Handbook of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts Part 3

After the death of Hideyos.h.i.+ in 1602, Iyeyasu founded the Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-1867). During the long "Tokugawa peace" various schools of art developed. Koetsu (d. 1637) and his great followers, Sotatsu (middle XVIII century) and Korin (d. 1716), established the so-called Korin school, seeking to combine the rich coloring of pre-As.h.i.+kaga days with the bold treatment of the Zen school. Kano Tanyu and his followers attempted to return to the purity of the As.h.i.+kaga masters, but met with only partial success. Patronage was largely in the hands of a prosperous middle cla.s.s who demanded something more easily understood than the aristocratic art of the earlier periods. To meet this demand a more democratic school arose, and many gifted artists through their paintings of popular festivals and other familiar scenes prepared the way for the Ukiyo-e, or school of common life. Under the inspiration of this popular school, the art of printing in colors from wood blocks was brought to a high state of perfection. Little original work of any importance has been produced in j.a.pan since the Restoration in 1868.

[Tiger, Attributed to Sesshu, 1420-1506. After a Design by Yen-Hiu, 1082-1135. Gift of Charles L. Freer]

Tiger, Attributed to Sesshu, 1420-1506. After a Design by Yen-Hiu, 1082-1135. Gift of Charles L. Freer

[Covered Box, Cloisonne Enamel. j.a.panese, XIX Century. Decorated in the Old Korean Style.]

Covered Box, Cloisonne Enamel. j.a.panese, XIX Century. Decorated in the Old Korean Style.

CHINESE ART

[Cloisonne Vase Chinese, Ming Dynasty]

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 quant.i.ty 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 flouris.h.i.+ng 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 surpa.s.sed the achievements of this golden age. Chinese Buddhist sculpture attained its n.o.blest 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 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 n.o.bility 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)

Republic from 1912

[Horse's Head. Han Period]

Horse's Head. Han Period

The early Chinese believed in the resurrection of the physical man, and only after many centuries did the idea of mere spiritual survival vaguely supplant the earlier superst.i.tion. To minister to the needs of the dead the Chinese of the Han period (206 B. C.-221 A. D.) stocked their tombs with jars containing wine and pickled meats, with articles of jade, with clothes, mirrors and weapons. To these were added costly treasures, furniture, chariots, live animals; even immolation of relatives and retainers was practiced in early times. As the conception of spiritual survival gradually replaced that of bodily life after death, simulacra of the objects used in life came to be subst.i.tuted in burial for real objects. To this cla.s.s belongs the horse's head, ill.u.s.trated on this page, intended to take the place of a living sacrifice. The material is a soft grey earthenware, covered with a layer of buff clay, perhaps an original slip or perhaps an adhering soil incrustation. The modeling of the head, which has been made from a mould, combines a close study of nature with monumental elimination of the non-essential. Designs of the period engraved on stone show a similar enthusiasm for the horse and a similar method of treatment, the interest being in the decorative and linear aspect more than in the realistic and plastic.

[Mortuary Vase. Han Period]

Mortuary Vase. Han Period

The vase is a typical piece of mortuary pottery of the Han period. It is made of hard reddish clay covered with a thick translucent green glaze, in parts become iridescent. The form is derived from an earlier bronze type; the simulated rings which originally formed the handles of the earlier type of vessel should be noted. The vase is decorated with a band of hunting scenes and animals, real and fabulous, modeled in low relief.

[Painting On Silk by Ma Yuan]

Painting On Silk by Ma Yuan

During the Sung dynasty, a period of highly developed civilization landscape painting occupied the attention of the greatest artists.

Wearying of the complexity of life, men of culture turned with eager desire to the peace and solitude of nature. This love of nature finds beautiful expression in the paintings of Ma Yuan, one of the three greatest landscape painters of the period. By this artist, who flourished in the latter part of the XII century and the first part of the following century, is the large kakemono painted in monochrome on silk, which is ill.u.s.trated opposite. The subject is the meeting between the Taoist teacher, Lee Erh, and his disciple, Ying Hai, on the mountain Wah Shan, one of the five largest mountains of China. Characteristic of the period is the loftiness and simplicity of the style, an austerity tempered by the serene and silent joy of the true lover of nature. Irrelevant details are omitted; only those which are significant expressing the artist's mood in contemplation of nature are recorded.

[Ancient Chinese Jades]

Ancient Chinese Jades

The earliest Chinese religion was essentially astronomical and cosmic.

Heaven, earth, and the four quarters were the six cosmic powers wors.h.i.+ped as deities. The symbol of earth was a yellow jade "tube" or hollow cylinder, round inside and square outside, with a short, projecting neck at either end. The earth was thought of as round in its interior and square outside. The jade earth "tube" or "huang t'sung" in our collection is a very ancient piece, possibly dating from the Chou period (1122-255 B.C.). To the Sung period (960-1280 A. D.) may be a.s.signed the beautiful jade reproduced in the ill.u.s.tration, although the type is reminiscent of Han productions.

[Painting attributed to Pien Chin-Stan]

Painting attributed to Pien Chin-Stan

Attributed to Pien Chin-Stan, an artist of the Yuan period (1280-1368), is the painting of birds and flowers reproduced on this page. The mellow harmony of the colors is particularly delightful. Exquisite sensitiveness to beauties of line and form, combined with loving observation of nature, distinguishes the drawing. Although paintings of the Yuan period, generally speaking, are inferior to the Sung, lacking the spiritual qualities that characterize the earlier period, in such work as this the great traditions of Chinese painting are worthily continued. To appreciate Chinese painting one must rid oneself of the mistaken idea, so common to Occidentals, that a work of art depends for success upon its "likeness" to nature. Petty imitation of the appearance of things plays no part in Chinese painting. It is the expression in terms of beauty of the inner and informing spirit, rather than the outward semblance, that const.i.tutes the aim of the Chinese artist.

[Tung Fang So. Jade]

Tung Fang So. Jade

From remote antiquity, jade has been highly prized by the Chinese as the most precious of precious stones. In the ornamental carving of this beautiful mineral, the Chinese may justly claim pre-eminence. The little statuette here reproduced represents one of the Chinese immortals, Tung Fang So, who carries the peaches of longevity. The jade is light greyish-green in color. The carving probably dates from the late Ming period.