Tang dynasty painting
This dramatic development was a consequence of the era’s embrace of openness and exploration into novel materials and techniques, contributing to new styles in landscape painting.
[1] Literature on art, in addition to the increase in the range of colors, added to the development of painting, widening the artistic imagination.
Though the pioneer of Chinese court lady paintings was Mao Yanshou from the Han dynasty, the Tang dynasty court painters gave their works a unique look fusing Central Plain art with influences from Central Asia, Near East and other regions, reconceptualizing female beauty that went beyond canvases, to tomb murals, poems, and statuettes.
[3] A considerable amount of literary and documentary information about Tang painting has survived, but very few works, especially of the highest quality.
The Tang era, in terms of painting, was markedly characterized by the production of murals.One of the first landscape murals is located in Han Xiu's tomb.
[8] Before the Tang dynasty, tombs were treated to be extremely divine and auspicious, far removed from the concept of real space.
In contrast, the Tang dynasty started treating even earlier tombs as a foundation to experiment with new forms and styles of paintings.
[9] As the Tang empire grew in the seventh century, the government was required to gain extensive and in-depth knowledge and information about Central Asia, sending several emissaries to distant places, including Samarkand and Tokhara to understand arts and culture and draw maps of those places.
[9] In his journey to India with the Monk Wang Hsuan-tse, Sung Fa-chich, who was a craftsman drew pictures of popular icons, while a Khotanese painter, known by the name Wci-ch’ih Po-chih-na, painted foreign lands as well as Buddhist subjects when he visited the court of Sui Wen-ti.
[12] The great poet Wang Wei (王維) first created the brush and ink painting of shan-shui, literally "mountains and waters" (水墨山水畫).
The richness and extravagance of Tang tomb murals started getting revealed only with the beginning of their archaeological discoveries, otherwise, the study of the Tang dynasty art relied solely on attributed works in museums and the availability of copious Buddhist murals in the Dunhuang Cave Temples in Gansu.
In contrast, the excavated wall paintings are original and located in the ancient Tang capital of Zhangan while being dated securely.
[13] These tomb paintings have allowed in-depth analysis, as the burial date and the occupant’s identity are available as stone epitaphs.
Moreover, murals from the tombs of the Tang royal family members, particularly Prince Zhang Huai, Princess Yong Tai, and Prince Yi De, are of the best quality in a huge number[13].Tang dynasty ceramics were products as well as a medium for the dynasty to spread its paintings, arts, and culture.
The ceramics were hugely popular for their intricate paintings made using a number of techniques, including engraving and line drawing, wherein, flowers, animals, and people were the most common motifs, with a sharp focus on simple, natural, and elegant expression, all of which reflected society, culture, and aesthetic sensibility of the Tang dynasty.
[14] Countries along the Silk Road enriched the Tang dynasty with arts and ideas that could be incorporated into ceramic paintings.
