India-China Contacts:Renewed and intensified(Vicky's report)

8/8/2019 India-China Contacts:Renewed and intensified(Vicky's report)

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India-China Contacts

Renewed & IntensifiedBy: Maria Victoria

Lacaden :]


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THETANG DYNASTY (A.D. 618-906) Tang China was the largest & most

powerful country in the world. Li Yuan, 1st Tang emperor. Known by his

temple name Kao Tsu began as acontender for the rule of the Sui dynasty. Li Shih Mhin, 2nd emperor; known as Tai

Tsung, succeeded to the throne by

mrdering 2 brothers & forcing the abdictionof his fatherbut he became 1 of the mostgreatest emperors China has known.

The years of Tang were brilliant times ofarts & culture.

Exotic troupes of asian girls became the


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Late Tang paintings show Imperialentertainments w/ensembles of srings,winds, &percussion, & choreographic plans

for bands & dancers have also beenperserved. Poetry was the greatest glory of the

period. Nearly 50,000works by some

2,000 Tang poets have been perserved. Heroic sculpture of Buddhas was a

feature of middle Tang. Several new sects of Budhhism were

introduced by Indian missionaries & atthe same time both Christian & Jewishcommunities developed.

Painting played a major role in the

culture of the era, &painters wereim ortant court fi ures.


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The greatest masters of figure painting ofthe dynasty was Wu Tao-tzu, who did 300wall paintings in temples at Lo-yang &

Chang-an. A painter of horses was a great favourite

in an era when military steeds were amatter of life & death & when court ladies

played a form of solo. Landscape painting was dedicated by

Wang Wei, who was an official at thecourt in western capital.

Pottery made huge strides after thesterility of the 6Dynasties period. Finishesin white porcelain, three-colour pottery&figurines, stoneware w/a rich black

glaze, & a type of celadon all weredevelo ed b Tan otters & in kee in


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Metalwork &jewelry of the periodincluded much silverware. Ritual objects

included foreign shapes among thetraditional Chinese forms.

Silver & gold vessels were no longer castbut raised into bowl shape by

hammering thin sheets; such vessels fordrinking were double thicknessessoldered together w/an insulating layer ofair between them.

Decorated bronze mirrors were alsopopular. The Tang dynasty-like most-rose in duplicity &murder, & it subsudedinto a kind of anarchy; but at its apex in

the early 8th century, the splendour of itsarts &its cultural milieu made it a model


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Chinese palacearchitecturecontinued toinfluenceBudhhist

architecture,although someexamples seen

in theDunhuang wallpaintings of the

paradise


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Between the Wei

and Tang dynastiesthe incoporealvisionary style inboth painting &sculpture began tochange into a stifflycolumnar form.Afterabout A.D. 560 this stiffstyle became more

fluid, the figuresbegan to shift theweight to one foot, &a graceful rhythmic

pose for bodhisattva


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Perhaps sculpture bestexpressed the new vigor of

the Budhhist faith.Althoughmuch was destroyed in thegreat persecution of thegrandeur of this art. Paintedstone reliefs decorated the

cave temples at Longmen,


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At Dunhuang clay or stucco over thesoft stone core continued, as well assculptures made entirely of clay upon a

wooden armature.


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Owing to a shortage of metals

for coinage, with which thecourt hoped to pacify fierceborders tribes, most of the

larger bronze images weremelted down by order of thecourt in the 9th century.

Reaction to this order mayhave been the cause of theresulting persection of

buddhism as well as other


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THEBOD

HISATTVA

Indicative of renewed Indian contacts, whichincrease in the last years of the Sui & early

Tang dynasty. The figures stand in graceful poses, dressed

in Indian garments and jewelry. The Cult of the Bodhisattva(budhhists saw

the bodhisattva as saving helpers) served avery real human need. humans felt the desirefor some subject of their spiritual aspirations,for someone to whom they could confide theirdifficulties & who could interceede with theBod of Essence on their behalf.


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THE MATURE TANG ART

By 18thcentury,

swelling,plump bodies& clingingdraperiesindicatestrong Indianinfluence, &

the Budhhas


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The gilt bronzeBudhhapreaching the 1st

sermon is a veryobvius imitation ofthe Gupta stone

version ofSarnath, w/c wasjustly famousthroughout Asia,

but it is fatter


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MATURE TANG ART

By the time Zhou

Fang, the style inladies had becomeamplified &was morelike that of the tombfigurine of the late8th century.


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SECULAR PAINTING

Landscape as a subject became moreimportant in the Tang. It was used as a

setting for narrative or historical paintings. What we see 1st, w/c is entirely wrong, isa single point in the journey beingportrayed at a single moment in time. Wesee it like we see a photograph.And bydoing so we miss the narrative--thecontinuity in time--that the paintingcontains..


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One of the mostpowerrful of Tanganimal sculptures is

the small whitemarble lion. Thepowerfulmusculature

&dynamic vigoradmirableexpressions of theTang vitality.

Most of these weremade of fired cla


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Paints,potteries,etc.


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Li Chao


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Longmen


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Yen Li-Pen


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WuTao-Tzu

India-China Contacts:Renewed and intensified(Vicky's report)

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