Tang dynasty painting

Night Shining White, a handscroll attributed to Han Gan (active 742–756)

Spring Outing of the Tang Court, by Zhang Xuan (713－755 AD)

Court Ladies Playing Double-sixes. Attributed to Zhou Fang. 8th century

During the Tang dynasty, as a golden age in Chinese civilization, Chinese painting developed dramatically, both in subject matter and technique.The advancements in depth, technique, style, intricacy, complexity, and sophistication that characterized the paintings of the Tang era. This dramatic development was a consequence of the era’s embrace of openness and exploration into novel materials and techniques, contributing to new styles in landscape painting. Literature on art, in addition to the increase in the range of colors, added to the development of painting, widening the artistic imagination. However, this flourishing would not be possible without the interest and investment of the Tang court as it played a key role in bringing together painters from across the empire. The court lent tremendous support to the painters, thanks to which, they could devote their time and energy to mastering skills, experimenting with forms and styles, and mastering the painting skills. Subsequently, figure painting flourished for the first time. As the empire increased its contact with the external world, painters from all over East Asia started exchanging their ideas with Chinese painters. The court painters became more imaginative and creative, giving a new direction to landscape painting. As a result, the Tang era had an everlasting influence influence on Central and East Asian art.

The court painters played a key role in defining female beauty uniquely, through their paintings, especially “the court lady paintings”. Zhang Xuan and Zhou Fang were two key court painters dedicated to paying court ladies, nonetheless, their overall contribution to the style of painting was significant. Just by looking at their court paintings, one can imagine the ambience and the environment of the Tang court. Though the pioneer of Chinese court lady paintings was Mao Yanshou from the Han dynasty, the Tang dynasty gave the painting a different style by fusing Central Plain values with Central Asian values, reconceptualizing female beauty that went beyond canvases, to tomb murals, poems, and statuettes.

A considerable amount of literary and documentary information about Tang painting has survived, but very few works, especially of the highest quality. A walled-up cave in the Mogao Caves complex at Dunhuang was discovered by Sir Aurel Stein, which contained a vast haul, mostly of Buddhist writings, but also some banners and paintings, making much the largest group of paintings on silk to survive. These are now in the British Museum and elsewhere. They are not of court quality, but show a variety of styles, including those with influences from further west. As with sculpture, other survivals showing Tang style are in Japan, though the most important, at Nara, was very largely destroyed in a fire in 1949.

The rock-cut cave complexes and royal tombs also contain many wall-paintings. Court painting mostly survives in what are certainly or arguably copies from much later, though the front section of the famous portrait of the Emperor Xuanzong's horse Night-Shining White is probably an original by Han Kan of 740-760.

The Tang dynasty saw the maturity of the landscape painting tradition known as shanshui (mountain-water) painting, which became the most prestigious type of Chinese painting, especially when practiced by amateur scholar-official or "literati" painters in ink-wash painting. In these landscapes, usually monochromatic and sparse, the purpose was not to reproduce exactly the appearance of nature but rather to grasp an emotion or atmosphere so as to catch the "rhythm" of nature. The long-lasting tradition of the Southern School began in this period.

Early period

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From left to right:
(1) Buddhist art depicting musicians in paradise, a mural from the Yulin Caves of Dunhuang, Tang dynasty
(2) an armed cortege, mural from the tomb of Li Xian at the Qianling Mausoleum, early 8th century AD
(3) painting on a silk scroll of a female dancer from the Astana Cemetery of Gaochang (Turpan), c. 702 AD
(4) female figure as the planet Venus from the painting "Tejaprabhā Buddha and the Five Planets" (熾盛光佛並五星圖), depicted as playing the pipa, c. 897 AD

During the early Tang period, the painting style was mainly inherited from the previous Sui dynasty. In this period, the "painting of people" (人物畫) developed greatly. Buddhist painting and "court painting" played a major role, including paintings of the Buddha, monks, nobles etc.

The Tang era, in terms of painting, was markedly characterized by the production of murals.One of the first landscape murals is located in Han Xiu's tomb.Tang murals have been found in several places, including Xinjiang. Nevertheless, most murals produced in this period are in Dunhuang where they are preserved in the best way possible. These murals, indeed, were created for the sake of aestheticism but a careful study into them has demonstrated that they are a window into history. Foreign influence is quite explicit in them, and the influence is not only limited to form and style; even the content has foreign influence, revealing the elevated interest in foreign arts and ideas. The Tang court was eager to explore foreign arts and paintings, inviting foreign painters as well as sending its own painters across borders. The influence can be seen in murals depicting and dedicated to Chinese Buddhism. This is an influence to the art form. As far as contents are concerned, the Scriptural stories have overpowered Jataka stories, substantiated by the fact that all the walls of numerous grottoes are engulfed in enriching and complex Scriptural stories. There are large-scale scenes—one of the most appreciated and talked about is “The Western Pure Land,” present in over 100 murals in the grottoes. This scene has the most obvious and sacred connection with “Pure Land,” a Buddhist sect, nevertheless, it is not the only popular scene about Buddhism—there is another scene depicting a Buddhist paradise, religiously known as the “Happiest Land in the West,” which is one of the most elaborate scenes, enriching the mural with meaningful symbols and figures.

One of the most marked features of the religious murals from this period is that individuals who financially supported those murals emphasized in one way or another even though they are placed apart from the primary theme.Furthermore, the Tang dynasty was prosperous also in terms of developing and promoting Chinese tomb murals. The techniques deployed for the construction of tombs were quite mature and sophisticated, capable of leaving behind a treasure trove of valuable tomb paintings. The social and religious significance of tomb murals was their symbolic capacity to turn divine space into real space. Before the Tang dynasty, tombs were treated to be extremely divine and auspicious, far removed from the concept of real space. In contrast, the Tang dynasty started treating even earlier tombs as a foundation to experiment with new forms and styles of paintings. The walls of Princess Changle’s tomb are decorated with a white tiger, honor guard, and a green dragon, among others.

Brothers Yan Liben (閻立本) and Yan Lide (閻立德) were among the most prolific painters of this period. Yan Liben was the personal portraitist to the Emperor Taizong, and his most notable works include the Thirteen Emperors Scroll (歷代帝王圖).The art and painting of this period were also marked by the foreign influences. The Chinese imagination has always been enriched by the regions lying to China’s north and west. As the Tang empire grew in the seventh century, the government was required to gain extensive and in-depth knowledge and information about Central Asia, sending several emissaries to distant places, including Samarkand and Tokhara to understand arts and culture and draw maps of those places. In his journey to India with the Monk Wang Hsuan-tse, Sung Fa-chich, who was a craftsman drew pictures of popular icons, while a Khotanese painter, known by the name Wci-ch’ih Po-chih-na, painted foreign lands as well as Buddhist subjects when he visited the court of Sui Wen-ti.

Mid and Late period

The landscape (shan shui) painting technique developed quickly in this period and reached its first maturation. Li Sixun (李思訓) and Li Zhaodao (李昭道) (father and son) were the most famous painters in this domain. During this time painters overcame the basics of depth perception and utilizing the area being painted. This allowed the artists to depict a more realistic appearance to the landscape paintings.

The painting of people also reached a climax. The outstanding master in this field is Wu Daozi (吳道子), who is referred to as the "Sage of Painting". Wu's works include God Sending a Son (天王送子圖). Wu created a new technique of drawing named "Drawing of Water Shield" (蒓菜描). Most Tang artists outlined figures with fine black lines and used brilliant color and elaborate detail filling in the outlines. However, Wu Daozi used only black ink and freely painted brushstrokes to create ink paintings that were so exciting that crowds gathered to watch him work. From his time on, ink paintings were no longer thought to be preliminary sketches or outlines to be filled in with color. Instead, they were valued as finished works of art.

Zhou Fang (周昉) followed from the genius of Wu Daozi, his contemporary. Zhou painted for the Emperor, the themes of his artwork would cover religious subjects and everyday life. He created paintings that represented goddesses who were modeled after imperial court ladies, a development that indicated religious painting was to become more realistic, and that secular painting was beginning to take on its initial form. His portrait paintings emphasized real life, and as forerunners of secular lady paintings, they had a big influence on later paintings of court ladies.

The great poet Wang Wei (王維) first created the brush and ink painting of shan-shui, literally "mountains and waters" (水墨山水畫). He further combined literature, especially poetry, with painting. The use of line in painting became much more calligraphic than in the early period.

The theory of painting also developed, and Buddhism, Taoism, and traditional literature were absorbed and combined into painting. Paintings on architectural structures, such as murals (壁畫), ceiling paintings, cave paintings, and tomb paintings, were very popular. An example is the paintings in the Mogao Caves in Xinjiang during this period. The richness and extravagance of Tang tomb murals started getting revealed only with the beginning of their archaeological discoveries, otherwise, the study of the Tang dynasty art relied solely on attributed works in museums and the availability of copious Buddhist murals in the Dunhuang Cave Temples in Gansu. These murals are found to have been severely limited in scope and originality. In contrast, the excavated wall paintings are original and located in the ancient Tang capital of Zhangan while being dated securely. These tomb paintings have allowed in-depth analysis, as the burial date and the occupant’s identity are available as stone epitaphs.

In the Xian regions, wall paintings in the tombs span almost over three centuries, from the early seventh to the late ninth but in terms of quality, murals from the early Tang are in better condition. Moreover, murals from the tombs of the Tang royal family members, particularly Prince Zhang Huai, Princess Yong Tai, and Prince Yi De, are of the best quality in a huge number.

Court Ladies Preparing Newly Woven Silk, originally by Zhang Xuan, reproduced by Emperor Huizong of Song

Global impact of Tang Dynasty Paintings

Tang dynasty ceramics were products as well as a medium for the dynasty to spread its paintings, arts, and culture. The ceramics were hugely popular for their intricate paintings made using a number of techniques, including engraving and line drawing, wherein, flowers, animals, and people were the most common motifs, with a sharp focus on simple, natural, and elegant expression, all of which reflected society, culture, and aesthetic sensibility of the Tang dynasty.

Cultural exchanges with foreign countries enriched the Tang Dynasty with ceramic techniques like firewood kilns and various colors glaze, enhancing their craftsmanship, while on the other hand, overseas ceramics production, including Central Asian glassware, was inspired to be more ornamental and technically sound. Countries along the Silk Road enriched the Tang dynasty with arts and ideas that could be incorporated into ceramic paintings. On the one hand, it imbibed Persian and Central Asian artistic elements, and on the other, it used those elements in its ceramic paintings to spread Chinese arts and painting styles to different parts of the world.

The Tang dynasty tomb murals have, in the present time, enriched the study of the creation and transformation of space since these murals have unique spatiality in physical space as well as in images and symbols. Images on the walls, metaphorically, create virtual spaces, apart from the real world, maintaining, however, the metaphysical bridge for the viewer to connect to these virtual spaces without the tangible feeling of separation.

See also

• Chinese art
• Tang dynasty art

References

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