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The Art of the Ming Dynasty

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The Art of the Ming Dynasty 210 4 Art of Asia, the Americas, and Africa n your journey through art history, you will O learn that some works of art may seem unfamiliar because they reflect ideas, values, and feelings that differ from your own. To understand works such as the scene pictured here, you must consider the ideas and values that characterize the unique cultures in which these artists lived and worked. Web Museum Tour The extensive collection at Florida’s Lowe Art Museum includes objects from China, Korea, Japan, and South Asia. Browse by region or explore artworks from a particular period or dynasty. Start your exploration in Web Museum Tours at art.glencoe.com. Activity Enter the museum site and click on the Art of Asia link. Take the tour and discover the myths and legends behind the artworks. Landscape in the style of Li T’ang. Copy after Qiu Ying. c. 1494–1552. Chinese, Ming dynasty. Handscroll: Ink and color on paper. 25.4 ϫ 306.7 cm (10 ϫ 120 3⁄4Љ). Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Purchase, F1939.4. 211 10 The art of india, china, and Japan o you know where the Taj Mahal is located? Do you know what a Ming D vase looks like? Have you ever seen a Japanese screen painting? Paint- ing, sculpture, and architecture evolved in different ways in the East than in the West. Religious, intellectual, and artistic achievements in India, China, and Japan formed the basis for contemporary Eastern culture. The ten cen- turies beginning in the fifth century B.C. and ending in the fifth century A.D. were an important period in both Western and Eastern civilizations. Read to Find Out Learn about the architecture and sculpture of ancient India and the scroll painting and sculpture of China and Japan. Focus Activity Imagine you are an art critic evaluating the painting in Figure 10.1. Divide a piece of paper into four columns and write the answers to these art criticism questions. Description: What actions are taking place in the painting? What story does the picture tell? Analysis: What visual effect does the high viewpoint create? How are the ele- ments and principles of art used to create this effect? Interpretation: What feelings, moods, or ideas do you associate with this painting? Judgment: Do you think this is a successful work of art? Give reasons to support your judgment. Using the Time Line Compare images on the Time Line created in the East. What aesthetic qualities do they share with the work in Figure 10.1? 3000 B.C. Harappan artists c. 1500 B.C. c. 477 decorate their c. 400 Harappan civilization Standing Buddha is works with images Hinduism experiences vanishes created during the of nature a revival Northern Wei dynasty 3000 B.C. 100 B.C. B.C. A.D. A.D 500 1776 B.C. 206 B.C.–A.D. 220 618–900 Shang Dynasty China Han Dynasty, China Tang Dynasty China 784–1185 Heian Period, Japan 2500 B.C.–1500 B.C. 500 B.C. 320–600 Harappan Civilization, India Buddhism, China Gupta Era, India 212 ■ FIGURE 10.1 Zanbur the Spy Brings Mahiya to Tawariq, Where They Meet Ustad Khatun. Mughal, Indian. c. 1561–76. Tempera on cotton cloth, mounted on paper. 74 ϫ 57.2 cm (29 1⁄8 ϫ 22 1⁄2Љ). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York. Rogers Fund. 1923. 1426–35 1252 Cobalt blue 1706 The Great Buddha glaze used in Torii Kiyonobu, at Kamakura, Japan China A Woman Dancer Refer to the Time Line on page H11 in your Art Handbook for more A.D. 1000 A.D. 1500 A.D. 1800 about this period. 960–1279 1368–1644 Sung Dynasty, China Ming Dynasty, China 1185–1333 1570–1600 Kamakura Period, Japan Momoyama Period, Japan c. 1500–1860 Mughal Period, India 213 LESSON ONE The Art of India Vocabulary he long history of India is also the history of two great and endur- ■ meditation T ing religions. For centuries Hinduism and Buddhism have influ- ■ stupa enced all aspects of Indian life. Nowhere is this more evident than in the art of India, the birthplace of both. Discover At times these two religions vied with one another, each producing its After completing this lesson, own unique art style in architecture and sculpture. At other times the two you will be able to: have existed side by side, resulting in artworks that are both Hindu and ■ Describe the development of Buddhist in character. the Hindu and Buddhist religions in India. When and how did these religions originate? How did they influence the ■ Explain how the Hindu and art of India? A search for answers to these questions involves a journey back Buddhist religions influenced 4,500 years, to the same period when Egypt’s Old Kingdom flourished. the architecture and sculpture of India. The Indus Valley Civilization The modern nations of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh trace their cultural beginnings to the early Indian civiliza- tions. Historians now recognize that an ancient civilization once flourished on the banks of the Indus River in what is India now northwest India. (See map, Figure 10.2.) U KUSH ND HI The Harappans CHINA The Harappans, or people of the Indus Valley, gradually H r I e M developed a way of life as far advanced as that of Egypt. They v Harappa A i LA R YA s THAR S used bronze and copper technology and erected multistoried du In G DESERT G A a n N buildings made of fired bricks along streets as wide as 40 feet. Mohenjo-Daro g G es E R S iv P The Harappans also built an efficient drainage system and er LA Sanchi IN E A RANG developed a written language based on pictograms, or NDHY VI picture symbols. INDIA Bay G odava While most Harappans raised grain and vegetables in the ri River of W Bengal fields surrounding their cities and towns, others made and E S DECCAN T S E T R PLATEAU A traded small clay pottery, bronze and stone figures, and cot- N H G G ton cloth. The production of these items made the Indus H N Arabian A R T E T Valley an important trading center. S Sea S A E Cities Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro In modern times, two important sites have been discov- ered: Harappa in 1856, and Mohenjo-Daro (Figure 10.3) in MAP SKILLS 1922. Excavations reveal that about 4,500 years ago a civiliza- ■ FIGURE 10.2 Two major Eastern religions, tion rose along the 400-mile route separating these two cities. Hinduism and Buddhism, began in India. Buddhism More than 70 cities, towns, and villages have been discovered; spread to China and Japan. How do you think they are believed to have been part of an organized kingdom the spread of religious ideas affected the artworks with a central government. created in these areas? 214 ■ FIGURE 10.3 This site reveals the ruins of a carefully planned city that thrived about 4,500 years ago. What do these ruins tell you about the people who lived here? Mohenjo-Daro, India. c. 2500 B.C. Harappan Art Many Harappan clay works (Figure 10.4) have been found, most of which were appar- ently made for trading purposes. Only a few small stone and bronze sculptures from Mohenjo-Daro have survived to the present day. These hint at a fully developed artistic style and provide insights into the religious beliefs of the mysterious Harappan people. Like their clay works, these sculptures indi- cate that the Harappans worshiped a great many spirits who, they believed, were found in water, trees, animals, and humans. Decline of the Harappan Civilization ■ By about 2000 B.C. the Harappan civiliza- FIGURE 10.4 Notice the images of nature, birds, and flowers decorating this work by tion began to decline, and by 1500 B.C. it van- Harappan artists. What elements and principles of ished completely. Most historians believe that art would you discuss when analyzing this work? invaders from the northwest, known as Aryans, were largely responsible for bringing Large Painted Jar with Birds. Pakistan, Chanhu-daro. 3000 B.C. Terra cotta. 25 ϫ 49.5 cm (93⁄4 ϫ 191⁄2Љ). Charihu-daro. Chanhu- an end to the Indus Valley civilization. daro Expedition. Courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts. Chapter 10 The Art of India, China, and Japan 215 The Ganges Civilization The Birth of Buddhism and the Rise of the By 500 B.C. northern India was little more than an on-again, off-again battlefield for a Hindu Religion number of feuding kingdoms. During this The Aryans controlled India during the troubled period, another important religion— thousand-year period now commonly known Buddhism—emerged. The founder of this new as the Ganges civilization. They were warrior- religion was a prince, Siddhartha Gautama, shepherds who relied on their cattle and sheep whose holiness and love for all creatures for livelihood. There is no evidence to suggest earned him widespread fame throughout that the Aryans were as well organized as the India. In time he came to be called the Harappans were. They had no central govern- Buddha, which means “the Enlightened One.” ment and were loosely organized into tribes. Each tribe was ruled by a raja, or chief, who The Beliefs of Buddhism was assisted by a council of warriors. Buddha did not claim to be of divine ori- Over time the Aryan religion, which recog- gin, nor did he claim to receive inspiration nized many gods and goddesses, blended from gods.
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