The legend has it that Cao Zhi (192-232), a prince of the state of Cao Wei, fell in love with the magistrate’s daughter. However, she married his brother, Cao Pi, and the prince became dejected. Later, he composed an emotional poem about the love between a goddess and a mortal. In the 4th century, Gu Kaizhi (ca. 344-ca. 406), a Chinese artist, was moved by the story and illustrated the poem.
Yan Liben (ca. 600–673), a Chinese artist, showed the encounter between the Tang dynasty and Tibet in his painting Emperor Taizong Receiving the Tibetan Envoy. As with other early Chinese paintings, this scroll is probably a Song dynasty (960–1279) copy from the original. We can see the emperor in his casual attire sitting on his sedan.
During the Tang dynasty (618–907), China had a prosperous economy and flourishing culture. In this period, the genre of “beautiful women painting” enjoyed popularity. Coming from a noble background, Zhou Fang (ca. 730–800), a Chinese artist, created artworks in this genre. His painting Court Ladies Adorning Their Hair with Flowers illustrates the ideals of feminine beauty and the customs of the time.
Han Huang (723–787), a chancellor of the Tang dynasty (618–907), painted his Five Oxen in different shapes from right to left. They stand in line and appear happy or depressed. We can treat each image as an independent painting. However, the oxen form a unified whole. Han Huang carefully observed the details. For example, horns, eyes, and expressions show different features of the oxen. They are all interesting characters, just like the five brothers. But which ox would you choose?
Suppose that you are Emperor Li Yu (ca. 937–978), but your official, Han Xizai, misses morning audiences with you and refuses to become prime minister. What would you do? You would try to find out what is going on, right? That is precisely what Li Yu did. To check what Han Xizai was doing at home, Li Yu sent Gu Hongzhong (937–975), a court painter. Therefore, he recorded what Han Xizai (902–970) did by painting The Night Revels of Han Xizai.
Wang Ximeng (1096–1119), was a prodigy and Emperor Huizong of Song supposedly taught the artist. Wang Ximeng painted A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains when he was only 17 years old in 1113. He died several years later but left one of the largest and most beautiful paintings in Chinese history. It is nearly twelve meters in length.
Another artist, Zhang Zeduan (1085–1145) also depicted the landscape in his work Along the River During the Qingming Festival. However, instead of concentrating on the vastness of nature, he captured the daily life of the people of Bianjing, present-day Kaifeng. His work reveals much about life in China during the 11-12th century.
Huang Gongwang (1269–1354) was only 10 years old when the Song Dynasty fell to the Yuan Dynasty. Therefore, many painters openly opposed official tendencies in art. They did not want to live in the capital and work at the Mongolian court. In their paintings, these artists turned to the themes developed in the Song dynasty, such as retreat into nature.
Qiu Ying (ca. 1494 – ca. 1552) (pronounced Ch’iu Ying) was born to a peasant family in Taicang. After moving to Suzhou, he became an apprentice to a lacquer artisan. Despite his family’s humble origins, he had a talent for painting. He worked in the gongbi style, a careful realist technique in Chinese painting. It uses brushstrokes that outline details very precisely. It is often highly colored and usually depicts figural or narrative subjects.
Another famous artwork is Giuseppe Castiglione’s One Hundred Horses. Castiglione (1688–1766) was a European artist who adapted his technique to Chinese aesthetics and served three Chinese emperors as court painter.
