Download Chapter 16: China and Korea to 1279 Preview: In China, Neolithic

Chapter 16: China and Korea to 1279
Preview: In China, Neolithic pottery was produced as early as the fourth millennium BCE, after
which the history of Chinese and Korean art to 1279 is divided into periods according to powerful
ruling dynasties. The Chinese Shang dynasty ruled in the Bronze Age from ca. 1600-1050 BCE,
during which bronze-workers produced elaborate cast vessels. During the Zhou and Qin dynasties
of 1050-206 BCE, artists excelled in works of bronze, lacquer, and jade, and the famed terracotta
army of 6,000 soldiers was produced to guard the First Qin Emperor’s burial mound. China’s
territory expanded and trade increased during the Han dynasty of 206 BCE-220 CE, and Chinese
artists gained wide notoriety for painting on silk. During the Period of Disunity (220 to 581 CE),
the first Chinese images of Buddha were made, and Xie-He produced the six canons of Chinese
painting. Asian art entered a golden period under the Chinese Tang dynasty (618-907) and
Korea’s Unified Silla Kingdom (688-935), when artists excelled at figure painting and murals.
During the Song and Liao dynasties (960-1279), Chinese artists produced extremely refined
landscape paintings and erected the world’s tallest wooden building, the Foguang Si Pagoda, in
1056. From its early history to the 13th century, China emerged as a preeminent force on the world
stage, its cultural, social, and technological achievements virtually unparalleled. China has had an
enormous cultural influence upon its neighbors, including Korea; but Korea has played a
historically critical role as the cultural bridge between the Asian mainland and Japan, the focus of
Chapter 17.
Key Figures: Xie He, Yan Liben, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Gu Kaizhi
Key Cultural & Religious Terms: characters, Daoism, junzi, ren, lohan
Key Art Terms: silk, brocades, embroidery, porcelain, earthenware, stoneware, slip, glaze, guang,
lacquer, bi, jade, nephrite, terracotta, boshan, rubbing, iron-wire lines, hanging scrolls, handscrolls,
album leaves, fans, mandorla, lalitasana pose, meiping, graffito, celadon, maebyeong/meiping
Key Architectural Terms: pitched roof, projecting eave, beam, bracket, rafter, strut, purlin,
modules, pagoda, rotunda
Lecture Notes:
Introductory Notes:
CHINA
Neolithic Age:

Dates:
Yangshao Culture vases, from Gansu Province, China, mid-third millennium BCE
o Medium/materials:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Shang Dynasty and Sanxingdui:


Guang, probably from Anyang, China, Shang dynasty, 12th or 11th century BCE
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Description & subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Standing male figure, from pit 2, Sanxingdui, China, ca. 1200-1050 BCE
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Description & subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Zhou Dynasty:

Dates:
Army of the First Emperor of Qin in pits next to his burial mound, Lintong, China, Qin
dynasty, ca. 210 BCE
o Description:
o Architectural features:
o Sculptural features:
o Function & significance:
Han Dynasty:

Dates:
Bi disk with dragons, from Jincun (?), near Luoyang, China, Eastern Zhou dynasty, fourth to
third century BCE
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Description & subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Qin Dynasty:

Dates:
Dates:
Incense burner of Prince Liu Sheng, ca. 113 BCE
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Description & subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:


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The archer Yi(?) and a reception in a mansion, Wu family shrine, Jiaxing, China, Han
dynasty, 147-168 CE (rubbing of a stone relief)
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Description & subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Flying horse, from the tomb of Governor-General Zhang, Wuwei, China. Han dynasty, late
second century CE
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Description & subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Model of a house, Han dynasty, first century CE
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Description & subject:
o Architectural features:
o Function & significance:
Chinese raised beam construction (diagram)
o Structural elements & function:
Funeral banner, from tomb 1 (tomb of the marquise of Dai), Mawangdui, China, Han
dynasty, ca. 168 BCE
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Description & subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Period of Disunity:



Dates:
Shakyamuni Buddha, from Hebei Province, Later Zhao dynasty, Period of Disunity, 338
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Description & subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Attributed to Gu Kaizhi, Lady Feng and the Bear, detail of Admonitions of the Instructress to
the Court Ladies, Period of Disunity, late fourth century
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Description & subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Shakyamuni and Prabhutaratna, from Hebei Province, Northern Wei dynasty, 518

o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Description & subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Seated Buddha, cave 20, Yungang, ca. 460-470
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Description & subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Sui and Tang Dynasties:

Sui altarpiece with Amatabha and attendants, 593
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Description & subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:

Vairocana Buddha, disciples, and bodhisattvas, Fengxian Temple, Longmen Caves, Luoyang,
China, Tang dynasty, completed 676
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Description & subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Bodhisattva Guanyin, Dunhuang, late 9th or early 10th century
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Description & subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Foguang Si, Mount Wutai, ca. 857
o Description:
o Architectural features:
o Function & significance:



Paradise of Amitabha, cave 172, Dunhuang, China, Tang dynasty, mid-eighth century
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Description & subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:



Attributed to Yan Liben, Emperor Xuan and Attendants, detail of The Thirteen Emperors,
Tang dynasty, ca. 650
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Description & subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Palace ladies, detail of a wall painting, tomb of Princess Yongtai, Qianxian, China, Tang
dynasty, 706
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Description & subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Neighing horse, Tang dynasty, eighth to ninth century
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Description & subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Song and Liao Dynasties:


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
Fan Kuan, Travelers among Mountains and Streams, Northern Song period, early 11th
century
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Description & subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Attributed to Huizong, Auspicious Cranes, Northern Song period, 1112
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Description & subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Meiping vase, from Xiuwi, China, Northern Song period, 12th century
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Description & subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Bodhisattva Guanyin seated on Potalaka, 11th or early 12th century
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Description & subject:




o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
View and cross-section of Foguang Si Pagoda, Yingxian, China, Liao dynasty, 1056
o Description:
o Architectural features:
o Sculptural features:
o Function & significance:
Ma Yuan, On a Mountain Path in Spring, Southern Song period, early 13th century
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Description & subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Zhou Jichang, Lohans Giving Alms to Beggars, Southern Song period, ca. 1178
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Description & subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Lian Kai, Sixth Chan Patriarch Chopping Bamboo, Southern Song period, early 13th century
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Description & subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
KOREA
Three Kingdoms Period:


Crown, from the north mound of the Cheonmachong tomb (tomb 98), Hwangnam-dong,
near Gyeongju, Korea, Three Kingdoms Period, fifth to sixth century
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Description & subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Metitating Bodhisattva Maitreya, Three Kingdoms period, early seventh century CE
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Description & subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Unified Silla Kingdom:

Shakyamuni Buddha, in the rotunda of the cave temple, Seokguram, Korea, Unified Silla
Kingdom, 751-774
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Description & subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Goryeo Dynasty:

Maebyeong vase, Goryeo dynasty, 12th century
o Medium/materials:
o Size/scale:
o Description & subject:
o Stylistic features:
o Function & significance:
Concluding notes:
Exercises for Study:
1. How are the philosophies of Daoism and Confucianism manifested in Chinese art? Select an
artwork that reflects each philosophy and describe the Daoist and Confucian elements you
observe.
2. Describe Xie He’s Six Canons of Painting, and describe how Fan Kuan’s Travelers among
Mountains and Streams (Fig. 16-19) illustrates them.
3. Compare and contrast the following pairs of artworks, using the points of comparison as a
guide.
A. Shakyamuni Buddha, from Hebei Province, Later Zhao dynasty (Fig. 16-11); Meditating
Buddha, from Gandhara, Pakistan, second century CE (Fig. 15-11):
 Dates and locations:
 Stylistic features:
 Iconography:
B. Vairocana Buddha, disciples, and bodhisattvas, Fengxian Temple, Longmen Caves, Luoyang,
China (Fig. 16-14); Shakyamuni Buddha, in the rotunda of the cave temple, Seokguram, Korea (Fig.
16-28)
 Dates and locations:
 Representation of the Buddha:
 Technique for producing wall sculpture:
C. Foguang Si Pagoda, Yingxian, China (Fig. 16-22); Great Stupa, Sanchi, India (Fig. 15-7)
 Dates & locations:
 Religions:
 Architectural features:
 Function of the buildings in religious ritual: