Chinese Art & Culture - Quiz 4

Scholar's Rock

Ming Dynasty - A decoration very popular in the Ming Dynasty, this rock is naturally occurring near lakes and was often put in gardens. It encourages contemplation, imagination, and meditation.

Covered Jar with Fish in Lotus Pond - Porcelain with underglaze and overglaze

Ming Dynasty - Ceramics are beginning to be glazed twice, it's influenced by prints and paintings with hard outlines

The David Vases - Porcelain

Ming Dynasty - Goes back to an older tradition of doing ceramics, it was unlike anything else being made at the time, it became a global status symbol.

Whirling Snow on the River Bank - Ink on Silk

Ming Dynasty - Lan Ying - Uses gongbi, a color washing technique. There's a unique emphasis placed on color. It's from the Zhe School, so there's a lot of axe stroke marks.

Oriole Writes a Letter to Scholar Zhang - Polychrome Woodblock Print

Ming Dynasty - Min Qiji - A love story about a young scholar who secretly marries his wife, must pass his exams. Shows how people really lived, with a clear division of space. Includes a scholar's rock. Evokes sense of hanging scroll.

The Meridian Gate

Ming Dynasty - Primary gate into the forbidden city

Zhao Mengfu Writing the Heart Sutra in Exchange for Tea - Ink and Light Color on Paper

Ming Dynasty - Qiu Ying - Shows Zhao Mengu selling his work for tea

Poet on a Mountaintop - Ink and Color on Paper

Ming Dynasty - Shen Zhou - A literati painting that Shen Zhou had made for a friend. Created in a sketchbook, has an asymmetrical composition, and is all about how he's feeling lonely and wanting a friend.

T'ao Ku Presents a Poem - Hanging Scroll

Ming Dynasty - T'ang Yin - From the book Gentlemen Playing a Lute, it depicts a love scene with a scholar and lady. The red burning candle burning between them represents love

The Lennard Cup - Porcelain Bowl with Silver Mounts

Ming Dynasty - This piece was brought to England to a silversmith, who made a mount for it. There's a cobalt blue landscape inside.

Living Aloft - Ink and Color on Paper

Ming Dynasty - Wen Zhengming - Reoccurring themes of loneliness, he wanted to retire by avoiding everyone.

Orchids - Ink on Paper

Ming Dynasty - Xue Wu - Woman painter who was a master painter, particularly of orchids, completed this on a handscroll.

Laozi Riding on a Water Buffalo - Ink and Color on Paper

Ming Dynasty - Zhang Lu - Laozi is the founder of daoism, depicts the story of him riding his bull to Western Land when he was 160 years old, and wrote the book of daoism on the way.

Yuho

Women painters in the Ming Dynasty

Wine Jar - Porcelain with copper red and cobalt blue underglazes

Yuan Dynasty - Blue designs on porcelain became very popular, the layering began to happen to make porcelain more colorful. If you hold porcelain up to the light and it shines through, it's real.

Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains - Ink on Paper

Yuan Dynasty - Huang Gongwang - One of the four great masters, he painted this image over the course of 3 years. Before he died, he made his nephew promise to burn it so that he could take it with him to the afterlife.

The Ronxi Studio - Ink on Paper

Yuan Dynasty - Ni Zan - One of the four great masters, Ni Zan lived on a house boat and paid for hospitality from friends with artwork - very literati. All of his paintings have no people or movement, and are meant to be very peaceful.

Autumn Colors on the Qiao and Hua Mountains - Ink and color on Paper

Yuan Dynasty - Zhao Mengfu - Took obvious influence from Tang and Northern Song landscape painting, it has atmospheric perspective, and the volume of stamps indicate it was a highly valued collectors item.