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This piece is called the Ding' Ritual Food Vessel with 'Taotie' Decor made in the Shang dynasty. It does not seem to have a creator listed. It was a ritual vessel from china made from cast bronze. The carvings and detailing's on the ritual bronze were made to honor the ancestors and they were often buried in tombs. There were a variety of shapes and sizes to them, and many were made with bronze castings.

The Shang Dynasty is regarded as one of the bronze age dynasties.  The kings ruled from a succession of capitals with a wide culture. The kings claimed authority by saying that they were intermediaries between the human and supernatural. They also had the earliest known form of the Chinese character system. They originated as pictographs or ideographs. We use aspects of this in modern Chinese and they are a combination of a radical and a phonetic. There were many tombs that revealed the great warrior like culture. There were many objects and statues inside that showcased their wealth and they revered the dead. They also had piece moulid casting for their bronze pieces. They were connected to ritual practices and could be used for food and wine offerings. Some even had the shape of animals. In the textbook it states "Shang priests communicated with the supernatural world through oracle bones." This became the earliest known form of Chinese writing. I find it interesting that they would use turtle shells and bones to communicate with the supernatural. I wonder if there was a connection between animals and the supernatural.

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This piece is called Bell (bo zhong) and it is a ceremonial object. It is a bronze bell from the Zhou Dynasty. There does not seem to be a creator listed but it is from China. I chose this piece to show what the bell looked like and this would have been one of many for the full set. Music was very important because a full set of the instrument was found within the emperors tomb. The detailing's and handle shape were also used a lot on ritual objects during this period.
The Zhou Dynasty conquered the Shang dynasty around 1100 BCE. They had a feudal society or had nobles that were related to the king that ruled over small states. Kings would rule as son of heaven and later dynasties followed that ideology. This was the longest lasting Chinese Dynasty but they suffered a defeat in 771 BCE. After that defeat, their authority was crippled and during the period between 722-481 BCE called the Autumn period, there were 7 powers. The 7 powers created a warring states period 481-221 BCE. There were great philosophers during this time of Confucius, Laozi Mozi and Zhuangzi. Bronze bells called Carillons may have been used in rituals and there was a greater emphasis placed on music. In the textbook it states "Nevertheless, elaborate burials on an even larger scale than before reflected the continuation of traditional beliefs." I feel like since each Dynasty grew in power and influence, burials became a way to show that off. In each dynasty afterwards, they became grander, and were filled with all of the new innovations and ideas of the era.

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This object is a Banliang coin made during the Qin dynastty. There is not an artist listed for this piece. The left the character is Ban and to the right it is Liang. This is a half ounce coin. I chose this piece because it is the coinage that the Qin dynasty standardized during its rule. They also standardized writing, as it is printed on the coin. They also had the same shape for their coins.
The state of Qin launched military campaigns over the other states and won by 221 BCE. China was united under a single ruler, emperor Qin. His rule was harsh and repressive, under legalism. They banned every other philosophy burned books and the scholars. He sought immortality and started his own mausoleum even before uniting China. China was divided established centralized beaurocracy with the country divided into provinces /prefectures. They also created a unified writing and coinage standard. The great wall was also created during this time. The dynasty ended in 206 BCE from rebellion. This was also the terracotta soldier army and showcased Chinas ceramic art. The textbook states "Thus did the tomb’s architects try literally to ensure that the underworld—the world of souls and spirits—would match the human world." Were they trying to say that the human world was the underworld? Or were we simply the mirror to the ideas. They did need a template to create the tomb after all.

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This piece is called Transmission of Dead to Heaven painted funerary banner. It is painted on a silk banner and there is no author listed for it. This piece was found in the tomb of Lady Dai. It is made during the Han period. This is an important piece because it is the earliest known portrait of Chinese painting. It shows the underworld and it shows a turn to naturalistic styles. It is also one of the best preserved pieces from that period.
The next emperor was the commander who overthrew the last one and they created the Han dynasty from 206-220 CE. There was peace prosperity and stability while also taking over parts of central Asia. This then led to the Silk road and they traded spices and silks all the way to Greece and Rome. This was the dawn of the Mythocentric age or when human and supernatural worlds blended. Daoism is the outlook that merges the  universe and humankind. Chinese Philosopher Laozi created the Daodejing. Zhuangzi explored those ideas too in a book named  after himself.  Their ideas were explored and taught in schools during this period. Confucianism is rational political philosophy and Daoism is intuitive philosophy. Daoism is the relationship of nature and humans as well as harmony of the Dao. They also searched for immortality as stated in the textbook with "Daoist adepts experimented with diet, physical exercise, and other techniques in the belief that immortal life could be achieved on earth." I am not sure why they would want to achieve immortality, because it has to become boring after a while. Maybe they would have continued on their pursuit of Daoism and different philosophies. Diet has been shown to extend the health and longevity of a person though.

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Gu, Kaizhi, 344-405. Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies: det.: fourth scene. [handscroll]. Retrieved from https://library-artstor-org.dvc.idm.o

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this piece is called Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies: det.: fourth scene and it was made by Gu, Kaizhi. It is painted on silk and it was made during the six dynasties period. This is an example of the calligraphy at the time, and it is in a vertical style. I think that this piece depicts life movement because these women are doing something they do every day, their hair. It is a scene of motion, ash shown buy how they sit and the hand that does the hair. It is a naturalistic style. I am also sure that they colors were a lot more vibrant in the past.
China splintered into three warring kingdoms, reunited briefly in 280 Ce then fell apart again. Then it became Northern and Southern china, with 16 different kingdoms, and after that 6 dynasties or the southern and Northern Dynasties. The Confucian system lost influence lost influence and instead turned to Daoism.  This was only available  to the elite, which were educated.  Buddhism flourished during this turbulent time period though. It was a consolation for the war-torn era. Painting was something that flourished during this time period and the main focus was landscapes. The ideals were spirit conscience and life movement. It would then be infused into their work. The textbook states "They wandered the landscape, drank, wrote poems, practiced calligraphy, and expressed their disdain for the social world through willfully eccentric behavior." I feel like this would be a path of spiritualism. I am not exactly sure what counts as eccentric behavior though. Calligraphy was just as important.  It was definitely shown when the textbook states "Each brushstroke is a vehicle of expression; it is through the vitality of a painter’s brushwork that “spirit consonance” makes itself felt." In Chinese writing and calligraphy, each stroke has a specific order and direction to the stroke. If you are off by a bit, it is no longer the same word. Each stroke has a purpose.

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This piece is titled Famous Buddhist Images and does not have a creator listed. It was made during the Sui/Tang period. It is made of silk. I chose this image because ti showed how Buddhism was important during the period. Although there was a lot of time damage to this piece, the parts that we see are simpler than other dynasties but it conveys the spirit of the piece without lots of line detailing. I do wonder if this was made along the silk road though.
A general of the last dynasty replaced the child emperor to form the sui dynasty. He defeated all opposition to mould the empire like Han times. He was a Buddhist and he fuse several styles together into the Amitabha Buddha.  The Sui Dynasty fell in 618 but paved the way for the Tang Dynasty.  During this period, Buddhism reached the greatest development and Bushism was the most widespread accepted faith. Dunhuang was a major stop in the silk road and it was 500 caves in the cliffs. It was worked on for about 1,000 years, filled with art, paintings and statues. The textbook states "Confucianism was reasserted and Buddhism was briefly suppressed as a “foreign” religion. Thousands of temples, shrines, and monasteries were destroyed and innumerable bronze statues melted down." From this, we can conclude that we lost a vast amount of history and art. This is not a new occurrence in history, because you can re write history to whatever you want it to be if there was no remnants of the past. The Nanchang temple did survive and it shows the characteristics of the Tang dynasty. Many paintings of the Tang dynasty were lost but we have copies form the Song Dynasty.  During the Tang period, the silk roads emerged, spreading goods, ideas and trade. Many were curious about china and in turn were curious about foreigners. When the book states "Goods, ideas, and influence flowed along the Silk Road. " there was a lot of new ideas coming in. This is when China became a melting pot of ideas and concepts, further expanding their ideas of the universe.

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Ma Yuan. (Southern Song dynasty (1127?1279), late 12th?early 13th century). Scholar by a Waterfall. [Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects]. Retrieved from ht

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This piece is called Scholar by a Waterfall by Ma Yuan. It is an ink piece on silk during the Song dynasty. I chose this piece because it showed naturalism, and the detailing of the leaves stood out to me. Also with the distance foreshadowing of the background, with the waterfall in the back appearing shaded but the tree and rock very bold in the front. It shows neo Confucianism because it shines through the landscape. The mountain shows all of the mountains in the background as it stands firm, and it shows a scholar simply existing withing the space.
The song dynasty reunited China in 960-1279. During tis period, it had a weakened military and the overall feel of the era was introspective. The Jurchen tribes invaded in 1126 and took the northern part. This is called the southern song 1127-1279 while before in 960-116 it was the northern song. They had more wealth in this era because of agriculture, commerce and technology advances. The arts flourished and this was a period of refined taste and intellectual grandeur. Philosophy also experienced a creative era as well as the scholarship history and poetry. During this period scholars wanted to restore Confucianism so they drew on the Daoist and Buddhist ideas. It gave a new metaphysical aspect to it so it became neo Confucianism. The textbook states this wit "Neo-Confucianism teaches that the universe consists of two interacting forces known as li (principle or idea) and qi (matter). " As an example pine trees contain li as do humans nd it is present in every object We would ideally rid of qi impurities through self cultivation towards enlightenment. The art was visually expressed through landscape and they studied nature to accurately represent it as it was a form of self cultivation. They strived to paint the essence of the painting itself. The textbook also states  "The artist’s goal was to paint the eternal essence of “mountain-ness,” for example, not to reproduce the appearance of a particular mountain." You should be able to look at the brush strokes and the way the image is portrayed and be able to see a grand mountain. It doesn't matter where it is, it is a mountain. It is making it recognizable as in having embodied the spirit of the object. The art style moved from mythical to philosophical/aesthetic. The goal is to show the total sum of what we cannot even see. Xia Gui presents a different style in southern song painting though. He used subtility and bolded in details to show through a mist. Although simpler, the strokes used conveyed more meaning. The Dynasty fell in 1279.