Ancient Chinese Art Forms Essay Example For Students

Ancient Chinese Art Forms Essay Category:HistoryPaper Title:Ancient Chinese Art FormsText:Chinese art is known as one of the worlds oldest found art forms, with piecesdating back to 1500 BC. There are many different mediums used in Chinese art,such as sculpture, painting, and architecture. Sculptures were often mad ofjade, ivory, or glass. Sculpture flourished during the time of the Ming(1368-1644) dynasty. Although Chinese painting styles became very popular in the Tang (618-906)and Sung (960-1279) dynasties, the human form was often disregarded. FollowingTaoist and Confucian ideas, people were left out so as not to intrude on theorderly magnitude of nature. Throughout the later Ming (1368-1644) dynasty,the human figure and still life became more accepted and of greater importance. * * *Peach VaseQing Dynasty, Qianlong period (1736-1795). This vase is a beautiful example of the Chineses use of ceramics withlaquers and enamels. This vase rivaled Western artists achievements in oilpaints with highly advanced opaque enamel colors. Made in the 18th century, thisvase is symbolic of peace and longevity, as it shows the peach in all stages oflife at the same time. This vase sits 50.3 cm high. * * *Deer EwerTang dynasty (618-907)Changsha ceramics, such as this ewer were the first to have paintings paintedon them under the glaze, so as to prolong the painting and colors. The mostwidely used designs were flowers and birds. Anything that added to theatractiveness of the piece was considered. Even so, man-made items such asbuildings or bridges were never seen. Very rarely a piece will be founddepicting the human figure in the form of women and children, but never men. * * *Jade Dragon and Phoenix3rd Century BC, period 480-221 BC. The pendant is dated back to 300 BC. The pendant was most likely used asornamentation for the upper class. The style used to carve this piece representsflowing elegance, shown in its wonderfully sloping curves. Jade, being and extremely hard stone, was never carved. In this case it hadbeen ground and drilled into shape, and polished to a sparkling finish. BibliographyIndianapolis Museum of Art, www.ima-art.org/. Copyright 2000, IndianapolisMuseum of ArtEncyclopedia.Com, www.encyclopedia.com/chinese-art/. Copyright 2000,Encyclopedia.ComHistory