Later Asian Art

album

A book consisting of a series of paintings or prints (album leaves).

wash

A diluted watercolor or ink. Washes may be applied to drawings or prints to add tone or touches of color.

cenotaph

A funerary monument commemorating an individual or group buried elsewhere.

finial

A knoblike architectural decoration usually found at the top point of a spire, pinnacle, canopy, or gable. Also found on furniture and ceremonial staffs.

handscroll

A long, narrow, horizontal painting and/or text common in Chinese and Japanese art and intended for individual use. A handscroll is stored wrapped tightly around a wooden pin and is unrolled for viewing or reading.

ink painting

A monochromatic style of painting developed in China using black ink with gray washes.

genre painting

A painting depicting a scene of everyday life, including (among others) domestic interiors and street scenes.

block printing

A printed image, such as a woodcut or wood engraving, made from a carved wooden block.

impression

A single print. Each and every impression of a print is by nature different, given the possibilities for variation inherent in the printing process, which requires the plate to be inked and wiped between every impression.

apprentice

A student artist or craftsperson in training.

literati painting

A style of painting that reflects the taste of the educated class of East Asian intellectuals and scholars. Aspects include an appreciation for the antique, small scale, and an intimate connection between maker and audience.

collage

A technique in which cutout paper forms (often painted or printed), and/or found materials, are pasted onto another surface. Also: an image created using this technique.

raku

A type of ceramic pottery made by hand, coated with a thick, dark glaze, and fired at a low heat. The resulting vessels are irregularly shaped and glazed and are highly prized for use in the Japanese tea ceremony.

porcelain

A type of extremely hard and fine white ceramic first made by Chinese potters in the eighth century CE. Made from a mixture of kaolin and petuntze, porcelain is fired at a very high temperature, and the final product has a translucent surface.

underglaze

Color or decoration applied to a ceramic piece before glazing.

connoisseur, connoisseurship

Evaluating art based on formal, visual, and stylistic analysis. A connoisseur studies the style and technique of an object to identify its maker and/or place of production by comparing it with other works of secure authorship and provenance.

hanging scroll

In Chinese and Japanese art, a vertically oriented painting or text mounted within sections of silk. At the top is a semicircular rod; at the bottom is a round dowel. Hanging scrolls are kept rolled and tied except for special occasions, when they are hung for display, contemplation, or commemoration.

shikhara

In the architecture of northern India, a conical (or pyramidal) structure creating the vertical focus of a Hindu temple.

gold leaf

Paper-thin sheets of hammered gold that are used in gilding.

fusuma

Sliding doors covered with paper, used in traditional Japanese construction. Fusuma are often highly decorated with paintings and colored backgrounds.

gilding

The application of paper-thin gold leaf or gold pigment to an object made from another medium.

colophon

The data placed at the end of a book or scroll indicating author or artist, publisher, illuminator, owners, and other information related to its production or collection.

key block

The master block in the production of a colored woodcut, which requires different blocks for each color. The key block is a flat piece of wood with the entire design carved or drawn on its surface. From this, other blocks with partial drawings are made for printing the areas of different colors.

atelier

The studio or workshop of a master artist or craftsperson, often including junior associates and apprentices.

middle ground

Within the depicted space of an artwork, the area that takes up the middle distance of the image.

joined

block sculpture - A method of constructing large-scale wooden sculpture developed in Japan. The entire work is constructed from smaller hollow blocks, each individually carved and assembled when complete. The joined-wood technique allowed the production of larger sculpture, as the multiple joints alleviate the problems of drying and cracking found with sculpture carved from a single block.

ukiyo

e - A Japanese term for a type of popular art that flourished from the sixteenth century, particularly in the form of color woodblock prints. Ukiyo-e prints often depicted the world of courtesans and actors, as well as landscapes and myths.