PPT (Please include pictures, thank you!

1. What are the characteristics of ancient Chinese art?

Ancient Chinese art is frequently utilitarian - many pieces were made for cooking,
weaponry, and for spiritual worship practices.

2. What influenced Chinese art?

Chinese art was influenced by developments in various processes for

working with clay and stone. Smelting (extracting base metals through heat)

3. Ancient Chinese art is traditional Chinese art from the Neolithic Period
(10000-2000 BC) through the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD). Then,
beginning in the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600-1050 BC) and continuing through
the Zhou Dynasty (1050-221 BC), China entered the Bronze age.
4. Ancient China was an agricultural society. Many artists of Ancient China were
educated scholars, philosophers, and literary creatives. Art of this time is
often minimal, featuring bronze work of mythological creatures, elephants,
and dragons.
5. Chinese Art History
- Neolithic Period (10,000-2000 BC), also known as the New Stone Age
when pottery was created for practical uses and to please the Gods.
- The Ancient Chinese societies developed utilitarian objects with clay,
decorating these items with symbols and characters that depicted
nature and other worshipful practices.

6. Dynasties
The Shang Dynasty (c. 1600-1050 BC)
 Bronze Age
 The pioneering development of the kiln
The Zhou Dynasty (1050-221 BC)
 Iron Age
Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC)
 Terracotta Army
Qin Terracotta Army

Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) 

 is seen as the end of Ancient Chinese history, where more advanced kiln techniques
and pottery glazing were further developed. During this time, the Middle Kingdom
began communicating with the West, and China began its journey towards
globalization.

7. Characteristics of Chinese Art

The Ancient Chinese believed that art could educate the people, teach moral lessons, and
bring longevity and prosperity. Characteristics of Chinese art included:

● Simplicity.
● A love of nature.
● Lessons of virtue and honor.
● An examination of subject matter from different perspectives.
8. The Chinese landscape pictures below share the same spirit - less is more.

9. The Chinese created figures of dragons and phoenixes, mythological creatures

seen as a sign of royalty. In addition, they utilized the tiger symbol to scare away
demons and malignant spirits and show military strength.

10. Ancient Chinese artwork was also filled with floral symbolism

11. Chinese Art Styles

- Ceramics - Chinese pottery, also called Chinese ceramics, objects made of

clay and hardened by heat: earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain,
particularly those made in China.
-  Porcelain - Porcelain was first made in China—in a primitive form during the
Tang dynasty (618–907) and in the form best known in the West during the
Yuan dynasty (1279–1368). 
- Metallurgy - Metallurgy is defined as a process that is used for the extraction
of metals in their pure form.
- Stonework- Chinese stonecutters usually use jade, jadeite or jasper as the
main material.

Very often, Chinese stone carvers use materials such as turquoise, rock
crystal, agate, and amethyst.

- Calligraphy- Calligraphy established itself as the most important ancient

Chinese art form alongside painting, first coming to the fore during the Han
dynasty (206 BCE - 220 CE).

Good calligraphy exhibited an exquisite brush control and attention to

composition.

Materials

1. Highly flexible brushes made from animal hair (or more rarely a
feather) cut to a tapering end and tied to a bamboo or wood handle.
2. The ink used was made by the writer himself by rubbing a dried cake
of animal or vegetable matter mixed with minerals and glue against a
wet stone.
3. Wood, bamboo, silk (from c. 300 BCE), and then paper (from c. 100
CE) were the most common writing surfaces
- Painting- Chinese painting, commonly known as “dan qing” or “guo hua” in
Chinese (meaning the national painting), is mainly drawn on the silk or paper
and then framed in a scroll.
- - The painting techniques found in these works were quite simple, yet
demonstrated that the people back then had a basic mastery of portrait
painting.
- - The painter uses a pointed-tipped brush made of the hair of goats, deer, or
wolves set in a shaft of bamboo.
- - The use of a writing brush, ink and rice paper contributes to a unique
theoretical system of Chinese painting.
- - The basic material is ink, formed into a short stick of hardened pine soot
and glue, which is rubbed to the required consistency on an inkstone with a
little water.
- - The execution demands confidence, speed, and a mastery of technique
acquired only by long practice.
- - The drawings are not limited to time or space, but call for imagination and
simplicity.
- ceramics, porcelain, and metallurgy.
- Chinese Painting and Its Culture
- - figure painting mainly depicted the daily life of the nobility and had their
unique way of characterization.
- - During the Five Dynasties and the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties,
the focus of figure painting shifted to the daily life of the ordinary people,
while religious paintings started to decline.
- - During the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, landscape paintings and bird
and flower paintings excelled in other forms to become the mainstream of
Chinese painting.
Transcript
1.

Early Neolithic pottery was often decorated with symbolic geometric symbols,
calligraphy was marked with thick brush strokes, and ancient paintings
celebrated nature and portraits of important individuals.

2. The use of special ovens called kilns, the development of lacquer to make
pottery glazes, and advancements in creating ink for calligraphy and painting
allowed the ancient Chinese civilizations to make sophisticated artwork that
has existed for millennia.
3. This was the first time that humans had worked with metal, and they
fashioned bronze, a metal made of copper and tin, to create weapons, ritual
vessels, funerary items, and chariots.
4. Agrarian society can be defined as a society where a majority of its
population derives its income from agriculture and related activities.
5. Agricultural societies produced more sedentary living, and artisans had the
time and energy to sculpt, paint, and produce artworks. A devout faith in
supernatural powers inspired artisans to design symbolic works of beauty to
appease the Gods. Ceramics were crafted with red, black, and gray clay,
creating storage bottles and bowls for everyday use.
6. The Shang Dynasty (c. 1600-1050 BC)
- heralded the beginning of the Bronze Age. During this time, artisans began
working with metal as society became more aggressive and assertive and
included a hierarchy of castes. Weapons and ceremonial bronzes were
created as objects of worship.

The pioneering development of the kiln, a special high-temperature oven

that helped fire the stoneware for pottery, made the objects stronger and
more durable. Materials used during the Shang Dynasty were bronze, ivory,
bone, clay, and jade.
The Zhou Dynasty (1050-221 BC)
- further developed the traditions of Ancient Chinese Art, continuing to make
bronze ceremonial vessels and carvings of jade. New artistic inventions
included lacquerware, goldsmithing, Chinese painting, and calligraphy. Other
developments during the Zhou Dynasty included large irrigation projects,
new roads and waterways infrastructure, and the use of chopsticks. In
addition, the use of iron during the later Zhou years created more advanced
weaponry and tools, and 600 BC became known as the Iron Age.
 Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC)
- During the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), the first Emperor Qin Shi Huang
commissioned a massive clay artwork known as the Terracotta Army to
protect his mausoleum and soul in the afterlife. During the Zhou and Qin
dynasties, art adhered to Confucian principles of propriety and the rule of
law — good art was judged on spiritual and warrior energy elements and
was thought to grant supernatural powers to the beholder.
Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) 
- The Han Dynasty presided over a golden age of Chinese culture, which
embraced visual art as well as poetry, literature and music. In the case of
both and decorative art, a major stimulus was the revival of tomb art, which
developed significantly during both the Western and Eastern Han eras.
7. Being realistic is the last thing Chinese art/painting ever wants to be.

Chinese painting is meant to capture the essence of the beauty the painter
sees, the spirit, the air, the ambience that really strikes the painter.

Too many details will crowd out the kind of idea/feel/air/spirit that the
painter wants to convey.

It is just a different philosophy.

Take a look at this picture below. It is about a poem that describes how an
old man fishes in the snow alone. It is not very realistic as many details are
blurred out. But you do get the loneliness of fishing alone in the cold snowy
day…

And it is more than loneliness. Imagine you are the one in the picture -
Everything is white. It is so quiet that you can even hear the sound of snow
falling on the water. There is not a soul to be seen in miles. The world just
seemed to be standing still and you were the only one left on earth… Lonely,
but you kind of like it.

That is what this picture tries to convey.

8. The idea is to capture the air/feel of the scenery. And you leave a lot of space
in the painting to allow the imagination to run. Realism actually limits
people’s imagination.
9. Well explained na yon
10. During the later years, figures of Buddha, lotus leaves, and tranquil landscape
paintings based on Taoist principles were common. Animals and objects in
 nature, such as flowers, bamboo, etc., were thought to have spiritual and
philosophical qualities that artists tried to emulate.
11. The artwork was an essential part of daily life in China, and the numerous
Chinese art styles depict ancient human civilization in its most sophisticated
and beautiful stages.

Ceramics- Chinese ceramics range from construction materials such as bricks

and tiles, to hand-built pottery vessels fired in bonfires or kilns, to the
sophisticated Chinese porcelain wares made for the imperial court and for
export. Porcelain was a Chinese invention and is so identified with China that
it is still called "china" in everyday English usage.

Porcelain- Chinese porcelain - one of the best examples of traditional Chinese

art - is typically made from the clay mineral kaolinite, combined with pottery
stone known as petunse, feldspar and quartz. Other ingredients may include
ball clay, bone ash, glass, steatite and alabaster.

Metallurgy- Metallurgy in China has a long history, with the earliest metal

objects in China dating back to around 3,000 BCE. The majority of early metal
items found in China come from the North-Western Region (mainly Gansu
and Qinghai, 青海). China was the earliest civilization to use the blast furnace
and produce cast iron.

Stone art- First of all the masters-stonecutters choose a suitable stone for
the job. The ancient stone-cutters’ various art works, ranging from huge
statues of deities, carved out of solid rock, to the smallest figurines, where
you can see the smallest details, which fact shows the great skill and talent of
the Chinese stonecutters have survived up to date.

- Most often these materials are used to make jewelry, such as pendants
in the form of a dragon or other mythical creatures. These pendants
which serve as charms can be found in any traditional market of
China.

Calligraphy- All educated men and some court women were expected
to be proficient at it, an expectation which remained well into modern
times. Far more than mere writing,

Painting- It involves the use of a brush, ink and paint. To draw a

Chinese painting, a set of fixed rules and artistic forms are to be
followed, which are passed down from generation to generation.
 - The history of Chinese painting can be traced back to the
primitive society of the Neolithic Age when colored potteries
and rock paintings made their way into the daily life of the
ordinary people. The painting techniques found in these works
were quite simple, yet demonstrated that the people back then
had a basic mastery of portrait painting. They were able to
reflect the striking features of the animals and plants to show
their aspiration and wishes for a better life.
- Deeply rooted in the cultural identity of the Chinese nation,
Chinese painting constitutes a vital part of the traditional
Chinese culture. It lays an equal emphasis on both the artistic
form and the spirit of the painted object. The use of a writing
brush, ink and rice paper contributes to a unique theoretical
system of Chinese painting. The drawings are not limited to
time or space, but call for imagination and simplicity. These
unique painting techniques not only showcase the charm of
Chinese painting, but also enrich the world’s art treasure trove.
- Initially, Chinese paintings were created for the appreciation of
the nobility but as time elapsed, they gradually became
accessible to the ordinary folk. Accordingly, the themes also
witnessed a profound change. The painters started to focus on
the reality of the society and created a wealth of fine works
that reflected the features of their age.

Ppt

Confucianism- became prominent during the first century B.C.E.

- Established a rigid social and political hierarchy and a love for harmony, order and
regulation.
- Social rank was distinguished by laws that dictated such things as the size and height of
residences and the clothing and colors that could be worn by each class and status.
- Aristocratic families demonstrated their importance by wearing fine silks and
commissioning portraits, works of art and costly porcelain pieces to decorate their homes.
- The Confucian civil service examinations, formalized during the Sui dynasty (581 – 618)
selected eligible candidates for government service by testing them on their knowledge of
the Confucian classics and their ability to write.

Daoism emphasized the individual’s experience with nature and the concept that, "Heaven
and earth and I live together."[1] Daoism especially influenced Chinese landscape painting,
known as shan shui (mountain-water-picture).
- Artists attempted to convey the harmony of nature through a balance of the elements,
such as water, trees, mountains, and clouds, in their landscapes.
- Daoism also encouraged enjoyment of nature and simple life. A number of Daoist poets,
such as Tao Qian (365 - 427) and Li Bai (701-762) distanced themselves from the
Confucian bureaucracy and lived a life of freedom in the countryside.

Buddhism, which arrived in China around the first century C.E., had some affinity with
Daoist concepts of harmony with nature, transience of earthly life, and transcendence of
suffering.
- Buddhist art had several functions: the creation of statuary and images to invoke the
presence of the Buddha in temples and shrines; spiritual education through imagery,
drama and poetry; and as a meditative discipline.

Chinese Architecture

Traditional Chinese buildings are made of timber and have a post and lintel frame topped
with a system of interlocked brackets which supports a massive, steeply sloping, tiled
overhanging roof, sometimes with upswept eaves.

Performance Art

Chinese Music
There is evidence of a well-developed musical culture in China as early as the Zhou
Dynasty (1122 B.C.E. - 256 B.C.E.). Early Chinese music was based on percussion
instruments, which later gave away to string and reed instruments.

Chinese drama

Beijing opera or Peking opera (Simplified Chinese: 京剧; Traditional Chinese: 京

劇; pinyin: Jīngjù ) is a form of Chinese opera which arose in the late eighteenth century and
became fully developed and recognized by the mid-nineteenth century. [

Chinese Folk Art

Chinese folk arts have a long history, and many traditions are still practiced today. Some
are specific to a particular ethnic group or region, and there are usually some variations
among provinces

Paper arts

Two forms of paper art originated with the invention of paper in the Han Dynasty. The
invention of paper during the Han dynasty spawned two new Chinese arts. Chinese paper
cutting originated as a pastime among the nobles in royal palaces [6]. The oldest surviving
paper cut out is a symmetrical circle from the sixth century found in Xinjiang, China.

Puppetry

One of the oldest forms of folk art is puppetry. Puppeteers use various kinds of puppets,
including marionettes, glove puppets, rod puppets, cloth puppets, and wire puppets in
performances incorporating folk songs and dances over some dialogues. The subject matter
is derived mainly from children's stories and fables.

Chinese decorative knotting

A Chinese knot is a single length of rope (or cord) that is tied and weave into many
different shapes.

Transcript

Transcript in Confucianism

Candidates who passed the exams were elevated to a scholarly aristocracy in which
gentlemen were admired for their abilities in music, calligraphy, painting and the
composition of poetry. The brush, ink, paper and inkstone used in Chinese calligraphy and
painting were commonly referred to as the Four Treasures of the Study (Traditional
Chinese: 文房四寶 Simplified Chinese: 文房四宝 wén fá ng sì bǎ o), and many of the greatest
Chinese painters were bureaucrats and members of the literati. Imperial courts also
assembled schools of professional artists to produce portraits and other paintings for
official purposes. The Confucian attitude of respect for education and reverence for the past
ensured the continuance of an educated elite who preserved artistic traditions even
through violent dynastic changes.

Transcript in Daoism

People were often portrayed as tiny figures in vast natural settings. Chinese paintings did
not seek to capture the physical likeness of a subject, but its internal characteristics and
qualities. This was achieved both through the spontaneity and ingenuity of the individual
artist, and through the use of conventions of color and style that conveyed a message of
their own. Artists often painted indoors from memory, rather than by looking at their
subject. By contemplating a painting, a person was supposed to be able to understand the
power of nature.

Transcript in Buddhism

Buddhist sculpture continued to flourish for about 600 years until the Ming dynasty. After
this time exquisite miniature sculptures were produced in jade, ivory, and glass. The
architecture of Buddhist temples resembled that of Confucian and Daoist shrines and
temples. Pagodas, based on Indian stupas, were constructed to house sacred scriptures and
relics. Some pagodas had as many as 15 stories, each with a curved, overhanging roof.
About 10,000 pagodas still exist in China today.

Transcript Chinese Architecture

This structure gives the buildings a strongly horizontal influence. Interior rooms and
structures are symmetrically arranged according to Confucian principles of hierarchy, often
with a central structure flanked by two wings, and outer walls that enclose courtyards and
gardens. Bright lacquer paints protected and preserved the wood..

Transcript Music

Chinese traditional music is played on solo instruments or in small ensembles of plucked

and bowed stringed instruments, flutes, and various cymbals, gongs, and drums. The scale
has five notes. Bamboo pipes and qin are among the oldest known musical instruments
from China. Chinese orchestras traditionally consist of bowed strings, woodwinds, plucked
strings and percussion. Chinese vocal music has traditionally been sung in a thin, non-
resonant voice or in falsetto and is usually solo rather than choral. All traditional Chinese
music is melodic rather than harmonic. Chinese vocal music probably developed from sung
poems and verses accompanied by music.

Transcript Drama

Beijing opera features four main types of performers, as well as numerous secondary and
tertiary performers with elaborate and colorful costumes. On a sparsely decorated stage,
the actors use speech, song, dance, and combat skills in movements that are symbolic and
suggestive, rather than realistic. Performers adhere to a variety of stylistic conventions that
help audiences navigate the plot of the production.[4] Melodies include arias, fixed-tune
melodies, and percussion patterns.[5

Transcript Chinese folk art

Chinese folk art are artistic forms inherited from a regional or ethnic scene in China.
Usually there are some variation between provinces. Individual folk arts have a long
history, and many traditions are still practiced today. 

Transcript Paper art

Paper cutting is one of the most popular decorative Chinese handicrafts. It is popular for its
low cost and artistry. Rural women often make paper cuttings in their spare time when
farming is not busy.  As a reflection of its philosophical origins, paper cutting is as
comprehensive as it is attractive. Moreover, folk paper cutting conveys the content and
nature of traditional culture with its own particular language.

Transcript puppetry

Puppet performances of various types were popular in China. There were several forms of
puppet theater in China. It isn’t known which developed first. The Chinese puppet theaters
come in four forms: marionettes on strings or wires, rod puppets, shadow plays, and hand
manipulated glove-type puppets.

Four Forms of Chinese Puppet

Marionette Theater

Marionettes on strings or wire like the old time Pinocchio or as in the picture to the right
were once popular in the China before the advent of motion pictures.

Rod Puppetry

The puppets may be small or even life-size. Performers used to wear special traditional
theatric robes with big sleeves so that the rods were somewhat hidden, but modern
performers tend to let their hands and rods show.

Shadow Puppet Theater

A simple lamp and a thin screen was all that was needed for a stage. Things like people,
animals, furniture, pagodas, walls and plants were shown on the screen by placing figurines
or figures made of cardboard or leather in front of the lamp.

Glove-type Puppet Shows

Glove-type puppets like the "Muppets" are quite familiar in the West. Glove puppets are
still a common toy there. These were also popular in China since ancient times.

Transcript Knotting

Knots are not only a simple decoration in the Chinese culture but is a very important form
of art with a long history and rich symbolism. Each kind of Chinese knot has its own special
meaning, and not many have known that the knots are originally the Ancient Chinese’s way
of recording history and information before the creation of today’s Chinese characters.