Art

As a way of introducing some major topics in the early history of Chinese art, this chapter analyzes fifteen objects chosen from a range of art forms, including ceramics, jade, bronze, silk, lacquer, painting, and beautiful writing. The objects are grouped according to three successive epochs of Chinese history and discussed in chronological order. A focus on materials will help us attend to the dialogue between what the artist thinks and what his or her hands do. Connections between the history of art and the history of technology emerge naturally from such a focus. Important also are the purposes of patron and artist, in other words the functions that the works were designed to serve. What audience were they aimed at and what impact were they meant to have? Contrasts among the objects will raise other further issues, including broad change over time, artistic exchanges between media and between regions, and the regional diversity natural in a land as vast as China.