This document provides an overview of Chinese and Korean art before 1279 CE. It discusses the major Neolithic cultures in China like Yangshao and Lungshan and the development of painted and black pottery. The Bronze Age dynasties of Xia, Shang, and Zhou are covered along with the introduction of bronze casting. Key periods like the Warring States period, the Qin and Han dynasties, and the Six Dynasties period are summarized. Specific artworks like the Jade Cong, Fang Ding ritual vessel, and Painted Banner are highlighted. The document also discusses Buddhist art, Tang dynasty painting, Song dynasty landscape painting, and the Three Kingdoms period in Korea.

1. Emily Feng, Michelle Bellin, and Hannah Block
Chinese and Korean Art before 1279

2. • Agricultural based communities based
around rivers: Yellow, Yangzi, Xi
• Climate much wetter, with a variety of
animals in forests; hunting and gathering
prevalent
• Silk cultivation already developed in N.
China
• Yangshao in mountainous N/W China
develop Painted Pottery
• Lungshan in E. plains develop Black
Pottery: predecessor of later pottery
• Jade art used in E. provinces esp. by
Liangzhu
History of China: Neolithic cultures (4000-2000
BCE)
4,000 BC 0 CE 4000 CE 8000 CE 12,000 CE

3. Bowl, Yangshao
culture
• 5000-4000 BCE
• 7”
• Found in Banpo
• Shallow red bowl
• Marks along the rim may be evidence of first Chinese
writing
• Stylized fish – important part of villagers lives
• Face – someone worshipped for their skills
• Part of the Yangshao culture, which is one of the most
important painted pottery cultures of Neolithic China

4. Jade ring from
Liangzhu culture
2700-2500 BCE

5. Jade Cong
• Neolithic era
• Jade-working culture –
Liangzhu (3300 BCE)
– Intricate carvings
• Found buried in a large tomb
– Object of importance
• Used to contact spirit world
– Circle = heaven, square = earth,
hollow = axis connecting realms
• Low relief carvings depicting
combination of human and
animal features
– Supernatural beings, priests’
helpers or alter egos

6. • Transition between neolithic cultures and following Shang dynasty
• Largely regarded as mythic until excavations in 1928
• Evidence of bronze tools, communities, and tombs; largely agricultural
• Hereditary system of rule, lunar calendar system developed: jade and bronze
crafts refined
• Xia dynasty overthrown by Tang, leader of Shang tribe after corrupt and lazy
Jie
3 Bronze Age Dynasties: Xia (2000-1500 B.C)

7. Bronze Age Dynasties: the Shang (1700-1100)
• Ruled from Yellow River capitols; walled cities,
palaces, and large royal tombs found
• Society highly stratified; surrounded by rival or allied
states in constantly fighting atmosphere
• Refined bronze craft for art and weapons
• Very mystical, religious society; rulers claimed as
divine intermediaries between realms
• Religion fostered art forms and earliest writing
• Culture of ancestor and spirit worship, violence, and
grandeur in death and glittering court life
• Bronze vessels: 30 shapes form, some based on
animal forms
• Served ritual purposes, illustrate significance of
tombs
Ritual bronze vessel in shape of owl

8. Fang Ding
• 12th
century BCE
• Bronze, 24.5”, 240 lbs
• Found in royal tombs
near Shang capitals
–Largest Shang
recovered
• Large deer head on
each side, deer on
legs, birds, and
dragons

9. Bronze Age Dynasties: the Zhou (1100-221 BCE)
• Conquered Shang; feudal society est.
w/nobles ruling over small states underneath
king ruling under Mandate of Heaven
• 771 BCE defeated by western nomadic tribe;
new capitol est. in east but Eastern Zhou
dynasty much weaker
• States more independent; constant warfare
between states
• During Spring and Autumn period (722-481
BCE) 10-12 states merged into 7 powers
• Warring States period (481-221 BCE)
intrigue and ruthless conflict common
• In contrast, great philosophers arose: shift
from spiritual to human world

10. Bronze Bell
• Found in tomb of Marquis Yi
of Zeng
• 433 BCE
• Part of carillon of 65 bells
arranged in 25 ft formation
• Make two sounds (hit near
center or side)
– Music for rituals
communicating with
supernatural
• Taotie on front & back of
each bell
• Intricate due to lost-wax
casting

11. 1st Imperial Period: Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE)
• 1st semblance of empire; military campaigns unite
states under single emperor, Shihuangdi
• Obsessed with immortality, building mausoleum in
Shaanxi province until rebellion in 206 BCE that ends
dynasty
• 1974 mound over mausoleum unearthed; army of
terra cotta soldiers & horses discovered
• Harsh/repressive regime: laws based on legalism,
other schools of thought banned, enforced with
execution
• Central bureaucracy est, writing/coinage
standardized, roads built, Great Wall connected

12. The Great Wall of
China

13. Hadrian’s Wall

14. Han Dynasty (206 BCE -220 CE)
• Modified harsher aspects of Qin: adopted
vassal principalities and Confucian ideals
• Confucianism: human beings are
teachable, improvable and perfectible
through personal and communal endeavor
esp. through self-cultivation and self-
creation, submitting to life to achieve ren
and yi
• Peaceful/prosperous; Silk Road est. to Rome
• Period of intellectual & artistic revival:
paper, porcelain, clocks, astrological
instruments developed
• Shiji described court life and “barbarians”
• Civil service examination installed

15. Han Dynasty, cont.
• Era of military expansion: invaded N.
Vietnam pushed W/S, allowing for
secure travel
• Enforcement lax; tributary system est.
with intermarriage common
• Diplomacy expanded to Japan,
Korea, even Roman empire.
• Briefly disrupted by (Xin) intermediary;
regained power but corruption proved
to be end
• Disputes among court factions and
imperial consorts
• Devolved into age of civil war between
three dynasties (6 Dynasty period)

16. Painted Banner
• Found in tomb of
Marquess of Dai
• 160 BCE
• 6’ 8.5”
• Mythocentric age-
relationship with
supernatural
• Silk banner painted
scenes of the three levels
of universe
– Heaven, earth, underworld

17. Incense Burner
• 113 BCE
• Bronze with a gold inlay
• 26 cm
• Found in the tomb of Prince Liu
Sheng
• Depicts waves and mountainous
islands occupied by animals and
people who have discovered
immortality
• This piece represents the
development of bronze casting in
China
• Relates to Daoism, which
emphasizes the relationship
betweens humans and nature and
humans searching for immortality

18. Rubbing of a Stone Relief
• Wu family Shrine
• Two story building
–Women and men on
separate floors, visitors
have gifts, birds on roof
–Depicts homage to first
emperor of Han Dynasty
(hieratic scale)

19. Relief in Wu Family Shrine
compared to Han Dynasty Banner
• 300 year time difference
• Han Dynasty Banner
– Equal emphasis on heaven,
earth, and underworld
– Supernatural and divine are
more important than humans
• Wu Family Shrine
– Human realm
– Importance of emperor
– Social order

20. Architecture: Han Dynasty
• Much storied architecture, but
nothing remains except for clay
tomb models
• Favored multilevel construction
with bracketing system to support
tiled eaves
• Became standard for imperial
architecture
• Stories describe elaborate
painting to bring outdoors
indoors, perhaps inlaid with
precious materials

21. Angkor Wat Djoser’s step pyramid
Tympanum, Notre Dame
Cathedral

22. Six Dynasties (220- 581 CE)
• Split into three warring kingdoms (called Three Kingdoms period); 280 CE
briefly united until court fled south from invasions by nomadic tribes in central
Asia
• For next 3 centuries, N/S China developed independently:
• North= 16 kingdoms in constant warfare; thousands fled south
• South=six dynasties quickly came and went in constant turmoil during
Southern/Northern dynasties period (265-480 CE)
• Confucianism lost popularity to escapist Daoism; intellectuals sought
independent from society and government
• Militaristic and hierarchal society, but painting and calligraphy flourished + new
poetic styles

23. Painting
• Few survive from 6 Dynasties: most drawn from
literature
• Emphasized landscape paintings (Daoist
influence); could wander through landscape as
mental exercise and inspiration
• Spiritual, not just didactic, element to painting
• 6 Principles set out by scholar Xie He on painting:
• Capture “spirit” or “qi” in painting; contain
essence of things
• Brushwork= “bones,” primary structural element
of piece
• Each stroke= vehicle of expression, “spirit
consonance”

24. Detail of Admonitions of the Imperial Instructress to
Court Ladies

25. Admonitions of the Imperial Instructress
to Court Ladies
• Figures drawn with a brush in a thin line, even-
width line
•A few outlined areas were filled with color
•Facial features are well depicted
•Movements and emotions are shown through
conventions such as bands flowing from Lady
Feng’s dress, indicating she is rushing forward
-Upturned strings on both sides of the emperor’s
head suggest fear
•No setting- artist relies on careful placement of
figures to create a sense of depth

26. • Importance of brushstrokes shown in
calligraphy; revelaed character and
style of the writer
• Highest forms of expression
• Practiced by intellectual elite and
government officials
• most important calligrapher=
Wang Xizhu; surviving work in
Feng Ju album
• “Walking style;” fluid and
dynamic, done freely, mix
between formal and informal
Calligraphy (6 Dynasties
Period)

27. Sui Dynasty (581-617 CE)
• General from N. dynasties replaced child emperor, defeated
opposition and centralized China into Sui Dynasty
• Compared to Qin in cruelty and ruthlessness: tyrannical demands,
high taxes, compulsory labor (lots of building projects, including
renovation of Great Wall)
• Fell under through assassinations, rebellion, Korean invasions
• Strongly Buddhist; reached peak during Tang dynasty
Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE)
• High point; arts and literature flourished, civil service examination perfected,
drawing in talented gov. officials
• Block printing invented
• Expansion of territory
• Power ebbed 8th century from Arab defeats; Song dynasty emerges

29. Buddhist Art & Architecture
• Buddhism spread from
India during 5th cent. BCE
along Silk Road; popular in
North, then South during
tumultuous 6 Dynasties
Period
• 1st patron: Emperor Liang
Wu Di; built thousands
temples/monasteries built
• Almost none of this
remains; inferred from
Japanese temples based
off Chinese

30. Rock-cut Caves on the Silk Road
• 100s along trade routes carved
straight from cliffs; some caves
were spiritual retreats, home
for hidden temples/shrines
• Yungang in Shanxi contains
Seated Buddha
• Carved during late 5th
century during N. Wei
dynasty (short-lived, but
supported Buddhism)
• Long ears, ushnisha (bun),
pattern like pleats, strong body
and wide shoulders, and mask-
like face draw on Southeast
Asian art

31. Seated Buddha
• 460 CE
• Stone
• 45 ft.
• Located in the cave 20 of the
rock cut caves of the Silk Road
• Carved for a ruler of the Northern
Wei Dynasty
• Traditional attributes of Buddha
such as elongated ears and
monk’s robes.
• Full torso, mask like face, large
shoulders, and stylized drapery
show Central Asian influence

32. Altar to
Amitabha
Buddha
•New Sui emperor= devote Buddhist (593 CE)
•His reunification of China coincided with several
styles of Buddhist sculpture that had developed
•One of many Buddhas of Mahayana Buddhism
•Amitabha dwelled in Western Pure Land--
paradise where faithful followers were promised
rebirth
•Altar depicts him in his paradise
•Seated on lotus throne
•7 celestial nymphs sit on topmost clusters

33. Great Wild Goose Pagoda at Ci’en
Temple in Chang’an
-645 CE
-For famous monk Xuanzang on
his return from a 16-year
pilgrimage to India
-Pagoda originated in Indian
Buddhist stupa-- elaborate
burial mound that housed relics
of the Buddha
-Built entirely in masonry and
imitates the wooden
architecture of the time
Architecture -Pagoda still preserves
the essence of Tang
architecture in its
simplicity, symmetry,
proportions, and grace

34. Figure Painting in the Tang
Dynasty
• Very few scroll paintings survive; those that do are among the finest
• Many copied, much like Romans of Greek art
Detail of Ladies Preparing Newly Women Silk by Zhang Xuan (known for his depictions of women
at Tang court)
• Attributed to Emperor Huizong early 12th
century
• Long hand scroll in several sections; depicts activities of court women as they weave and iron
silk
• Original no longer exists-- don’t know if copy is faithful (but refined lines and bright colors share
grace and dignity of Tang sculpture and architecture

35. Song Dynasty (960-1279)
• United after brief period of turmoil; new capitol at Kaifeng
• Unlike Tang, much more introspective; weakened military
• 1126 Jurchen tribes from Manchuria invade, took control of N.
China
• Song retreated south to Hangzhou (S. Song)
• Territory decreased, but wealth flourished from
technology/artistic advances
• Cities developed as administration/cultural centers
• Wealthy group of merchants created
• Idea of “ideal man” inc. scholar, statesman, poet, artist
• Neo-Confucianism est.: infused w/Daoist and Buddhist thought
• Cleansing of impurities to have li reach Great Ultimate

36. Northern Song
Painting: Fan Kaun• Neo-Confucian ideas found visual expression in art,
esp. landscape
• Studied nature closely to master its many
appearances
• Passion for realistic detail was artist’s form of self-
cultivation: mastering outward forms showed an
understanding of principles behind them
• Balance of natural forces
• Not actual location
Travelers Among Mountains and Streams
• Fan Kaun- one of first great masters of Song
landscape
• Early 11th
century
• Whole painting conveys feeling of climbing a whole
mountain, leaving human world behind to come face
to face with Great Ultimate in spiritual communion
• All elements depicted with precise detail and in
proper scale

37. •Jagged brushstrokes describe contours of rocks and trees
•Express their rugged nature
•Contains realistic details, the landscape represents no specific place
•The landscape-a view of nature uncorrupted by human habitations
- expresses a kind of Daoist ideal
•Goal of Chinese painting: precisely avoid limits and show a totality
beyond what we are normally given to see
•Ideal of Western painters was to render what can be seen from a
fixed viewpoint
-Ideal of Chinese artists: reveal nature through a distant, all-seeing,
and mobile viewpoint
Travelers Among Mountains
and Streams Cont.

38. Xu Daoning
Section of Fishing in a
Mountain Stream
• Mid-11th
century
• Mobile Perspective-- can
follow along
•Starting from a thatched hut
in right foreground
•Follow path leads to broad,
open view of a deep vista
dissolving into distant mists
and mountain peaks

39. Zhang Zeduan
Spring Festival
on the River
Early 12th
century
•Domesticity-
everyday life
- industry and
busy
commerce

40. Xia Gui: Southern Song Art
Twelve Views from a Thatched
Hut
• Early 13th
century
• Landscape painting took very
different course
-Fall of the north and the
removal of court to its new
capital in the south
• Southern Song=refined style
• Interested in landscape and
cultivated his own style
• Intimate with ink
washes=simple
• Limited himself to few
essential details--> evokes a
deep feeling for what lies
beyond

41. Guan Pottery
• Most highly prized of many types of Song
ceramics
• Made mainly for imperial use
• 13th
century
• Guan Ware Vase
• High neck
-Show a strong sense of harmony
• Crackle pattern on glazed surface:
Cracked Glaze Technique
-Can sense the same spirit that hovers
behind the self-effacing virtuosity and
freely intuitive insights if Xia Gui’s
landscape

42. Korean Art: 3 Kingdoms Period
(57 BCE – 668 CE)
• Three independent nation
states est: Shilla (SE), Baekje
(SW), and Goguryeo (N) from
tribal leagues
• Most notable pieces are
large tomb mounds
• Highly sophisticated state
organizations based on
Confucian/Buddhist
hierarchal structures
• Dominated by tribal infighting
and conflict between three
states
• Flower of Youth Corps
est in Shilla (voluntary
military service)

43. Tomb Contents
Ceramics Golden Headdress

44. High-Fired Ceramics
•Important advancement at this time
•Most containers are for offerings of food placed in the
tomb to noutish the spirit of the deceased
-Similar to Chinese
•Generally unglazed stoneware-unaffected by liquids
•Most imposing-tall stands that were used to support
round-bottomed jars
-Long cylindrical shaft on a bulbous base
•Little surface ornamentation
•Some wave patterns or circles

45. Golden Headdress
An enduring monument of this period:
-Found in large tomb mounds
•Crowns were most spectacular items found
-Made specifically for burial
•Made from cut pieces of thin gold sheet and wire
•Comma-shaped ornaments of green and white jadeite
•Tall, branching forms resemble tees and antlers
•Appendages suggest wings or feathers
•Shows relationship with animals and natural world

46. Unified Silla Period (660-935
CE)
• 660 CE Silla
kingdom
conquered other
two with Tang
alliance
• Buddhism
flourishes; spate
of temple
building
• Period of
prosperity:
attempt to
create ideal
Buddhist state
Seated Shakyamuni
Buddha ( at
Seokguram)
moment of his
enlightenment
751 CE

47. CE)
• Court-centered governance: known
for courtly refinement and celadon
glazed pottery
• Celadon: high-fired, transparent
glaze of pale, bluish-green hue,
typically applied over a a pale gray
stoneware body
• Invented by Chinese potters
• Korean potters experimented with
such glazes
• Little decoration in 11th century
• Carved or molded decoration in
12th century- mimicked
contemporaneous Chinese
ceramics
-Inlaid decoration stamped into body
-Black and white slips create
contrasting colors

48. Buddhist Art in Ancient
Korea
•Buddhism introduced
into Goguryeo kingdom
from China in 372 and
into Baekje by 384
•Gained recognition as
official religion of Silla
state in 527
•At first, Buddhist art in
Korea was a mere
imitation of Chinese art
•But by late 6th century
Korean sculptors
created a style of their
own
•Most sumptuous
Buddhist works
produced during
Goryeo period were

49. Bodhisattva Seated in
Meditation
•Korean sculptors style illustrated by
magnificent gilt bronze image of a bodhisattva
seated in a meditation (17th century)
•Distinguished as Korean:
•Slender body
•Elliptical face
•Elegant drapery folds
•Tri-lobed crown

50. The Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara
•Late 14th century
•Buddhism enjoyed patronage under
Goryeo Dynasty
•Paintings were wrought in ink and
colors on silk
•Hanging scroll
•Luxurious taste of the period:
-Flesh tones used for its face and
hands
-Rich colors and gold pigment used
for the deity’s clothing

51. Bibliograph
y
• http://amityarthistory.blogspot.com/2010/03/chinese-and-korean-art-before-1279.html
• http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/?period=07&region=eak
• http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core9/phalsall/texts/chinarts.html
• http://amityarthistory.blogspot.com/2010/02/chinese-and-korean-art-after-1279.html
• http://www-chaos.umd.edu/history/time_line.html
• http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/ancient_china/neolithic.html
• http://www.asianinfo.org/asianinfo/korea/history.htm
• http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cneo/hd_cneo.htm
• http://www.chinatownconnection.com/china-black-pottery.htm
• http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/history/xia/
• http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1988.20.7