Transcript Song Dynasty

Song Dynasty
A collection of art and culture
Song Culture/Philosophy
– Development of Neo-Confucianism, partly influenced
by concepts from Chan (meditation) Buddhism.
– Emergence of scholars' ("literati") culture and concept
of certain arts as congenial modes for self-expression;
compilation of encyclopedias; antiquarianism; art
collecting.
–
The Song is generally regarded as a period of cultural
introspection and consolidation, in contrast to the
Tang.
Song Art
• Painting: flourished at court,
development of fan and album leaf
formats, associated with Buddhism and
Daoism
• Ceramics: profusion of regional wares,
many of them characterized by
simplicity of shape and restraint in
decoration
Influenced by Daoism philosophies,
the artists of the Song dynasty had a
special awareness of nature and
painted landscapes accompanied by
poetry in calligraphy. Of course all
paintings had the artist’s stamp,
recognizing whose work it was.
This work shows a boy and a girl
playing a game with dates.
Completely intent on their game,
their attitudes appear most
natural. In the garden with a
decorative rock, the colorful
chrysanthemums and hibiscus
capture the autumn mood. Some
toys have been left on top of a
round garden stool, and a pair of
cymbals lies on the ground. Every
detail in this work is precisely
delineated, making it one of Su
Han-ch'en's greatest surviving
masterpieces.
Southern Song Art (1127-1279 A.D.)
• In 1125, when the Jurchen, a seminomadic people from
northeast Asia, invaded Song China and captured the capital at
Bianliang
• the Song court reestablished itself in the south in Hangzhou,
where it continued to rule for another 150 years as the Southern
Song dynasty.
• Southern Song society was characterized by the pursuit of a
highly aestheticized way of life, and paintings of the period often
focus on evanescent pleasures and the transience of beauty.
Images evoke poetic ideas that appeal to the senses or capture
the fleeting qualities of a moment in time.
The Southern Song Imperial
Painting Academy continued
the stylistic direction and high
technical high technical
standards set by Emperor
Huizong in the early twelfth
century. The paintings shown
here were done in the style of
the period- often on albumleaf format with ink on silk
( sometimes pressed into an
oval fan) or on a paper scroll.
The decorative arts also
reached the height of
elegance and technical
perfection during the
Southern Song. Like painting,
the plastic arts responded to
two different aesthetics—that
of the imperial court and that
of popular culture. Supreme
among the decorative arts of
the Song period are ceramics,
which many connoisseurs
consider the highest artistic
achievement of the Chinese
potter.
Northern Song Art (960-1127 A.D.)
• The Song dynasty (960–1279) was culturally the most brilliant era in later imperial Chinese history. A
time of great social and economic change, the period in large measure shaped the intellectual and
political climate of China down to the twentieth century. The first half of this era, when the capital was
located at Bianliang (modern Kaifeng), is known as the Northern Song period.
• Song court painters transformed these idealized images of nature into emblems of a perfectly ordered
state. The early Northern Song dynasty witnessed the flowering of one of the supreme artistic
expressions of Chinese civilization: monumental landscape painting.
The early Northern Song dynasty witnessed the flowering of one of the supreme artistic expressions of Chinese civilization:
monumental landscape painting. tenth-century recluse-painters discovered in nature the moral order that they had found lacking
in the human world. In their visionary landscapes, the great mountain, towering above the lesser mountains, trees, and men, was
like "a ruler among his subjects, a master among servants." Later, Song court painters transformed these idealized images of
nature into emblems of a perfectly ordered state.
Stone wares such as porcelain fired
in kilns of Jianci village were popular.
The colors on them were pigmented
and sophisticated.
Under Emperor Huizong (r. 1101–
25), himself an accomplished painter
and calligrapher, imperial patrnage
and the ruler's direct involvement in
establishing artistic direction reached
a zenith. While maintaining that the
fundamental purpose of painting
was to be true to nature, Huizong
sought to enrich its content through
the inclusion of poetic resonance
and references to antique styles.
The End