OU T L IN ES O F C H IN E S E A RT H J O N C . F E RG U S O N TH E SCAMMON LECTUR ES FOR 1 9 1 8 PUBLISHED FOR TH E A RT INSTIT UTE O F CHI CA GO BY T H E U NIVERSITY OF C C C C N HI AGO PRESS , HI AGO , ILLI OIS COPYRIGH T 1 9 1 9 B Y TH E U NIV ERSITY OF CH ICA GO A ll Rights Reserved ublished m P Nove ber I 9 1 9 Comp osed a nd Pri nted By Th e U mversxty of Ch i ca g o Press Ch ica o ll i nois U . S . A . g . I . CONTENTS PAGE LIST OF I LLU S T RATI ONS TH E CHI NE SE DYNA S TI E S L ECTU RE I . I NTRODUCTI ON A ND LECTU RE II . B RONZES JADES L T A ND RA ECTU RE I II . S ONES CE MICS L A ND PA ECTU RE IV . CA LLIGRA PH Y INTING L T P T EC U RE V . AI N I NG . L T P EC U RE VI . AINTING I L L U ST R A T I O N S LECTU R E I E G NTRANCE TO OVERNMENT MUSEUM , PEKING E To G CENTRAL NTRANCE OVERNMENT PALACE , PEKING ’ H o T U : M Y THICAL O RIGIN OF DRAWING LO SHU : MYTHICAL O RIGIN OF W RITING L IDEOGRAPH UNG , MEANING DRAGON L IDEOGRAPH U , MEANING DEER ’ O T A o BRONZE VESSEL DECORATED WITH FACE OF GRE , T ’ IEH BRONZE VESSEL WITH DECORATION OF PHOENI ! ’ T ’ T IEH A , IRON PAGODA ’ S FANG T A , QUARE PAGODA TEMPLE AT GRAVE OF KUAN TI LECTU R E II BRONZE TABLE WITH WINE VESSELS (COLLECTION OF TUAN FANG) BRONZE DAGGERS , CHOW DYNASTY Y S OKE BELLS , HANG DYNASTY BRONZE VASE , HAN DYNASTY A BRONZE VESSEL , HAN DYN STY (COLLECTION OF PAUL HO) W BRONZE INE VESSEL , CHOW DYNASTY ’ Two BRONZE VESSELS OF THE CH I HOU SET ’ Two BRONZE VESSELS OF THE CH I HOU SET S ACRIFICIAL VESSELS ON ALTAR OF CONFUCIAN TEMPLE U BRONZE FIGURE OF NICORN , HAN DYNASTY W ’ T ’ BRONZE FIGURE OF EI T O , ANG DYNASTY [V ii] ILLUSTRATIONS B JADE TU E , HAN DYNASTY DETAIL OF DECORATION ON JADE TUBE W JADE CARVING OF DANCING OMAN , CHOW DYNASTY A JADE MULET, HAN DYNASTY A JADE D GGER , HAN DYNASTY JADE DISK , HAN DYNASTY - T JADE DISK ABLET , HAN DYNASTY JADE TABLET , CHOW DYNASTY S JADE CUP , UNG DYNASTY DETAIL OF DECORATION ON JADE CUP S JADE BELL , UNG DYNASTY S JADE DRAGON CARVING , UNG DYNASTY A JADE PENDANT , HAN DYN STY LECTU R E III TABLET OF BUDDHA PREACHING WEN SHU - YANG STONE FUNERARY - CHAMBER DECORATION FENG STONE PILLARS CONFUCIUS MEETING LA OTSE SHEN MEMORIAL PILLARS LI HSI STONE STONE OF FUNERARY CHAMBER SHE YANG STONE VIEW OF LUNG M EN S G L INTERIOR OF MALL ROTTO , UNG WEI DYNASTY FIGURES AT LUNG M EN STONE FIGURE OF AMITA BUDDHA YUNG HSI TABLET MAITREYA FOUR LI - CH ENG TABLETS E S E - EU IGHT TEEDS , BY CHAO M NG [viii] ILLUSTRATIONS BAMBOO LEAVES A RRANGED AS IDEOGRAPHS ’ DECORATIVE DESIGN ON TABLET , T ANG DYNASTY ’ T ANG DYNASTY FIGURE AT LUNG M EN CLAY FIGURE OE A GENERAL S POTTERY PILGRIM BOTTLE , UNG DYNASTY “ ” OLIVE POTTERY VAS E POTTERY CREMATION RECEPTACLE EIGHT- PANEL POTTERY JAR PORCELAIN VASE DECORATED FOR IMPERIAL U SE LECTU R E IV COLOPHON OF THE “ FIVE VENERABLE MEN LETTER OF CHU HSI ANNOTATION OF WENG FANG - KANG CHIA HSING SCRIPT OF WANG HSI - CHIH ’ COLOPHONS OF SU S HIH AND SU CH E ’ COLOPHONS OF LI HUNG - EU AND WANG TSIN - CH ING L0 H H SION G SCRIPT OF M I FEI COLOPHON OF CHAO MENG - FU ’ ’ COLOPHON OF TUNG CH I - CH ANG “ ” Two E! AMPLES OF REGULAR WRITING “ ” TWO E! AMPLES OP RUNNING WRITING “ ” E! AMPLE OF DRAFT WRITING LECT U R E V ’ HOME AGAIN : THE RETURN OF T AO Y UAN MING THE ARHATS THE TEN HORSES SEARCHING EOR TRUTH THE TIGER BLACK AND WHITE S KETCH BY NI TSAN HILL IN CLO UDS ILLUSTRATIONS LANDSCAPE BY WEN CHENG - MING T ’ CARTOON , ANG DYNASTY THE HILLS OF KUEI - CHI LECTU R E VI PORTRAIT OF KU O TZ U- I K Y IN G UAN , ODDESS OF MERCY THE LION AND BAR B ARIANS A PRIEST IN CONTEMPLATION BIRDS ON A T RU NU S BRANCH THE LONE FISHERMAN ' LANDSCAPE BY KU O H SI A TARTAR HORSEMAN TH E THREE HORSES EGRETS AMONG LOTUS FLOWERS THE FOUR MAGPIES A STATESMAN E! AMIN ING THE POINTS OF A HORSE [! ] THE CHINESE DY NASTI ES — 1 B . C Hsia Dynasty 2 20 5 766 . 1 — 1 1 2 B C Shang Dynasty 766 2 . - 1 1 22 2 B . C Chow Dynasty 5 5 . ’ — C. Ts in Dynasty 2 5 5 20 6 B . — C. 2 2 A . D . Han Dynasty 206 B . 0 — D Wei Dynasty 2 20 264 A . — D Tsin Dynasty 265 4 20 A . — 2 1 A . D Six Dynasties 4 0 6 8 . T 1 — A D ang Dynasty 6 8 906 . — A D Five Dynasties 907 960 . S — 1 2 A D ung Dynasty 960 77 . 1 1 1 — 1 2 A O Chin Dynasty 5 60 . ’ Y Ii an 1 2 — 1 A O Dynasty 77 3 6 8 . 1 6 — 1 A D Ming Dynasty 3 8 644 . ’ — 1 6 1 1 2 A . D Ch ing Dynasty 44 9 . Republic Of China 1 9 1 2 [xi] T N T EN RA CE TO GOVERNMEN MUSEUM , PEKING WU YING TIEN CENTRAL ENTRANCE TO GOVERNMENT PALACE PEKING INTRODUCTION P The Governmen t Museum at eking, con tain Of ing some of the best art treasures China, is u ‘ Of u nique among the muse ms the world . In architectural design and detail and in historical Of surroundings , as well as in the examples art M products Stored within its walls , this useum is exclusively and characteristically Chinese. The bronzes and j ades , paintings and manuscripts , - pottery and porcelain , inks and writing brushes , all owe their common origin to the genius of the Chinese race . This Museum has not needed to borrow from other nations examples of an earlier art, out of which its own developmen t has directly th or indirectly sprung ; on the contrary, e art spirit which found its expression in these various forms during the historic period j oins hands even with the earliest mythological and legendary tra i tion d s of the country . There can be no doubt of the inherent right of an artistic people to interpret its own art and to determine its own standards of relative values . I t is naturally Of some concern for u s to know what impression Chinese art Obj ects have made upon [ I ] OUTLINES OF CHINESE ART neighboring nations , upon western students and western art critics , but such opinions as may have been expressed in these quarters have no finality, except in so far as they are based u pon accepted canons found in the extensive art literature of China . I t is quite right for other nations to decide upon the importance of Chinese art in i compar son with that of other ancien t nations , as E such Greece , Rome , or gypt, and to assign to i t only such moiety of consideration as its pre viou sly determined relative merit justifies . This is a comparative study O f art ; but in the realm of its Chinese art studied by itself, own standards must prevail . The explorer in this new world , if u indeed i t is a new world to him , m st not carry the ready- made compass perfected by his own cou ntrymen ; for the divergent cu rrents of wind and water will so distort its guiding needle that it will prove useless to him . His compass must be obtained in the country whose art product he u ad st dies , so that i t may be fully corrected and justed . I t must not be taken for granted that what is new to the explorer has been unknown or unstudied by the age - long inhabitants of the u co ntry, especially as the race with which he is dealing in this instance has been devoted to cul tural pursuits du ring the whole of i ts long history . Though his methods of Observation may be more [ 2] INTRODUCTION scientific and accu rate than those of the people u whose product he is st dying, an explorer, if wise, will give his first attention to the classification and elu cidation Of such facts as are disclosed to him by those whose opportunity Of observation has been earlier and wider than his own . The art of China is in teresting to students Of ‘ other countries in proportion as i t is entirely n a tion al * and ' expresses the ideals an d spirit Of this C ancient people . I t cannot properly be lassified division o f A as one a widely pervading art of sia , for the interaction of ou tside forces which have resulted from intercou rse with other nations has had relatively small infl u ence upon its evolu “ ” u se tion . One cannot the phrase Art of Asia with the same freedom as in the u se of the generic “ ” u u term E ropean Art , for all art in E rope leads back during an authentic period of history to com mon sources in Greece and Rome .