Paintings on Silk and Paper...a continuation of Early Chinese Art
   Chinese Zodiac Ox    

Recent "ox" years:
1961, 1973, 1985
 2009 Chinese New Year

Year of the Ox
(begins January 26, 2009

Those born in ox years tend to be painters, engineers, and architects. They are stable, fearless, obstinate, hard-working and friendly.

Jack Nicholson, Jane Fonda, Walt Disney and Anthony Hopkins were all born in the year of the ox.

In the Chinese calendar, the year "2009" is the year 4707!
Chinese handscrolls are viewed at leisure by unrolling slowly.  The handscrolls show courtly life, the beauty of nature, or, combined with original poetry, become private expressions to be shared in intimate circles.  Hanging and handscrolls inspired by Buddhism also become an act of meditation.
Banquet Scene with a Female Musician, Song Dynasty painting.
Ladies Preparing Silk, Northern Song Dynasty painting.
"Banquet Scene with Female Musician" is a Song Dynasty copy of a 10th Century handscroll by Gu Hongzhong.
"Ladies Preparing Silk," attributed to the Emperor Huizong, Northern Song Dynasty, early 12th Century.  Handscroll, ink and colors on silk.
Boston Museum of Fine Art
Both silk and paper were prepared for painting with a thin slip -- a fine coating of clay or plaster, to create a smooth and firm ground for painting.
Detail of a painting by Han Kan, depicting a horse.
Detail of a painting by Han Kan, a celebrated painter of the court, c.742-756.  "Night-Shining White"  is described as the favorite mount of the Tang Emperor Ming-huang.  The work is a handscroll, in ink on paper.
Metropolitan Museum of Art 
Chinese -- and Japanese -- artists painted the landscape with the foreground at the bottom of the pictorial plane, the middle ground in the center and separated by soft and misty colors, objects and lines, and the distance at the top.
Painting from the Northern Song Dynasty

Detail of a 12th Century Southern Song Dynasty painting.
  "Early Spring," by Guo Xi, 1072 ce (Northern Song (Sung) Dynasty.  Hanging Scroll, ink and slight color on silk. 60" Long.
National Palace Museu, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Above is a detail of the Emperor Ming-huang's "Flight to Shu," 12th Century, Southern Sung Dynasty.  Hanging scroll, ink and colors on silk,  32 5/8" X 44 3/4".
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Examine this exhibit entitled
"The Splendors of Imperial China:  Treasures from the National Palace Museum, Taipei."
To write your name in Chinese and to hear how it sounds, click on the URL below:   http://www.mandarintools.com/chinesename.html
Page Updated 1/12/09
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Copyright M. Hoover and San Antonio College, August, 2001.  All rights reserved.