Cloisonne Vase Chinese, Ming Dynasty

The study of ancient Chinese art is attended by discouraging uncertainties. Only a few bronzes, jades, and possibly a small quantity of pottery, have survived to testify to the early development of art in China. To add to the difficulty, the exact dating of this material is at best only tentative. But whether the most ancient of these bronzes and jades are to be attributed to the Shang Dynasty (1766-1122 B. C.) or, with more probability, to the succeeding Chou Dynasty (1122-255), the technical skill which they display postulates so long a period of preparation that the origins of Chinese art must be referred to a past too remote for our present discernment. With the Han Dynasty (B. C. 206-221 A. D.), we find ourselves on surer ground, since many works of art of various kinds and materials, and unquestionably of this era, have come down to us. Not only bronzes and jades but also pottery and sculpture bear witness to the flourishing art of this period. During the Han Dynasty, probably in the first century of our era, Buddhism reached China from India. It does not appear, however, to have exerted much influence upon the arts until about the V century. The Han Dynasty was followed by a succession of shorter reigns known as the Three Kingdoms and the Six Dynasties.

Early in the VII century, the great house of T'ang (618-907) came to power, and for three hundred years held sway over a vast empire. It was the period of China's greatest external power; the period of her greatest poetry; and of her grandest and most vigorous, if not, perhaps, her most perfect art. The surviving works of art of this era are far from numerous, but they are sufficient to warrant the belief that China, except in the field of ceramic art, rarely if ever surpassed the achievements of this golden age. Chinese Buddhist sculpture attained its noblest development in the T'ang period. As to T'ang painting—unfortunately, surviving examples are of the utmost rarity—it is characterized by austere beauty and spiritual elevation. Admirable also are the productions of the metal worker, the weaver, and the potter.

A short period of half a century succeeded the fall of the T'ang Dynasty. We come then to another of the great periods of Chinese civilization, that of the Sung Dynasty (960-1280). From now on, surviving monuments permit us greater certainty in studying the continuous development of Chinese art. Under the Sung emperors we find a complex civilization marked by luxury of living, refinement and elegance of [pg 16] taste. These characteristics are reflected in the arts. Although religeous painting was largely practiced, Sung artists show a predilection for landscape and for subjects allied to landscape, such as birds and flowers. Exceptional qualities of poetic imagination, observation of nature and technical proficiency characterize these paintings. Achievements in the field of minor arts are conspicuous; in particular, we may note the productions of potters.

The Sung Dynasty was succeeded by that of the Mongol invaders who founded the Yuan Dynasty (1280-1368). With the art of this period, the decline begins. The Mongols were followed by a native dynasty, the Ming (1368-1644), under whom the art of porcelain making began to progress rapidly toward perfection. Ming paintings show an excessive refinement, an elegance that is not without its charm, but they lack the nobility and spirituality of the earlier periods. In the Ch'ing, or Manchu, Dynasty (1644-1912), under the Emperors K'ang Hsi and his grandson, Ch'ien Lung, the art of porcelain manufacture and decoration reached its apogee. Today, after forty centuries of liberal harvest, the art soil of China would seem to be sterile and abandoned.

THE CHINESE DYNASTIES

Shang Dynasty 1766-1122 B. C.
Chou Dynasty 1122-255 B. C.
Ch'in Dynasty 255-206 B. C.
Han Dynasty B. C. 206-221 A. D.
Three Kingdoms 221-265 A. D.
Six Dynasties 265-618 A. D.
T'ang Dynasty 618-907 A. D.
Five Dynasties 907-960 A. D.
Sung Dynasty 960-1280 A. D.
Yuan Dynasty 1280-1368 A. D.
Ming Dynasty 1368-1644 A. D.
Ch'ing Dynasty 1644-1912 A. D. K'ang Hsi (1662-1722)Yung Ch'eng (1723-1735)Ch'ien Lung (1736-1795)
K'ang Hsi (1662-1722)
Yung Ch'eng (1723-1735)
Ch'ien Lung (1736-1795)
Republic from 1912

[pg 17]

Horse's Head. Han Period