AH102 - Ole Miss - Exam #2 - Artwork
Liang Kai, Sixth Chan Patriarch Chopping Bamboo, Southern Song period, early 13th century
Chan Buddhism is the means of enlightenment within the individual, and direct personal experience with some ultimate reality is the necessary step to its achievement. Meditation is a critical practice. In fact, the word "Chan" is a translation of the Sanskrit word for meditation. The theme depicted is the Sixth Chan Patriarch's "Chan moment," when the chopping sound of his blade propelled the patriarch to enlightenment.
Huang Gongwang, Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains, Yuan dynasty, mid 14th century
Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains is a landscape painting. The format of the handscroll allows for multiple perspectives in the same painting, embracing the landscape's breadth and depth along the river and mountains as a continuous journey progressing through time and space. While landscape is a subject of both Chinese and western art, they differ in their respective approaches. Depicted in this handscroll is an idealized panorama of the Fuchun Mountains. Beginning with a vast expanse of river scenery at the right, the painting moves on to the mountains and hills, then back to areas of river and marsh that end with a conical peak. Finally the landscape ebbs out in the distant ink-wash hills over the water. A Chinese landscape is not a visual record of a particular day or a single view, but rather it captures the flow of traveling through changes in atmosphere and multiple perspectives. Academic painters were highly skilled craftsmen, who aimed to achieved marvelous effects through their use of colors, realistic or highly conventional representations of people or things. Literati painters, on the other hand, were amateurs and they painted as a means of self-expression.
Gu Kaizhi, Lady Feng and the Bear, detail of Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies, Period of Disunity, late fourth century
Gu Kaizhi was the most famous early Chinese painter with whom extant works can be associated. The hand-scroll records a well-known act of heroism, the Lady Feng saving her emperor's life by placing herself between him and an attacking bear. The theme is a perfect example of Confucian behavior. The format is handscroll, ink and colors on silk. The paintings significance is that it is one of the earliest examples of a Chinese hand scroll painting, and is renowned as one of the most famous Chinese paintings in the world. Xie He's 6 principles - get from canvas apply to lady fang iron wire lines - consistent width of line that is smooth and continuous - give sense of contour and stability More stamps means more prestigious (usually ownership stamps ) so would mean been passed down a lot
Guang, probably from Anyang, China, Shang dynasty, 12th or 11th century BCE
Guang was used in sacrifices to ancestors and in funerary ceremonies. Shang artists cast their elaborate bronze vessels in piece molds. Shang bronzes show a mastery in casting rivaling that of any other ancient civilization. The great numbers of cast-bronze vessels strongly suggest well-organized workshops. Shang bronzes held wine, water, grain, or meat for sacrificial rites. The animal forms, real and imaginary, on Shang bronzes are unlikely to have been purely decorative. They are probably connected with the world of spirits addressed in the rituals.
Attributed to Huizong, Auspicious Cranes, Northern Song period, 1112
He was an Emperor of the Song Dynasty. Huizong sponsored a great number of outstanding artists. He established an imperial painting academy to promote gongbi, or meticulous realism, in traditional Chinese painting. He also created the so-called "Slender Gold" style of calligraphy. The painting depicts an actual event that occurred at the capital and was witnessed by many residents. In his calligraphy he states - in the evening of that day, "auspicious clouds" suddenly formed in masses and descended about the main gate of the palace, illuminating it and a group of white cranes appeared hovering above the palace and two of them even calmly perched atop the ornamented roof ridge. Chinese regarded the 20 white cranes that appeared at Huizong's palace in 1112 as an auspicious sign and proof that Heaven had blessed Huizong's rule. The subject matter and architectural composition make this a textbook example of Song painting.
Shakyamuni Buddha in Sokkuram, Unified Silla Kingdom, 751-774
It is the Shakyamuni Buddha. He is seated in the lotus position of meditation—legs crossed at the ankles with the soles upward—his back is completely straight, He wears a simple, thin monk's robe that covers his left shoulder and arm and exposes the right. At the top of his head is a protuberance that is associated with his transcendent wisdom. His hair is shown as a mass of compact curls. His earlobes are elongated. The basic layout of the grotto includes an arched entrance which leads into a rectangular antechamber and then a narrow corridor, which is lined with bas-reliefs, and then finally leads into the main rotunda. The centerpiece of the granite sanctuary is a Buddha statue seated in the main chamber. The Buddha is surrounded by fifteen panels of bodhisattvas, arhats and ancient Indian gods in the rotunda and is accompanied by ten statues in niches along the rotunda wall. Forty different figures representing Buddhist principles and teachings are in the grotto. The grotto was built around these statues to protect them from weathering. Silla architects used symmetry and apparently employed the concept of the golden rectangle. The Seokguram grotto is said to have been built by Kim Daeseong
Shakyaumuni and Prabhutaratna, Northern Wei dynasty, 518 CE
It represents the meeting of Shakyamuni Buddha and Prabhutaratna. They are identified because they mirror one another The episode depicted is when Shakyamuni was preaching on Vulture Peak, Prabhutaratna's stupa miraculously appeared in the sky. Shakyamuni opened it and revealed Prabhutaratna himself, who had promised to be present whenever the Lotus Law was preached. Shakyamuni sat beside him and continued to expound the law. The meeting of the two Buddhas symbolized the continuity of Buddhist thought across the ages. Prabhutaratna = buddha of the past, body in stupa vowed to appear when lotus sutra preached when Shakyamuni preached he appeared. Its artistic significance is that it is considered the best sutra of all time.
Crown, Hwangnamdong tomb near Kyongju, Three Kingdoms period, fifth to sixth century
It was discovered in the region of Kyongju ("City of Gold") in a tomb at Hwangnamdong. Although their fragile gold construction initially led some to believe that these crowns were made specifically for burial, recent research has revealed that they were also used in ceremonial rites of the Silla royalty during the Three Kingdoms Period. Prior to the adoption of Buddhism, Koreans practiced shamanism, which is a kind of nature worship that requires the expertise of a priest-like figure, or shaman, who intercedes to alleviate problems facing the community. Silla royalty upheld shamanistic practices in ceremonial rites such as coronations and memorial services. In these sacred rituals, the gold crowns emphasized the power of the wearer through their precious materials and natural imagery.
Chong Son, Kumgang Mountains, Choson dynasty, 1734
Kumgang Mountains mean diamond mountains in Korea. Chong Son evoked a real scene, an approach known in Korea as "true view" painting. He used sharper, darker versions of the fibrous brush strokes that most Chinese literati favored in order to represent the bright crystalline appearance of the mountains and to emphasize their spiky forms.
Ma Yuan, On a Mountain Path in Spring, Southern Song, early 13th century
Landscape paintings such as this one are perfect embodiments of the Chinese ideals of peace and unity with nature. It is significant because Ma Yuan was the master of one corner composition and his perspective of empty space. Ma Yuan is considered to be one of the greatest artists of the Southern Song dynasty.
Guan Daosheng, Bamboo Groves in Mist and Rain, Yuan dynasty, early 14th century
Literati painting is the ideal form of the Chinese scholar-painter who was more interested in personal erudition and expression than in literal representation or an immediately attractive surface beauty. The aim of these artists was not to depict nature realistically—that could be left to the professionals—but to express themselves, to "satisfy the heart." They spoke of merely "borrowing" the literal shapes and forms of things as a vehicle through which they could "lodge" their thoughts and feelings.
Shang Xi, Guan Yu Captures General Pang De, Ming dynasty, ca. 1430
Shang Xi represents an episode from the tumultuous third century, whose wars inspired one of the first great Chinese novels, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Guan Yu was a famed general of the Wei dynasty (220-280) and a fictional hero in the novel. The painting depicts the historical Guan Yu, renowned for his loyalty to his emperor and his military valor, being presented with the captured enemy general Pang De. In his painting, Shang Xi used color to focus attention on Guan Yu and his attendants, who stand out sharply from the ink landscape. He also contrasted the victors' armor and bright garments with the vulnerability of the captive, who has been stripped almost naked, further heightening his humiliation.
Paradise of Amitabha, Dunhuang, Tang dynasty, mid-eighth century.
The 'Caves of the Thousand Buddhas' also known as Mogao, are located in the desert of Dunhuang in north western China. The area became a busy desert crossroads on the caravan routes of the Silk Road linking China and the West. Traders, pilgrims and other travellers stopped at the oasis town to secure provisions, pray for the journey ahead or give thanks for their survival. The Buddha represented is Amitabha, Buddha of the West or of Infinite light. Amitabha's is often shown him seated in meditation holding an alms bowl with both hands. He was popular during the Tang Dynasty because simply saying the name of Amitabha Buddha was sufficient for salvation. The theme of this work is to help people visualize the wonders of the Pure Land Paradise promised to those who had faith in Amitabha.
Shakyamuni Buddha, Period of Disunity, 338 CE
The Buddha as golden and radiating light, characteristics that no doubt account for the choice of gilded bronze as the sculptor's medium. In both style and iconography, this early Buddha resembles the prototype conceived and developed at Gandhara (FIG. 1-10). The Chinese figure recalls its presumed South Asian models in the flat, relieflike handling of the robe's heavy concentric folds, the ushnisha (cranial bump) on the head, and the crosslegged position. So new were the icon and its meaning, however, that the Chinese sculptor misrepresented the canonical dhyana mudra, or meditation gesture (see "Buddhism and Buddhist Iconography," Chapter 1, page 13). Here, the Buddha clasps his hands across his stomach. In South Asian art, they are turned palms upward, with thumbs barely touching in front of the torso. Buddhism first took root in China during the Han dynasty. Certain practices shared with Daoism, such as withdrawal from ordinary society, helped Buddhism gain an initial foothold in the north. But, Buddhism's promise of hope beyond the troubles of this world earned it an ever broader audience.
Vairocana Buddha, disciples, and bodhisattvas, Longmen caves, Tang dynasty, completed 678 CE
The Buddha is the Vairocana Buddha, the Mahayana Cosmic Buddha, the Buddha of Boundless Space and Time. He can be identified as the Vairocana Buddha because he is shown seated in meditation and he is much larger than the others around him. Flanking him are two of his monks, attendant bodhisattvas, and guardian figures. Bodhisattvas are a person who is able to reach nirvana but delays doing so out of compassion in order to save suffering from other beings. The empress Wu Zetian provided the cost to build the caves with her private funds. This idea—of the power of one supreme deity over all the others—resonated in the vast Tang Empire which was dominated by the Emperor at its summit and supported by his subordinate officials. These monumental sculptures intentionally mirrored the political situation.
The Forbidden City, Beijing, Ming dynasty, 15th century and later
The Ming builders laid out Beijing as three nested walled cities. The outer perimeter wall was 15 miles long and enclosed the walled Imperial City, with a perimeter of 6 miles, and the vast imperial palace compound, the moated Forbidden City was so named because of the highly restricted access to it. The layout of the Forbidden City provided the perfect setting for the elaborate ritual of the imperial court. For example, the entrance gateway, the Noon Gate (in the foreground in the aerial view) has five portals. Only the emperor could walk through the central doorway. The two entrances to its left and right were reserved for the imperial family and high officials. Others had to use the outermost passageways. More gates and a series of courtyards and imposing buildings, all erected using the traditional Chinese bracketing system led eventually to the Hall of Supreme Harmony, perched on an immense platform above marble staircases, the climax of a long north-south axis. ince the Forbidden City is a ceremonial, ritual and living space, the architects who designed its layout followed the ideal cosmic order in Confucian ideology that had held Chinese social structure together for centuries. This layout ensured that all activities within this micro-city were conducted in the manner appropriate to the participants' social and familial roles. All activities, such as imperial court ceremonies or life-cycle rituals, would take place in sophisticated palaces depending on the events' characteristics. Similarly, the court determined the occupants of the Forbidden City strictly according to their positions in the imperial family.
Funeral banner, from tomb 1 (tomb of the Marquise of Dai), Mawangdui, China, Han dynasty, ca. 168 BCE
This T-shaped silk banner was draped over the coffin of the Marquise of Dai, who is shown at the center awaiting her ascent to immortality in Heaven, the realm of the red sun and silvery moon. Scholars generally agree that the area within the cross at the top of the T represents Heaven. Most of the vertical section below is the human realm. At the very bottom is the Underworld. It is probably the Marquise of Dai herself as she awaits her ascent to Heaven, where she can attain immortality.
Army of the First Emperor of Qin, Qin dynasty, ca. 210 BCE
This is the tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi. His name means "first emperor of China". By sometimes brutal methods, the First Emperor consolidated rule through a centralized bureaucracy and adopted standardized written language, weights and measures, and coinage. He also repressed schools of thought other than Legalism, which espoused absolute obedience to the state's authority and advocated strict laws and punishments. The terracotta army served as the First Emperor's bodyguard deployed in perpetuity outside his tomb. The First Emperor was buried beneath an immense mound guarded by more than 6,000 life-size terra-cotta soldiers for protection in the after-life. Although produced from common molds, every figure has an individualized appearance.
