The study of ancient Chinese art is attended by discouraging
uncertainties. Only a few bronzes, jades, and possibly a small quantity
of pottery, have survived to testify to the early development of art in
China. To add to the difficulty, the exact dating of this material is at
best only tentative. But whether the most ancient of these bronzes and
jades are to be attributed to the Shang Dynasty (1766-1122 B. C.) or, with
more probability, to the succeeding Chou Dynasty (1122-255), the technical
skill which they display postulates so long a period of preparation that
the origins of Chinese art must be referred to a past too remote for our
present discernment. With the Han Dynasty (B. C. 206-221 A. D.), we find
ourselves on surer ground, since many works of art of various kinds and
materials, and unquestionably of this era, have come down to us. Not only
bronzes and jades but also pottery and sculpture bear witness to the
flourishing art of this period. During the Han Dynasty, probably in the
first century of our era, Buddhism reached China from India. It does not
appear, however, to have exerted much influence upon the arts until about
the V century. The Han Dynasty was followed by a succession of shorter
reigns known as the Three Kingdoms and the Six Dynasties.
Early in the VII century, the great house of T’ang (618-907) came to
power, and for three hundred years held sway over a vast empire. It was
the period of China’s greatest external power; the period of her greatest
poetry; and of her grandest and most vigorous, if not, perhaps, her most
perfect art. The surviving works of art of this era are far from
numerous, but they are sufficient to warrant the belief that China, except
in the field of ceramic art, rarely if ever surpassed the achievements of
this golden age. Chinese Buddhist sculpture attained its noblest
development in the T’ang period. As to T’ang painting—unfortunately,
surviving examples are of the utmost rarity—it is characterized by austere
beauty and spiritual elevation. Admirable also are the productions of the
metal worker, the weaver, and the potter.
A short period of half a century succeeded the fall of the T’ang Dynasty.
We come then to another of the great periods of Chinese civilization, that
of the Sung Dynasty (960-1280). From now on, surviving monuments permit
us greater certainty in studying the continuous development of Chinese
art. Under the Sung emperors we find a complex civilization marked by
luxury of living, refinement and elegance of taste. These characteristics
are reflected in the arts. Although religeous painting was largely
practiced, Sung artists show a predilection for landscape and for subjects
allied to landscape, such as birds and flowers. Exceptional qualities of
poetic imagination, observation of nature and technical proficiency
characterize these paintings. Achievements in the field of minor arts are
conspicuous; in particular, we may note the productions of potters.
The Sung Dynasty was succeeded by that of the Mongol invaders who founded
the Yuan Dynasty (1280-1368). With the art of this period, the decline
begins. The Mongols were followed by a native dynasty, the Ming
(1368-1644), under whom the art of porcelain making began to progress
rapidly toward perfection. Ming paintings show an excessive refinement,
an elegance that is not without its charm, but they lack the nobility and
spirituality of the earlier periods. In the Ch’ing, or Manchu, Dynasty
(1644-1912), under the Emperors K’ang Hsi and his grandson, Ch’ien Lung,
the art of porcelain manufacture and decoration reached its apogee.
Today, after forty centuries of liberal harvest, the art soil of China
would seem to be sterile and abandoned.