A historical landscape of Chinese Art

The history of art in China has a long span stretching far beyond the birth of Christ and the Roman Empire in Western civilization. Ancient paintings have been traced as far back as 4000 years BC which gives us an incredible span of 6000 years of Chinese art up to the modern era. To truly understand how immense this time span is we touch upon the art of the Roman Empire as a point of reference in time. Just to put things into perspective for my readers the most famous Chinese writer known to Western society is Confucius but most people do not seem to stop and think that Confucius is said to have lived in between the years 551 - 479 BC. Long before the Battle of Marathon where 10,000 immortal Athenians stood with 1000 Plataeans under the leadership of Miltiades the Younger and fought against 26,000 Persians headed by Darius I, China was already maturing as a civilization with it's arts and literature. During what is now known as the Spring and Autumn Period of Chinese history, Confucius flourished as a teacher, writer, scholar and politician expounding the virtues of traditional Chinese life best summed up through his belief that "one should not do to others what one would not do to oneself". Casting our perspective back even further in time we note that Confucius is acclaimed with having organized the Chinese classic texts including the Five Classics of pre-Qin Era literature consisting of: 'The Classic of Poetry' - a collection of some 305 poems, 'Book of Documents' - Chinese prose works of the 6th Cent BC, 'Book of Rites' - a description of social order and court ceremony, 'I Ching' - a divination system and 'Spring and Autumn Annals' - a historical record of the state of Lu through the period 721 - 481 BC, being the native state of Confucius himself. 

Thus, long before Alexander the Great, Jesus Christ and Octavius Caesar, the civilization of China flourished with a world of literature and art. This is the enormous span of ancient Chinese history that geographically more or less covers the same territory of modern China today can be best summed up as follows:

1. Western Zhou dynasty, ca. 1046–771 BC.

2. Eastern Zhou dynasty, 771–256 BC.

3. Spring and Autumn period, 770–ca. 475 BC.

4. Warring States period, ca. 475–221 BC.

5. Qin dynasty, 221–206 BC.

6. Western Han dynasty, 206 BC.–9 AD.

Thus the lives of Jesus Christ and Octavius Augustus of Rome would be seen to flourish at the same time the Western Han dynasty of China was drawing to a close and to be followed by the Later Han Period, the Six Dynasties and so on up to the Tang Dynasty of 618 - 906 AD which coincides with the fall of Rome and the dark Ages in Europe.

Whilst Rome was creating beautiful floor and wall mosaics and wall paintings as can be seen in the Roman ruins of Pompeii which was obliterated by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, The Chinese already had a long history of paintings and sculptures as can be seen for example in the famous Terra Cotta armies depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China who was buried in 210–209 BC.

All the terracotta figures are life-sized and possess such fine details of uniform, and hairstyle in accordance with the rank of the figure and most hold real weapons of spear, sword, or crossbow.  The Terracotta Army totals more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and a total of 150 cavalry horses.

Altogether historians can identify a span of about 900 years of Roman art up to the sack of Rome in 476 AD. 

The distinction between Roman art and Chinese art of this same period is distinct. Rome borrowed from ancient Greece the art form of stone sculpture and added frescoes and murals and decorative art of pottery. The Romans today are widely remembered for their marble sculptures and wall frescoes. Where the Romans mostly used the fresco technique of applying various pigments to fresh wall and ceiling or floor plaster with limestone chippings, the Chinese in contrast developed the medium of handscrolls and silks with the application of ink wash  techniques. Sine the use of plaster dictates how a fresco was to be made a painting would have to be planned according to the time of drying for each section of the wall. Plaster dries very quickly and so Roman artists would have to paint section by section as the plaster was laid. The Roman artist, by contrast, would not be able to cover and entire wall with pigments and then develop the main subject matter in an organic fashion as a whole. Roman frescoes were developed wall section by section contrasting to Chinese applications of ink wash over an entire surface area. However. Roman wall frescoes were very durable in time as can be illustrated below with a surviving fragment of a wall fresco in spite of the infamous Vesuvius eruption that leveled the coastal holiday town of Pompeii in 79 AD.

Roman wall fresco of a baker couple at Pompeii c. 79 AD.

Again from the devastation of Pompei the following beautiful wall paintings have survived to this day:

and once again:

Incredible it would seem that such beautiful wall paintings could survive the shock of a volcanic blast in 79 AD. But where the forces of  nature could not destroy the art of the Roman Empire, that finality was left to the hordes of barbarian tribes that sacked Rome in 479 AD and eclipsed its art culture for the next 500 years.

In terms of the Chinese technique of painting the medium and range of subject matter of decoration was more diverse in historical development than at Rome. Of course China had its own misfortunes with the arrival of Mongols in the 13th century AD; but its art continued to thrive whereas in Rome all art came to a complete and utter standstill of ruin. From sculpture to pottery and bronze working, to ceramics, and paintings on silk and scroll, Chinese are has had a rich diversification from a very early period in the story of it's civilization and art forms. Whilst in Roman society of the time artists were fond of adorning walls with frescoes on plaster, the Chinese developed paint brush and ink techniques with the expression yu pi yu meaning to have brush and to have ink. the intricacy of Chinese art very quickly developed into a philosophy of painting at about the same time of the Roman Empire. Different types of brush evolved to complete different types of strokes:

Essentially the main 3 types of paint brush:

    1. Hsieh chao pi: Crab claw brush in large and small sizes
    2. Hua jan pi: brush for painting flowers
    3. Lan yu chu pi: brush for painting orchids and bamboo
 
and for calligraphy art:

    1.T’u hao pi: rabbit's hair brush
    2.Hu ying pi: Hunan sheep's hair brush

Paper was made from wood pulp and the finest silk from the silkworm.

With Confucian philosophy at the heart of the Chinese social structure an emphasis evolved for ceremony and ritual in the organization of public affairs. In all aspects of society from Court traditions to military and public administrative functions, rigid precepts of conduct held together the fabric of society and it's art reflected the depth of such organization. The following painting below emphasized the Confucian philosophy of the organization of the family unit extending upwards through the social strata to the Emperor. The section of painting below is part of a section titled 'Admonitions of the Instructress to the Palace Ladies' and is a wonderful handscroll, ink and color on silk made by the Chinese artist Gu Kaizhi c. 344 - 405 AD.

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The Chinese artist Gu Kaizhi had started his life as a young royal officer and then subsequently went on to write 3 treatise on painting: On Painting, Introduction of Famous Paintings of Wei and Jin Dynasties and Painting Yuntai Mountain. The Admonitions scroll was originally in a total of 9 pieces. This section piece above is not the original which is lost, but is a Tang Dynasty copy c. 6th cent AD thought to be section #4/ 9. The first 3 sections are missing. this section is held at the British Museum. To draw a comparison of the life of the artist Gu Kaizhi we would have to draw upon the period in Rome  which covers the reign of the following Emperors in the West being: Constantius II regit 337-361 AD, Theodosius I 379-395AD and Arcadius 400-404 AD who all had to deal with frontier unrest and Barbarian incursions in a period of Western history synonymous with the beginning of the end of Rome.

Rome had come and gone and yet in the East, China would still prosper as the shades are drawn and the West descends into the dark night of chaos.

Riders on horseback, from a wall painting in the tomb of Lou Rui at Taiyuan, Shanxi province, China, dated back to the Northern Qi Dynasty (550–577 AD) almost 80 years after the Last Roman Emperor Romulus Augustus faded away into historical obscurity in 475-476AD with the sack of Rome and end of Western Christendom.

As Europe descended into the Dark Ages Chinese artists flourished. Set below is the ink on scroll - "Strolling About in Spring" by the artist Zhan Ziqian, who flourished during the Sui Dynasty (581–618).

Once again below Chinese social order and ceremony illustrating the organization of a society that had its own fair share of political upheavals and yet managed to outlast the Roman civilization of the West. In the painting below the Confucian philosophy is once again the dominant backdrop in this portrayal of court ceremony and the EmperorTang Xuanzong by the Chinese artist that is known today as Ren Renfa, a government official of the 13th century AD. National Palace Museum Bejing.

On a  lighter note the foibles of man and government officials would also appear through artistic form. Here, Han Xizai Gives A Night Banquet- Gu Hongzhong b. 937 d.975. Painted scroll of minister of Li Yu by famous artist Gu during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period of Chinese history. The subject was known to miss his morning meetings with the Emperor due to frequent night revelry and banquets. The original is lost. this piece is a remake 12th-century during the subsequent Song Dynasty (960–1279). National Palace Museum Bejing.

Thus the historical 'Silk Road' trade route, which not only brought goods and services from the East to the West, would endear us to the memory of a fine panorama of sculpture and painting across an enormous span of time.

Chinese landscape painting eventually became the highest form of painting. Above we see a painting by the artist Ma Lin c. 1246 AD. which is a typical ink and color on silk painting. The painting above is titled: Ma Lin, Quietly Listening to Wind in the Pines Ink and color on silk. National Palace Museum, 1246. Thus long after the destruction of Rome in the West, Chinese art continued to flourish to the present day.

A brief illustration of Chinese Art by Pieter Bergli



For my readers that enjoy a cafe and something to read please turn to my other blog -

http://thegenteelworldofcoffee.blogspot.com/

and of course for lovers of art

https://www.pinterest.com/myartmusings/

 
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