Glossary of Key Terms Album · Albums consist of small square or rectangular paintings, calligraphies, or artist's sketches on silk or paper that are mounted onto individual pages and assembled in an accordian book-like structure. Fans, removed from their frames, are also mounted onto album leaves. Often albums are created around a single theme or story, and are not necessarily devoted to a single artist. Back to Menu (Open Album) (Closed Album) Brush · Brushes, used for both writing and painting in China, are made from various animal hairs formed into a sharp point and held together with long, hollow handles of bamboo. The way an ink-filled brush is held, and the pressure placed on it while writing or painting, allow for a wide variety of brushstrokes and tonal washes, which are thought to reflect the emotions and individual personality of the artist. Back to Menu Buddhism · The Buddhist religion was founded in India in the sixth century B.C. and introduced into China around the first century A.D. It teaches that life is transitory and filled with suffering, which is caused by desires and cravings and gives rise to a continuous cycle of death and rebirth. The end of this suffering, or enlightenment, is achieved through a life devoted to moderation, morality, and meditative practice. Various schools or branches of Buddhism have developed in China, each emphasizing different ways to attain this state of enlightenment. Back to Menu Calligraphic brushstroke · The individual brushstrokes written to form characters in calligraphy can also be used by painters to create descriptive lines and textural patterns for such pictorial elements as rocks, trees, foliage, and folds in clothing. This is best illustrated by comparing the details below from two paintings, Summer Mountains attributed to Qu Ding and Woods and Valleys of Mount Yu by Ni Zan. The dark, wet brushstrokes and textures in Summer Mountains are used to describe the trees and dense foliage on a summer evening. In contrast, some of the same types of brushstroke are used in a sparse, dry form by Ni Zan to project a more personal and reflective vision of nature. A further comparison (at right) of the calligraphic strokes used by Ni Zan in his poem with the brushstrokes he used for the foliage and bark of the central trees reveals the very close relationship of calligraphy to painting. Back to Menu Calligraphy · Calligraphy means "fine writing." While the written language had been developing slowly in China for more than 2,000 years when the modern regular script emerged in the third century, it was only in the third and in the fourth century that handwriting with a brush became a revered art form, considered a higher or purer form of individual expression than painting. Using an ink-filled brush on silk or paper, the calligrapher could express his innermost thoughts and feelings. Back to Menu China ·   Cinnabar · Cinnabar is a bright red mineral derived from mercury sulfide. It is used as a coloring agent in seal paste and to make pigments for painting. Back to Menu Colophon · Colophons are inscriptions—postscripts, poems, or comments—appended to a work of art or its mounting. Often, colophons provide important information about the history of the artwork and how it and the artist were regarded. These writings could be by the artist, the recipient, or later admirers of the work. Back to Menu Color pigment · Color pigments are extracted from minerals or vegetables and mixed with a binding agent, such as alum, to use in painting. In the history of Chinese art, polychrome, or multicolored, painting was the predominant style through the Tang dynasty. Even after monochrome ink became an important medium in Chinese painting, color pigments were used in varying degrees in landscape, figural, and flower and bird paintings. Back to Menu Confucius · (K'ung-tzu, ca. 551–479 B.C.) was the developer of one of China's three primary philosophies. Although he traveled widely in search of an influential government position, his career was disappointing. Confucius's ideas were not widely adopted until after his death. Most of his theories, known as collectively Confucianism, were recorded by his disciples in the Analects. Back to Menu Confucianism · Confucianism (Kongjiao) is the philosophical, social, and political doctrine based on the teachings of Confucius and his most important followers. This ideology was developed in response to the need for a new system that could provide social cohesion and moral imperatives after the shift from a religious to a humanist society during the Zhou dynasty. Confucianism offered a set code of proper social behavior motivated by virtue and tempered by humanism. During his lifetime, Confucius had little success in convincing rulers to adopt his system, and his precepts did not become guiding principles in China until the Han dynasty (206 B.C.–A.D. 220). Back to Menu Daoism · Daoism is a native philosophical system, based on the teachings of Laozi (fifth century B.C.) and Zhuangzi (ca. 350–275 B.C.), that advocates a life of complete simplicity and naturalness in order for man to attain a peaceful existence in harmony within the cosmos. Daoists seek to understand the inherent order, balance, and harmony believed to permeate and govern the universe. After the advent of Buddhism in China, Daoism also developed an institutional religious aspect that included a pantheon of deities, rituals, and clergy, with a special interest in prolonging life and immortality through the practice of alchemy, divination, and magic. Back to Menu Emperor · The emperor was the supreme monarch of the Chinese empire. According to a theory elaborated by Confucius (ca. 551–479 B.C.) and his followers, Heaven bestowed a mandate on the individual, known as the Son of Heaven, deemed most capable to rule. The mandate was passed down from generation to generation until an emperor failed to rule properly. Then, the mandate was withdrawn and passed to another family, establishing a new dynasty. The practical reality of this theory in the annals of Chinese dynastic history was far from ideal. Beginning with the first emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi (r. 221–210 B.C.), China was ruled by a succession of imperial dynasties until the severe weakness of the Manchu government in the face of internal unrest, together with external pressures from foreign powers, spelled the end of imperial rule in China by 1912. Back to Menu Fan · There are two types of fans used in Chinese painting. The first type is of silk mounted on a rigid frame in a small round or oval shape. The second type, the folding fan, is made of paper pressed into folds with thin sticks of bamboo inserted for support. The folding fan was first introduced to China from Japan and Korea and became a format for painting during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). Back to Menu (Oval Fan) (Folding Fan) Garden · In China, emperors, scholar-officials, and well-to-do families treated gardens as extensions of their households. Often built in urban settings, gardens in China were open courtyards, irregular in design, with high walls to block out the noise of city streets. Filled with large rocks, reminiscent of the beloved mountains found in the Chinese countryside, and with specimen plants, these gardens provided the owner and his guests with a meditative place to forget the pressures of professional and political life and to renew contact with nature. Back to Menu Handscroll · Handscrolls provide the painter or calligrapher with a continuous horizontal surface of silk or paper on which to develop a composition. Though often displayed in their entirety in museums, handscrolls are meant to be viewed by only one or two people and unrolled from right to left two or three feet at a time. In this way, the viewer may "travel" through a story or landscape that conveys a progression of time. Separate papers containing titles or colophons may also be attached and the complete scroll mounted with silk boards. A wooden dowel is attached on the left end of the scroll and a semicircular rod at the other end. After viewing, the scroll is rolled up around the dowel from left to right and secured with ties. Back to Menu Hanging scroll · Hanging scrolls provide the artist with a vertical format for an image. The painting surface of paper or silk is mounted with decorative silk borders. A wooden rod is attached at the bottom to give the scroll the necessary weight to hang smoothly on a wall, as well as a means of being rolled up for storage. A thin wooden strip with a cord is attached at the top for hanging the scroll. The composition of a hanging scroll usually places the foreground at the bottom of the scroll with the middle and far distances moving upward toward the top of the scroll. Hanging scrolls are displayed only for short periods of time and are then rolled up from bottom to top and secured with ties for storage. Back to Menu Ink · Ink is made by burning various carbon-based natural products to produce soot, or lampblack, which is then mixed, in most cases, with animal glue. This mixture is heated and pressed into molds to produce dry inksticks. These inksticks have been made since ancient times. To create the desired quantity and quality of ink, water is poured into the well of a flat stone called an inkstone, and the dry inkstick is ground against the surface of the inkstone with a circular motion. On a traditional scholar's table, you would find the Four Treasures, or tools used in painting and calligraphy—inkstone, inkstick, brushes, and paper. Back to Menu Inscription · Inscriptions are poems or comments by the artist, his friends, or later owners and admirers that have been written directly on the surface of the calligraphy or painting. The content of inscriptions, especially those by the artist himself, adds a level of understanding and meaning to the image. The artist carefully considered the style of calligraphy he would use to correspond with the brushstrokes used in the pictorial image. Inscriptions by others besides the artist give a pedigree to a work of art that scholars can use to authenticate a painting and to determine its history and possible direct influence on other artists. Back to Menu Mi Fu · Known as an eccentric individual, Mi Fu (1052–1107) was a distinguished scholar of ancient calligraphy and painting and was considered a master of his own expressive style of painting and calligraphy. He devoted his life to the study and collecting of fine calligraphy and painting, strange garden rocks, and rare, early inkstones. Although recognized and admired by the Song emperor Huizong (r. 1101–25), he was dismissed from various governmental posts for his unconventional behavior. Back to Menu Ming dynasty · The Ming dynasty (1368–1644) saw the return of imperial rule to Chinese hands after the Mongol rulers of the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368) were driven out of China. The early Ming dynasty rebuilt and reestablished the government bureaucracy and other imperial institutions of earlier eras. Economic growth and expansion in the south gave rise to new cultural and artistic centers and renewed support by the wealthy, educated elite for the arts and literature. Back to Menu Paper · China is credited with the invention of paper in the first century A.D. The paper used for painting is produced from a variety of natural materials, including mulberry bark, hemp, rice straw, certain types of reeds, and bamboo. Paper, being very absorbent, is usually sized (coated with a glutinous material) to make the surface more water-resistant, allowing the writer or painter more control over the flow of ink. But even sized paper remains more absorbent than prepared silk and allows for a wider range of dynamic effects, both wet and dry. Paper is the ideal medium for the free, spontaneous painting styles found in Chinese art from the thirteenth century onward. Back to Menu Qin · The qin is a seven-stringed zither-like musical instrument. Because it was closely associated with ancient sages, including Confucius (ca. 551–479 B.C.), owning a qin was considered a sign of cultivation. Scholars, even nonplayers, would display qins in their studies. Back to Menu Qin dynasty · In 221 B.C., Qin Shi Huangdi crushed the remnants of China's ancient feudal order and unified all of China through an oppressive, authoritarian form of government. During his rule, a great amount of time and labor were devoted to the construction of the Great Wall and of his palace and tomb complex. The short Qin dynasty (221–206 B.C.) laid the groundwork for the centralized bureaucratic system that characterized Chinese state government for centuries to come. The standardization of the written language and of weights and measures further enhanced the emperor's control over the newly unified China. Back to Menu Scholar-official · Chinese painters and calligraphers were often members of an educated class of men. Their formal education in classic Chinese literary, historical, and philosophical texts, as well as in the history of Chinese calligraphy, painting and music, was considered essential for a cultured man. Their knowledge was highly respected in Chinese society. An educated man's responsibility was to use his knowledge to serve his ruler, the emperor, and to improve society. By the beginning of the Song dynasty (960–1279), scholars or educated men were generally required to pass a series of difficult exams to serve in the government. Once assigned a governmental post, these scholar-officials ideally continued their personal cultivation by collecting and creating calligraphies and paintings. Often forced into early retirement or exile because of political struggles, these scholars pursued the arts as a means of expressing both personal and subtle, yet often critical, political statements. Back to Menu Seal · Seals are impressions made from carved stones or other media pressed into a thick, red, oil-based paste. They are affixed to a document, painting, or calligraphy to certify authorship or ownership. Since artists and writers typically used several names throughout their lives, they had several seals inscribed with their given names, artistic names, the names of their studios, and, possibly, an identifying literary expression. Usually rectangular or round, seal designs are cut into materials such as jade, ivory, and soapstone. If the characters are incised, they will appear white in the impression; if carved in relief, they will appear red. The script often used for seals derives from an ancient script, known as "seal script," used during the late Zhou (ca. 1050–256 B.C.) and Qin (221–206 B.C.) dynasties. Back to Menu Silk · Silk production has flourished in China since before the Shang period (ca. 1600–1050 B.C.). Silk is produced by weaving the very long, strong threads from the cocoon of the silkworm into cloth. The silk cloth is then prepared for painting either by being beaten on a stone slab until the surface is very smooth or by having a glue mixture applied as a primer. Because the prepared silk surface is rather slick and not very absorbent, color pigments or ink tones are applied slowly and deliberately, contributing to the formality of silk paintings. Though originally ivory in color, the silk surface of very old Chinese paintings has darkened greatly over time, appearing now as dark tan or brown. Back to Menu Tang dynasty · The Tang dynasty (618–907) marks a time of great expansion of China's influence as well as openness to foreign influences. Its borders extended from modern-day Korea to Vietnam and across Central Asia to southern Siberia. Active trade and travel along the Silk Route in Central Asia and by sea routes to the east and south brought foreign ideas, products, and arts into China. These foreign influences had a great impact on Chinese artisans of the time, as evidenced by the use of foreign motifs, materials, and subject matter in the art of the Tang dynasty. Buddhism reached the height of its influence during this period. Back to Menu Yin and yang · Yin and yang constitute an ancient, fundamental concept that describes the underlying nature and order within the universe. The interaction between these two polar, yet complementary, opposites can be seen in nature: the darkness of night leads to the brightness of day. Yin is associated with darkness, softness, water, passivity, the moon, the feminine, and the earth. Yang is associated with brightness, activity, the masculine, the sun, fire, and the sky. Back to Menu Yuan dynasty · The Yuan dynasty (1279–1368), established by the Mongol ruler Khubilai Khan (Emperor Shizu, r. 1260–94), marked the first time in Chinese history that the entire country was ruled by a foreign power. The Mongols succeeded in reuniting all of China after three centuries of political division. The Mongols continued to practice their own traditions and favored their own countrymen and allies for high governmental service, but adopted Chinese imperial and cultural models and institutions and employed native Chinese officials to maintain order and control over such an extensive territory. Many Chinese scholars, however, refused to serve the foreign court and withdrew from public service to pursue the arts more fully. Back to Menu Zhang Yanyuan · This ninth-century scholar and art historian is noted for having written the earliest known history of painting in the world, entitled Record of the Famous Painters of Successive Dynasties. Back to Menu Zhou dynasty · The Zhou dynasty (ca. 1050–256 B.C.), the longest dynastic period in Chinese history, began when the Zhou state of the Shaanxi region conquered the Shang state (ca. 1600–ca. 1050 B.C.). During the early part of the dynasty, known as the Western Zhou (ca. 1050–771 B.C.), Zhou emperors governed through a confederacy of federal states. Because of threats from nomadic tribes in the north, the court moved its capital further east in 770 B.C., inaugurating a period known as the Eastern Zhou, which is divided into the Spring and Autumn period (770–481 B.C.) and the Warring States period (481–221 B.C.). During this time the waning authority of the Zhou rulers led to power struggles for supremacy among the various federal states; but it was also one of the most creative and formative times in Chinese history, during which Confucianism and Daoism were developed and many of the classics were written. Back to Menu Menu