Two dynasties ruled China in this period: the Ming (1368 to 1644), founded after Mongol rule ended, and the Qing (1644 to 1912), founded by the Manchus from the northeast. Both built on the arts you met in Bronzes, Clay Soldiers and Porcelain and Chinese Landscape Painting.
The Forbidden City
The Ming Yongle emperor moved the capital to Beijing and built a vast walled palace there from 1406 to 1420. It was called the Forbidden City because ordinary people could not enter. Its halls stand on a north-south axis, one behind another, on white marble terraces, with yellow-glazed roof tiles, a color reserved for the emperor. The Hall of Supreme Harmony, the largest, where the emperor held great ceremonies, was rebuilt under the Qing in 1695 to 1697 after a fire. Wooden buildings like these were often rebuilt, keeping the old plan and forms. It is now the Palace Museum.
Looking closely: a Ming blue-and-white jar
Describe. A round porcelain jar is painted with a long, scaly dragon chasing through clouds, with bands of waves and petals at the neck and foot. Analyze. The blue was painted in cobalt on the raw white clay, then covered with a clear glaze and fired at very high heat, so the color lies under the glassy surface and cannot wear off. The dragon twists around the curve of the jar, so you must turn it, or walk around it, to follow its body. Interpret. The dragon was an imperial emblem. Blue-and-white porcelain from the kilns of Jingdezhen went to the court and was traded across Asia, to the Islamic world and later to Europe in huge quantities.
Key idea
The literati
Scholar-officials, the literati, painted as an expression of learning and character rather than as a trade. Shen Zhou (1427 to 1509), who never took office and lived near Suzhou, founded what is called the Wu school. In Poet on a Mountaintop, a small figure stands on a cliff above misty valleys; a poem written in Shen Zhou's hand fills the upper left. For the literati, poetry, calligraphy and painting were one art, and the brushstroke showed the person.
Why it works
Common mistake
Worked example: Ming or Qing?
- Kangxi ruled from 1661 to 1722.
- The Ming dynasty ended in 1644.
- So a genuine Kangxi mark points to the Qing dynasty.
Answer: No: it is Qing.