Northern Song Dynasty (960–1127)

The early Northern Song dynasty witnessed the flowering of one of the supreme artistic expressions of Chinese civilization: monumental landscape painting.
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Finches and bamboo, Emperor Huizong  Chinese, Handscroll; ink and color on silk, China
Emperor Huizong
early 12th century
Tea Bowl with “Hare’s-Fur” Glaze

, Stoneware with iron glaze (Jian ware), China
China
12th century
Palace banquet, Unidentified artist Chinese, active late 10th–11th century, Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk, China
Unidentified artist
Old Trees, Level Distance, Guo Xi  Chinese, Handscroll; ink and color on silk, China
Guo Xi
ca. 1080
Portrait of Bi Shichang, from the set Five Old Men of Suiyang, Unidentified artist Chinese, active 11th century, Album leaf; ink and color on silk, China
Unidentified artist
before 1056
The Classic of Filial Piety, Li Gonglin  Chinese, Handscroll; ink and color on silk, China
Li Gonglin
ca. 1085
Poem Written in a Boat on the Wu River, Mi Fu  Chinese, Handscroll; ink on paper, China
Mi Fu
ca. 1095
Summer Mountains, Qu Ding  Chinese, Handscroll; ink and color on silk, China
Qu Ding
ca. 1050
Service with Decoration of Flowers and Birds, Silver with gilding, China
China
late 13th–early 14th century
Ewer with phoenix

, Stoneware with incised and carved decoration under celadon glaze (Yaozhou ware), China
China
11th–12th century
Basin with Lotus Decoration

, Porcelain with carved and incised decoration under ivory glaze (Ding ware), China
China
11th–12th century
Pillow with a falcon attacking a swan
, Zhang family workshop, Stoneware painted with brown and black pigment on white slip under transparent glaze (Cizhou ware), China
Zhang family workshop
12th–13th century
Cloudy Mountains, Mi Youren  Chinese, Handscroll; ink on paper, China
Mi Youren
before 1200

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.

The early Northern Song dynasty witnessed the flowering of one of the supreme artistic expressions of Chinese civilization: monumental landscape painting. Retreating to the mountains to escape the turmoil and destruction that occurred at the end of the Tang dynasty (618–907), 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.

An important outgrowth of Song political unification after the war-torn Five Dynasties period (907–60) was the creation of a distinctive style of court painting under the auspices of the Imperial Painting Academy. Painters from all parts of the empire were recruited to serve the needs of the court. Over time, the varied traditions represented by this diverse group of artists were welded together into a harmonious Song academic manner that valued a naturalistic, closely descriptive portrayal of the physical world. Under Emperor Huizong (r. 1100–1125), himself an accomplished painter and calligrapher, imperial patronage 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 momentous political shift during the early Song—from a society ruled by a hereditary aristocratic order to a society governed by a central bureaucracy of scholar-officials chosen through the civil-service examination—also had a major impact on the arts. As a ruling elite, these Neo-Confucian scholars regarded public service as their principal calling, but factional strife sometimes forced them to retire from political engagement, during which time they often pursued artistic interests. Dissatisfied with the rigidity and oversophistication of early Northern Song calligraphy, eleventh-century scholars sought to revive the natural, spontaneous qualities of more archaic models. The literati also applied their new critical standards to painting. Rejecting the highly realistic descriptive style followed by the professional painters of the Imperial Painting Academy, they also departed from the official view that art must serve the state. Instead, the amateur scholar-artist pursued painting and calligraphy for his own amusement as a forum of personal expression.


Contributors

Department of Asian Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

October 2001


Citation

View Citations

Department of Asian Art. “Northern Song Dynasty (960–1127).” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/nsong/hd_nsong.htm (October 2001)