of large numbers of legends and anecdotes
pushed traditional drama to a new stage and developed
into a comprehensive form of art that combined talking,
singing, acting, music, and dancing into an aesthetic
whole opera form with an artistic beauty. The right picture
is Chen Hongshou’s prints of the West Chamber.

Ming dynasty furniture

Combined advanced engineering with minimalist design.
With simple lines and curves that favor grace over
extravagance, they showcase an ingenious joinery
system that employs a seamless mitre, mortise, and
tenon construction which described the technique of
Ming artisans, the ethos of literary scholars and the
elegance of the extraordinary era.

Dream of the red chamber

- Known as dream of the red mansions, the story of the stone, and chronicles of the stone
- Chinese fiction composed in the middle of 18th century during Qing dynasty
- Its author is Cao XueQin and the last 40 chapter is written by another author
- Zenith of chinese classical fiction
- Grouped with 3 other pre modern chinese fiction and known as 4 great classical novels
- Record the lives of Jia clan member which daughter became imperial concubine
- Love triangles between main character Jia Baoyu, his beautiful cousin Lin Daiyu and his
future wife, Xue Baochai
 - Expressions of sorrow, realistic descriptions, exposure and criticism of social life made
this novel record the last days of feudalism
- In the words of one critic of vernacular literature, the divergences in human relations and
world affairs are described minutely, joys and sorrows of parting and meeting described
fully. It surpasses the Ming upper class scholar officials writings.

Section 5：Song and Yuan Art and Aesthetics

Background

The Song dynasty was at its greatest extent in 1111.

The Song dynasty (Chinese: 宋朝) was an imperial dynasty of
China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty
was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his
usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song
conquered the rest of the Ten Kingdoms, ending the Five
Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. The Song often came
into conflict with the contemporaneous Liao, Western Xia and
Jin dynasties in northern China. After retreating to southern China, the Song was eventually
conquered by the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty.

Chinese painting reached its zenith in the Song and the Yuan. Paintings here mainly referred to
landscape painting, which outshone many other branches of art in this country. Indeed,
paintings of this genre rival the Chinese sacrificial bronze vessels of several thousand years
earlier in their importance as rare treasures in the history of world art.

5.1 “Absence of Self” and “Presence of Self”: Landscape Painting of The Song and Yuan
The Independence of Landscape Painting
The great change began in the prime Tang, and by the mid-Tang landscape painting had
become a totally independent genre. As social life underwent important changes and the
influence of religion waned, the natural world lost its magical quality and began to acquire a
realistic character. Just as human figures, horses, and oxen ceased to play subordinate roles in
religious art and became independent motifs, so too mountains and rivers, trees and rocks,
birds and flowers came to be eulogized as aesthetic objects in their own right.
Landscape painting reached maturity as an independent genre much later than did
figure and animal painting. If paintings of figures and animals replaced religious paintings as the
most popular genres during and after the mid-Tang, then landscape painting must have reached
maturity in the Song Dynasty, some 200 years later.
Chinese landscape painting was the art of the secular landlords. These landlords were
less isolated from the common people than were the great families, or hereditary landlords, in a
rigidly stratified feudal society, thus the ideas and sentiments reflected in the landscapes of the
Song and Yuan have more affinity with the common people than do the figure paintings of the
Six Dynasties and the Sui and Tang.

Three Categories
➔ The Northern Song (primarily its early period)
“Absence of Self”
➔ The Southern Song
Faithfulness to Detail and the Search for Poetic Flavor
➔ The Yuan
“Presence of Self”(‘literati painting’)
Absence of Self
Rhythm and spirit, or 'rhythmic vitality', originally put forward as an aesthetic criterion of figure
painting in the Six Dynasties, should be applied to landscape painting as well. Enriched with
new content and connotations. It eventually became an aesthetic criterion of all Chinese
paintings. Artists must not be content with reproducing only the external form of an object, or
just achieving formal resemblance; they must try to capture its spirit and inner quality. It requires
the scene or object be observed,
grasped, and depicted in a realistic
yet generalized way.
“Xiao-xiang” is shorthand for the rivers
Xiao and Xiang in Hunan Province to
the south of the Yangtze River. The
two rivers drain into Dongting Lake
(Dongting hu). The term "Xiao-xiang"
also refers to the ancient state of Chu.
Against a spectacular background,
from the right to left, two ladies in red
led by a woman in white walk toward
the river bank where a group of five
musicians are playing. On the river, a boat is approaching the shore with a red-coated
nobleman (perhaps a prince) who sits beneath a parasol held by another, a servant, an official
in white, and two boatmen. Far away near the left shore, some fishermen are raising their nets.
Two fishermen on a boat are approaching from the extreme left, and six smaller vessels on
distant waters are floating at the right.

Guo Xi 郭熙 (1020-1090), Northern Song

Early Spring 早春图
158.3x108.1cm，National Museum, Taipei

The Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) witnessed the heyday

of landscape painting. Guo Xi (ca. 1000-1080), a court painter during the reign of Emperor
Shenzong (1068-1085), was an exceptional representative of his period in terms of both theory
and skills of landscape painting. The special perspective techniques of creating “tall, deep, and
flat distances” (“三远”) proposed by Guo exerted a great influence on the landscape painting of
later generations. Early Spring is Guo's most famous masterpiece, in which the painter, based
on his acute observation of changes of
landscape in different seasons,
depicted with ink a scene that the land
seems to awaken and the trees spring
forth just after the winter snow thawed
in the mountain.

Fan Kuan 范 宽
(950-1032), Northern Song
Travelling among streams and Mountains (溪山行旅图)
155x73.4 cm, National Museum, Taipei.

Fan Kuan, a native of Huayuan in Shaanxi province, often traveled the

area between the capital and Luoyang. Although he was known for his
magnanimous character, straightforward personality, and fondness of
drink and Taoism, he is famous now for his landscape painting. In his
early study of painting, he followed the style of the Shandong artist Li
Cheng. Later, however, he came to realize that if he really wanted to
portray the land, he had to take Nature as his teacher rather than other artists or their works.
After all, a personal landscape exists in nature and in the mind. This masterpiece is a testament
to his skills and ideas in landscape painting.

Northern Song landscape painting is characterized by an absence of self in a highly developed

state. In fact, in all branches of art and literature-prose, poetry, painting, etc. We can find
examples of this kind of beauty and artistic
conception characterized by an “absence of self”.
This does not mean the artist's own thoughts and
feelings are truly absent, only that these have not
been revealed directly.
Liang Kai excelled at painting figures, landscapes, Buddhist and Taoist subjects, as well as
spirits and deities. Taking to a life of drinking and painting, he called himself Madman Liang.
When he was at court, his paintings were admired for their refined brushwork. This album leaf,
however, is said to be a masterpiece from his period of drinking and spontaneous painting. The
immortal shown here also appears to be somewhat inebriated.

Faithfulness to Detail and the Search for Poetic Flavor

Aesthetic standards in poetry and painting changed with the times. As the Northern Song
passed through its early and later stages into the Southern Song, the concept of ‘absence of
self’ gradually moved
towards its opposite,
“presence of self”.

Academy style (院体画):

- Fidelity to details
- Poetic flavor

Song Huizong 宋徽宗 (1100-

1125) Song Dynasty
Auspicious cranes 瑞鹤图
138x51 cm, Liaoning Provincial Museum, Shenyang.
北宋__赵佶__芙蓉锦鸡图
Hibiscus and Golden
Pheasant，
Northern Song，Emperor
Huizong
Huizong was the 8th emperor of the Song dynasty and the most artistically accomplished of his
imperial line. Finches and Bamboo exemplifies the realistic style of flower-and-bird painting
practiced at Huizong's academy. Whether making a study from nature or illustrating a line of
poetry, however, the emperor valued capturing the spirit of a subject over literal representation.
Here the minutely observed finches are imbued with the vitality of their living counterparts.
Drops of lacquer added to the birds' eyes impart a final lifelike touch.

Drinking in the Moonlight — Ma Yuan 马远

In the lower left corner, a figure leans back to gaze at the moon appearing between mountain
peaks in the upper right. On the rocky deserted platform beneath a cliff, a piece of paper with
calligraphy is spread out. A brush and ink stick rest on a stand, ink stone and water dropper
placed aside. Asymmetrical compositions are characteristic of the court artist Ma Yuan and his
followers. The diagonal division into solid land mass
and open space gave rise to his nickname “One-
corner Ma.’

The total absence of people implies a sense of

forlorn and absolute loneliness. A boatman with no
passengers more aptly, implicitly reflects the lyrical
quality of ease, leisure, and tranquility in this pastoral
scene and accords with the poetic theme.
The
general
practice
at this
time
was to
use
deliberate manipulation, careful positioning, and
painstaking arrangement to focus on a particular
view or spot, a single object, or even a part of an
object. The faithful and detailed presentation of a
delimited scene or isolated object was used to
communicate poetic charm, thoughts and feelings.
Even when the theme remained the same, the poetic flavor and emotional appeal had changed.
Ma Yuan and Xia Gui were typical representatives of this school-witness the fact that they were
often referred to as “painters of fragmentary hills and streams”.

“Presence of Self”
The radical differences between paintings of the
Song and Yuan can be attributed to changes in
aesthetic standards caused by major changes in
Chinese society during this period.
The fall of the Song Dynasty brought with it the
decline of the court, or academy, style of painting.
Under the new social conditions, the arbiters of
aesthetic values in landscape painting were no
longer the imperial academy but displaced scholars
and intellectuals—men of letters with no official
status. Thus there appeared what is known as 文人
画 or “literati painting”.
Spiritual & subjective

倪瓒，Yuan Dynasty
Riverside Pavilion by Mountains
( 倪 瓒 ) Nizan specialized in landscapes and bamboo in
monochrome ink, for which later generations came to venerate him
as one of the Four Masters of the Yuan. His landscape paintings
often featured the compositional formula of "two banks divided by
an expanse of water”.The foreground with sparse trees would be
separated from the distant hills and mountains by a large expanse
of water. Except for a solitary pavilion, he rarely painted any hint of
the human world in his works, creating an atmosphere of utter
desolation and tranquility. This painting in general, follows this
formula. Compared with his early paintings in which the wide
expanse of water appears in the middle, the motifs in this work are
more varied and complex. He used a crisscrossing system of
banks and horizontal branches to skillfully lead the viewer's line of vision from side to side and
from top to bottom. The result is a contrast of proximity and distance, creating a sense of deep
and remote space. Ni Zan employed dry ink using mostly slanted strokes to produce texture.
 Ni Zan (1301-1374) Yuan Dynasty.
Six Gentlemen 六君子图
Shanghai Museum
Instead of serving the foreign Mongol dynasty of the Yuan, Ni Zan chose to live a life of
retirement and cultivated the scholarly arts (poetry, painting, and calligraphy). He collected
artistic works of the past and associated them with those of a similar temperament. Ni Zan was
characterized by his contemporaries as particularly quiet and fastidious, qualities that are found
in his paintings. Toward the end of his life, Ni Zan is said to have distributed all of his
possessions among his friends and adopted the life of a Daoist
recluse, wandering and painting in his mature style in the Lake Tai
region near his hometown.
The art of Ni Zan and his peers in the Yuan dynasty was opposed to
the preceding standards of the Southern Song academy, whose art
immediately appealed to the eyes through obvious displays of
virtuoso brushwork and a convincing pictorial reality. Ni Zan's
newstyle demanded concentrated viewing so that the larger and, in
fact, more complex plays of ink could be perceived.

5.2 The Significance of Aesthetic Taste in Yuan Dynasty

Literary flavour
If Southern Song painting represented a fusion of formal and spiritual resemblance and of
realism and poetic flavour, the two pairs of opposites existing in harmony, the influence of the
social atmosphere and the psychology of the Yuan literati tilted the balance heavily towards the
spiritual and the subjective. In fact, the situation two stages earlier in the Northern Song was
now completely reversed: formal resemblance and realism became secondary to personal
moods and sentiments. The basic aesthetic principle of 'rhythmic vitality' that had always
been advocated in Chinese painting no longer applied to objects but only and entirely to
the subjective. Originally a principle of figure painting, which should show the spirit of the
subject, it now became a principle of landscape painting, in which the artist's moods and
feelings must also be reflected (very few of the literati artists did figure paintings).
Another feature of Yuan painting, which paralleled its literary flavour and gave concrete
expression to it, was the emphasis on brushwork and inking. This was another creative
development in Chinese painting, through which Yuan painting acquired its unique aesthetic
values. For the literati painters, a work's beauty mainly lay not in its depiction of nature
but in its lines and colours, its brushwork and ink. The literati painters saw these as
possessing a beauty independent of the subject or scene portrayed. Brushwork and inking were
seen not only as having formal and structural beauty, but also as communicating a painter's
spirit or emotional concerns. In this way, the traditional Chinese emphasis on the art of line was
elevated to its highest stage in the Yuan. Line had been a principal aesthetic element in
Chinese visual arts since the earliest appearance of primitive pottery designs, bronze ritual
vessels, and seal inscriptions on metal. Such expressions in figure painting as “iron-line
drawing” (铁线描), “water-shield drawing”, “Cao's clothes have just been taken out of water” (曹
衣出水), and “Wu's robes blow in the wind” (吴带当风), all referred to the beauty of lines.

Inscriptions on Painting
Yuan inscriptions were very different. They might contain as many as 100 characters, or more
than ten lines. They therefore took up much of the paper and were deliberately incorporated into
the overall composition. On the one hand, calligraphy and painting matched each other well
because both possessed linear beauty. On the other, the content of the inscription, whether
explicit or implied, enhanced the literary charm and poetic flavour of the painting. This is why
critics say of Yuan artists, “Although by adding calligraphy they have encroached upon the
painting, they have also added to its meaning and elegance.” This use of calligraphy, together
with the vermilion seal, has become a tradition peculiar to Chinese art. The single square red
seal mark amid the expanse of ink and water heightens the solemnity, clarity, and vitality of the
overall mood. Both calligraphy and seal can be used to balance a composition, remedy a sparse
layout, and increase a painting's visual interest.
Painting, calligraphy, and poetry, three arts in one, became the ideal of Chinese landscape
painting in the Yuan and remain so to this day.
By the time of the Ming and Qing, “presence of self” had turned into a torrent of romanticism.
While the works of Ni Yunlin and other Yuan painters were still true representations of nature—
the saying quoted earlier. ”what matters if it resembles or not” was an overstatement— the
works of Shi Tao (1642-1718), Zhu Da (1626-1705), and the eight Yangzhou eccentrics of the
Ming and Qing show an almost total disregard for formal resemblance. The subjective moods,
interests, and characteristics of the artist became paramount. In Song painting such
individuality was all but absent; in the Yuan, it was in a budding stage. Its complete
flowering took place in the Ming and Qing and continued into the modern era.

5.3 Beyond the Rhythm: The Search for Poetic Flavour

Song Ci 宋词
- Chinese poetic form
Ci, Wade-Giles romanization tz'u, in Chinese poetry, song form characterized by lines of
unequal length with prescribed rhyme schemes and tonal patterns, each bearing the name of a
musical air. The varying line lengths are comparable to the natural rhythm of speech and
therefore are easily understood when sung.
Ci poetry reached its zenith during the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD). Like Tang poetry, the
Song ci poetry holds a very important position in the history of Chinese literature.

Ru ware bowl stand

炻器，青釉 汝案 河南省
寶豐縣清凉寺
北宋，约 1086-1125 年
Stoneware with celadon
glaze
Ru stoneware bowl-stand, bowl shaped with a flange shaped like a
five petalled flower. The bowl-stand has grayish-blue glaze with fine crackle.
There are five elliptical spur marks on the base.
This stand was fired on its foot on a support with five
prongs which have left five oval spur marks. Its design is inspired by a mallow
flower with five petals. Here the overlapping petals are suggested by using
raised slip lines beneath the crackled celadon glaze. Members of the
Northern Song imperial court used such stands to support bowls of various materials for
drinking tea. Korean potters supplying the Goryeo Court with high quality ceramics in the twelfth
century made close copies of such Ru wares. Both Korean celadons and Chinese Ru wares
have chemically similar glazes, suggesting an early international
exchange of technology.
Pearl-shaped covered ewer
LongQuan porcelain pear-shaped covered ewer with long spout and
handle which is trilobate at the lower end. The ewer has pale grayish green glaze.

Ewer and cover

Potters modeled this celadon ewer's elegant pear-shaped body, long slim curved spout. curved
handle and domed-knob cover after a metal prototype, probably silver ware but possibly bronze.
Its detailing, such as the base of the handle which splits into three perfectly formed sections, is
very fine. Sir Percival David bought the ewer from the Hirooka Collection in Kobe, Japan. Green
glazed wares, known as celadons in English, 青 瓷 (qingci) in Chinese and 青 瓷 (seiji) in
Japanese, were particularly admired in Japan, where they were regarded as treasures,
collected as antiques, and suitable shapes used for the tea ceremony.

Doucai ‘Chicken Cup’ / Porcelain 'chicken cup' wine-cup

Decorated in doucai style with underglaze blue washes and
outlines and overglaze green, red, yellow, and brown enamels.
Design on the exterior of rooster, hen and chicks with lilies and
peony shrubs behind rocks. There is a mark on the base.
Artists depicted the theme of a hen pecking for food with her
chicks first in paintings and these probably inspired the porcelain
versions. Decorators used layers of coloured enamels to suggest different textures, for example
the cockerels’ feathers are indicated with tiny red strokes and the hen's wing is outlined in red
against her yellow feathers. This is several hundred years before the development of a palette
of opaque enamels which would allow shading.
Chapter 3
Chapter 1
Han human figurine:

Wei and Jin:

Daming Palace