Left: Sakyamuni Buddha (late Zhau dynasty, Period of
Disunity), 338, gilded bronze
Right: Colossal Buddha Amitabha (Northern Wei period),
(Yungang, China), c. 460-493 CE
• Meditating Buddha, from
Gandhara, Pakistan,
second century CE. Gray
Schist
• Shakyamuni Buddha, Zhao
Dynasty, From period of
Six Dynasties, 338.
Gilded bronze
Standing Buddha (Wei
dynasty), 477 CE, gilt bronze
Vairocana Buddha at the Longmen Caves (Tang
dynasty) (Luoyang, China) , c. 670-680 CE
Tang
dynasty/
arrival of
Buddhism in
China/
suppressed
surface
detail in the
interest of
monumental
simplicity
Right: Great Wild Goose pagoda
(Tang dynasty), c. 652-704 CE
Way of Souls leading to the Qianling tomb complex
of Emperor Li Zhi (Xi’an), late seventh century CE
Neighing Horse
(Tang dynasty),
eighth to ninth
centuries, glazed
earthenware
importance of the
horse in the Tang
dynasty/ allowing
lead glazes to
“run”(sancai)/
created for burial
tombs
Left: Nuyong lady from the Tang dynasty
Center below: Wenguan funerary figures
Right below: Camel from the Tang dynasty
Han Kan. Night Shining White (Tang dynasty),
c. 742-756 CE, ink on paper
Han Huang. The Five Bullocks (Tang dynasty),
ink and color on silk
Han Huang. Garden with Literati, 723-787 CE
Paradise of Amitabha (Tang dynasty) (Dunhuang, China),
ninth century, wall painting
Dunhuang/ Pure Sect of Buddhism/
Tang style palace architecture
Brightly painted beams of a Chinese monastery
Fan Kuan. Travelers among
Mountains and Streams
(Northern Song dynasty), early
eleventh century, hanging scroll,
ink and colors on silk
Fan Kuan/ Northern Song
Dynasty/ Daoism/ painting on
silk/ “li” and “qi”/ humans in the
vast scale of nature/ a shifting
perspective/ use of mist to
separate the background from
the foreground/ NeoConfucianism
Guo Xi. Early Spring,
1000-1090 CE, ink on silk
Guo Xi/ Daoist paradise
and an interest in
seasonal change/ three
types of distance (high,
deep, and level)/
inclusion of seals and
inscriptions on paintings/
focus on intricate details
and the character of
each line
Song Huizong. Detail of Ladies Preparing Newly Woven Silk,
early twelfth century CE
Song Huizong, the emperor artist/
Chinese view of copying earlier works
Song Huizong. The Five-Color Parakeet (Northern
Song dynasty), c. 1100-1125, hanging scroll
Foguang Si Pagoda (Liao dynasty)(Yingxian, China), 1056
the pagoda / projecting eaves and
cantilevered balconies/ the axis mundi
Ma Yuan. Bare
Willows and Distant
Mountains
(Southern Song
dynasty),
thirteenth century
CE, album leaf, ink
and colors on silk
Ma Yuan/ Southern
Song court style/
composed on a
diagonal to form
the Mia/Xia style
Schematic version of a one corner composition by Ma
Yuan, based on the On a Mountain Path in Spring