Читать книгу Chinese Art - Stephen W. Bushell - Страница 8

In 960, the Sung Dynasty reunited, the greater part of China proper, shorn of its outer dominions. The rule of the Sung has been justly characterised as a protracted Augustan era, its inclinations being peaceful, literary, and strategical rather than warlike, bold, and ambitious. Philosophy was widely cultivated, large encyclopedias were written, and a host of voluminous commentaries on the classics issued from the press, so that the period has been summed up in a word as that of Neo-Confucianism. The emperor and high officials made many collections of books, pictures, rubbings of inscriptions, bronze and jade antiquities, and other art objects of which important illustrated catalogues still remain, although the collections have long since been dispersed. During this time, the Chinese intellect seems to have become crystallised, and Chinese art gradually developed into the lines which it still, for the most part, retains.

Anonymous court artist, Portraits of the Kangxi Emperor in court dress (1662–1722), early 18th c. Hanging scroll, ink and colour on silk, 278 × 143 cm. Palace Museum, Peking.