Arts

Nymph of the Luo River(detail)

: This painting on a handscroll depicts the three motifs of a blue oriole in the green peach tree,...

: "Vimalakirti" in Illustration on the Vimalakirti Sutra

: The painting of the Qing Dynasty takes on the style and features peculiar to its time.Court...

This painting is said to be Gu Kaizhi's signature work, drawing its subject matter from a prose-poem(fu) by the poet and prince Cao Zhi of the Three Kingdoms period dedicated to his deceased love whom he met by the Luo River in his dream. In the painting the prince and his love never seem able to touch each other, resigned to longing for and adoring the other from afar. The figures, objects, rocks and mountains, trees and river are depicted with fine and forceful brushstrokes, with no texturing because the technique of creating three-dimensionality with light-ink texturing strokes had not yet been invented. In order to put the spotlight on the figures, the mountains and trees in the foreground are made disproportionately small in relation to the fogures. After colors are added, some three-dimensionality comes through.

Paintings of the Jin and Tang Dynasties

The Jin and Tang Dynasties are the periods when Chinese ink painting grew to its maturity. The styles of paintings include ink painting, frescos, and block painting, of which ink painting best represents the characteristics of Chinese paintings.

Emperors of successive dynasty(detail)

Emperors of successive dynasty(detail)

Tang Dynasty
Yan Liben
Ink and color on silk
51.3*531cm
Five oxen(detail)

Five oxen(detail)

Tang Dynasty
Han Huang
Ink and color on paper
20.8*139.8cm
Court ladies adorning their hair with flowers(detail)

Court ladies adorning their hair with flowers(detail)

Tang Dynasty
Zhou Fang
Ink and color on silk
46*180cm