Before conquering China in 1279 members of the Yuan Dynasty were nomads known as Mongols They dominated China until 1368.

Kublai Kahn was Genghis Khan’s grandson, he brought down the last Song emperor, declared himself emperor of China, and founded the Yuan dynasty. The Mongols were great admirers of Chinese art and culture, and Kublai Khan lived in luxurious palaces.

Huang Gongwang, Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains, China, Yuan Dynasty, 1347-1350. Section of a hindscroll, ink on paper, 1’ 1” high. National Palace, Taipei

“literati”Scholar-artists who emerged during the Song dynasty. The literati painted

primarily for a small audience of their educational and social peers, who were from prominent families and were highly educated and steeped in traditional Chinese culture. They cultivated painting, calligraphy, poetry, and other arts as a sign of social status and refined taste.

Wu Zhen. Bamboo. Yüan Dyn. 1350. Album leaf, ink on paper, 1’4”X 1’9”. National Palace Museum, Taipei

Bamboo is a symbol of the ideal Chinese gentleman, who bends in adversity but does not break. Also, depicting the branches and leaves of bamboo approximated the art of calligraphy.

Throughout Chinese history, calligraphy and painting have been closely connected and equally esteemed. The primary tools for writing and drawing are the same: a round tapered brush, soot-based ink, and paper or silk. Many Chinese paintings bear calligraphy inscriptions or colophons. Famous poems frequently provided subjects for paintings, and poets often composed poems inspired by paintings. Either practice might prompt inscriptions on art. Some address the painted subjects, praise the painting’s quality or the painter’s character, explain the circumstances of the work. Painters, inscribers and even owners also added seal impressions in red ink to identify themselves.

Symbolism in Chinese artBambooThe ideal Chinese gentleman who bends in adversity but does not break.DragonThe emperor and yang, the Chinese principle of active masculine energy.Phoenix

The empress and yin, the Chinese principle of passive feminine energy.

Underglaze blue decorated temple vaseYuan dynasty1351Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art

Porcelain is a technically demanding medium. True porcelain is translucent and rings when struck.

Porcelain is a fine white clay called kaolin mixed with ground petuntse (a type of feldspar).Porcelain is at an extremely high temperature, well over 2000° F.

Table with drawers, Ming dynasty, ca. 1426-1435. Carved red lacquer on a wood core, 3' 11" long. Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

lacquer ware The sap of the Asiatic sumac tree is heated and purified. Then the lacquer workers mix

minerals into the sap. The artisan uses a hairbrush similar to a calligrapher’s or painter’s brush. The lacquer goes on one layer at a time. Then it must be dried and sanded before another layer is applied. If there are enough layers, it can be carved as if it were the wood itself. Other techniques include inlaying metals and sprinkling gold dust into still-wet lacquer.

Dai Jin. Fishermen. Ming Dynasty. 15th century, Detail of hand scroll, ink and color on paper, 1’ 6 1/8” high. Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Ming court painters differ from that of the literati both in purpose and in style because court artists created portraiture of the imperial family, as well as historical figures as exemplars of virtue, wisdom, or heroism. They used bright colors to focus attention on the heroic subjects of the paintings. Literati artists mainly created personal works, either in the Northern (precise, academic) or Southern (freer, subjective) styles.

Dong Qichang. Autumn Mountains. Ming Dynasty. early 17th century. Handscroll, ink on paper, 1’ 31/8”x4’57/8”. Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio.

Characteristic of the work of Dong Qichang led critics to call him the “first modernist painter” was that his flattening of the composition and creating of highly expressive and abstract patterns.

Left: Rock, Tiger Lily and Orchid. Right: Daylily and Rock.

The artist who specialized in the painting of flowers during the Ming period was Wen Shu.Style:She focuses on a few essential elements, presented against a plain background.

She uses delicate brush strokes and a restricted palette, contrasting the fragility of the flowers against the solidity of the rock.

Dish with Lobed Rim, Qing Dynasty, 1700.

Underglaze decorations are mineral colors applied to the clay surface before the main firing and then a clear glaze is applied over them. It fully bonds to the piece in the kiln, but only a few colors are possible because the raw materials must withstand the heat. Overglaze colors, or enamels, are produced when decorators paint on top of the glaze after the work has been fired. They fuse to the glazed surface in an additional firing at a much lower temperature. They allow a much brighter palette, but they do not have the durability of underglaze.

Shitao, Man in a House beneath a Cliff, Qing Dynasty, late 17th century. Album leaf, ink and colors on paper, 9 ½ x 11”. C.C. Wang Collection, New York

The creative use of the “single brushstroke” or “primordial line” was advocated by the Qing painter Shitao.

Guiseppe CastiglioneAn Italian Jesuit missionary at

the Qing court. He used a hybrid Italian-Chinese style.

Features of his work that is distinctly European;

Three-dimensional volumes and a single source of light that creates consistent shadows.

Features he adopted from the Chinese literati painter include;

Composition: the overhanging tree and the red seal; and subject: traditional Chinese symbols, the eagle, the pine tree, the rocks, and the red mushroomlike plants.

Courtyard house interior veranda. Wuxi. China

Wangshi Yuan (Garden of the Master of the Fishing Nets). Pavilion. and pool. Suzhou

The traditional Chinese garden is suppose to replicate the irregularities of uncultivated nature.

Its purpose is to to encourage wandering through ever-changing vistas of carefully contrived visual surprises. They were the pleasure retreats of high officials and the landed gentry, sanctuaries where the wealthy could commune with nature in all its representative forms and as an ever-changing and boundless presence.

Liu Yuan (Lingering Garden). Guanyun (Cloud-Capped Peak). Suzhou

Aerial view of the Forbidden City, Beijing, China, Ming dynasty, 15th century and later.

Imperial PalaceForbidden City

Huang Binhong. Recluse Dwelling on Xixia Mountain. 1954 .Hanging scroll. ink and color on paper. 47 1/2” x 23 1/2”. Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York City

YE YUSHAN and others, Rent Collection Courtyard (detail of larger tableau), Dayi, Sichuan Province, China, 1965. Clay, approx. 100 yards long with life-size figures.

XU BING, A Book from Heaven, 1988. Installation at Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1991. Movable-type prints and books.

In A Book from Heaven the twentieth century artist Xu Bing attempted to blend A critique of the meaninglessness of contemporary political language with a commentary on the illegibility of the past.

Nandaemun. Seoul. Choson Dyn. first built in 1398. Korea. Choson dynasty (1392-1910). Seoul. Korea

The Chosen Dynasty ruled in Seoul from 1392-1910.The Nandeamun (gateway) into Seoul was intended to symbolize the ruler’s authority, represented in the imposing strength of its stone foundation and the sophistication of its intricately bracketed wooden superstructure.

CHONG SON, Kumgang Mountains, Choson dynasty, 1734. Hanging scroll, ink and colors on paper, 4' 3 1/2" x 1' 11 1/4". Hoam Art Museum, Kyunggi-Do.

“true view” paintingAn actual scene,

depicted with brushstrokes that mimic the actual appearance of forms.

Yi Chae-gwan. Portrait of Kang Yi-o. Choson. early 19thc. Korea. Choson dynasty (1392-1910). Hanging scroll. ink and colors on silk. 25” high

SONG SU-NAM, Summer Trees, 1983. Ink on paper, 2' 1 5/8" high. British Museum, London.

The Abstract Expressionist movement and Morris Louis was a Western influence in the work of Song Su-Nam.

Eastern influence:Ink on paper, such as that used by East Asian literati.

Compare the style of the Yuan painters shown on FIGS. 26-1 and 2 with that earlier painters like Fan Kuan (FIG. 7-19) and Ma Yuan (FIG. 7-24) What similarities and what differences do you see?

Huang Gongwang

Wu Zhen

Fan KuanTravelers Among Mountains and StreamsNorthern Song Period

Ma YuanOn a Mountain Path in SpringSouthern Song period

Compare the structure of the Forbidden City shown on FIG. 26-5 with Louis XIV’s Palace of Versailles (FIG. 24-69). What features do they share? In what way do the structures reflect the political philosophies of their creators?

Imperial PalaceForbidden City

Palace of Versailles

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