Art of China

Standing figure (Guanghan Sanxingdui, China), Shang

dynasty, c. 1200 BCE, bronze

Gong of animal forms (Anyang,

China), 12th or 11th century BCE,

bronze

Shang dynasty/ gong (guang)/ zoomorphic/

bilateral symmetry/ casting vs. firing/ varied animal motifs/

Chinese attitude toward nature

Bi (disk) (late Zhou

dynasty), 3rd to 4th century,

nephrite

Zhou dynasty/ bi disk/ use of

jade to suggest rank and status/

Chinese dragons

Above: k’uei dragonRight: lung dragon

Left: Rectangular “hu” vessel (Late Western Zhou period)

Below: Wine container of the “you” type, 10th century BCE

Soldiers of the Imperial Bodyguard, tomb of the Chinese emperor Shi Huangdi (Shaanxi, China)

c. 210 BCE, painted terracotta

6,000 lifesize terracotta soldiers used to convey power and authority/ soldiers facing eastward

Legalism/ model of the imperial palace

weapons of war

The Great Wall

Funeral banner from the Tomb of Dai

(Western Han dynasty), c. 168 BCE, painted silk

Han dynasty/ realms of heaven and earth

reappearance of a “bi”

the raven and the toad/ the Silk Road

Fragment of a stamped brick depicting the Queen of the

West seated on a tiger throne

and surrounded by the fox, the hare with the

herb of immortality, the

toad of the Moon, and the

raven

Incense burner, from the tomb of Prince Liu Sheng (Han dynasty),

113 BCE, bronze with gold inlay

Mythological scenes from the Wu family shrine (late Han dynasty), 147-168 CE, rubbing of a

stone relief

Confucian themes/ Yi, the

legendary archer, shoots at one of the sun-crows/ a Fusang tree/ contours of

figures suggesting

linear rhythm

Attributed to Gu Kaizhi. Lady Feng and the Bear, detail of Admonitions of the Instructress… (Period

of Disunity), late fourth century CE

Gu Zaizhi/ Period of Disunity/ the Chinese handsroll/ absence of a setting/ Xie He’s Six Laws