people cao family

8/10/2019 People Cao Family

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People

Qin Shi HuangdiLi SiWudi

Sima QianCao family

TaizongXuanzangWu Zetian

Li BaiHuizongSu ShiZhu Xi

Kublai KhanHongwuYongle

Head with green fleshtones, Qin dynasty, terracotta,

lacquer, pigment, Museum ofQin Terracotta Warriors andHorses, Lintong.


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Qin Shi Huangdi

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Archer, restored andphotographed in situ, Qindynasty, Pit 2 of the mausoleumof the first emperor, lacquered

and painted terracotta, Museumof Qin Terracotta Warriors andHorses, Lintong.

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Only in recentyears, and with the

use of variouschemical methods,

has it been possibleto reattach the

paint to theterracotta. The

archers wererestored in situ in

1999 using aprocedure

developedespecially for theterracotta army.

The two quadrigas as theywere found, in 1980, in the

western area of the mausoleumof the first emperor at Lintong,Shaanxi, Qin dynasty.

The emperor arranged tohave himself surrounded by

all the comforts that hewould require in the

afterlife; the two quadrigaswould prove useful for the

inspection trips he wouldtake in the other world.

The horse trappings andaccessories for the carts aredecorated with inlaid gold andsilver. Both carts were coveredby very thin bronze canopies.

Carts, charioteers, andhorses were all painted,increasing the realisticeffect of the quadrigas.

The two bronze single-shaftcarts, made to a scale of 1:2, are

perfectly working models thatreproduce the royal carriages

down to the smallest detail.

The three enormous pits of the mausoleum, containing morethan seven thousand terracotta soldiers, are famous throughoutthe world, but few know that the statues were all covered by anatural lacquer that had been applied as an undercoat for thelayer of paint made using precious mineral pigments.

When the statueswere removed from

the moist soil, thelayer of lacquer

dried out andflaked off the

surfaces, remainingstuck to the groundthat had held them

for more thantwo millennia.

As soon as he ascended the throne ofQin, in 246 BC, the first emperor hadwork begin on his tomb at Mount Li,near the capital of Xianyang. The workcontinued until 208 BC.

One of the quadrigas after

its restoration, Museum ofQin Terracotta Warriors andHorses, Lintong.


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Cao family

Top of the square table, Mingdynasty, 15th16th century,lacquered wood with inserts inmother-of-pearl, 52 cm high, LeeFamily Collection, Tokyo.

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Double page from the Romance ofthe Three Kingdoms, Ming dynasty,Ye Fengchun edition, 1548, RealBiblioteca del Escorial, Madrid.

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Warrior and strategist but also poetand reformer, the figure of Cao Cao

has fascinated Chinese historiansand literati, most of all beginning inthe Song epoch.

During the period of disorderfollowing the fall of the Han dynasty,

powerful men quickly rose to power invarious regions of China and struggled

to reunite the country, battling theirrivals in large fratricidal battles.

The scene depicts Cao Cao,standing, offering defeated

general Guan Yu a splendidpalace, a famous sorrel horse,

and brocaded clothing.

Historiography describes Cao Caoas a brilliant strategist, but the

noveland even more thetheatrical productionspresent himas a cruel and suspicious tyrant, a

personification of evil.

Cao Cao is one of the leadingcharacters in the Romance of the

Three Kingdoms, attributed to theman of letters Luo Guanzhong, and

is also among the traditionalcharacters in the musical theater

and opera of Beijing.

The novel, which tells of theperiod of wars that followed thefall of the Han dynasty in AD 220,reaches epic proportions; manyhistorical figures are endowedwith supernatural powers.

This incomplete example, todaypreserved in Spain, is the onlyknown version of this edition.The version on which Westerntranslations are based dates to

the early Qing period.The balustrade with stone pillarsmarks off the edge of the stoneterrace that served as the base fortimber constructions.


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Taizong

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The bearded man is playingthe pipa, a stringed instrument

originally from the Near East,while the woman holds a

small drum to strike with astick or by hand.

Taizongs cosmopolitan policiesare also revealed by such

measures as his officialrecognition, in AD 642, of themusic from Central Asia. At

Changan, ten orchestras weregranted permission to perform.

Pair of musicians, Tang dynasty,first half 7th century AD, glazedterracotta, 17 cm high, MuseGuimet, Paris.

Although he ascended the throne with a coup dtat, forcing his

father, former military commander under the short Sui dynasty

and then founder of the Tang dynasty, to abdicate in his favor,

the second Tang emperor, Taizong, is described by Confucian

historiography as one of Chinas most excellent rulers. A learnedman with a pragmatic approach to matters of general interest,

Taizong was open to criticism and new ideas. He strengthened

the organization of the national exam system, and having under-

stood the value of history as a tool of moral education and polit-

ical legitimization, he set up a

historiography office charged

with writing down histories of

preceding dynasties and mak-ing records of current events.

Chinas growing economy was

boosted by agrarian and fiscal

reforms that favored the well

being of the common people

and permitted the large-scale

expansion of the empire. With

the help of the military,

Taizong extended Chinese

domination to the areas of

todays Inner Mongolia and

Xinjiang; diplomatic contact

with bordering foreign powers

as well as with distant lands

contributed to Chinas fame as

the most highly evolved and

cosmopolitan power in theancient world.

Emperor

PeriodTang (AD 618907)

ReignAD 626649

Family nameLi

Given nameShimin

Temple nameTaizong

Posthumous nameEmperor Wen

TermsHistoriography Office(shiguan)Equal-field system(juntian)

Related entriesXuanzang, Wu Zetian,Officials and literati,Education and exams,Confucianism,Commerce, Changan

(Tang)

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Dynasties have always waxed and waned, but what deed of the

kings of old could compare with the emperor of Tang returning

to life? (Journey to the West)

Taizong

The two musicians, perhaps foundin the same tomb, are dressed in the

style of the Kucha oasis, withnarrow-sleeved, tight-fitting clothesand ample skirts that spread outaround the kneeling figures.

Vase with dragon-shape handles, Tangdynasty, 7th centuryAD, glazed terracotta,55 cm high, ShaanxiHistory Museum,

Xian.


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Taizong

The six war horses of theemperor Taizong, copies from theSong epoch (AD 973) of originalsdating to the Tang dynasty (circaAD 636645), stone bas-reliefs,each circa 170 x 220 cm, Forest ofStone Tablets Museum, Xian, andUniversity of PennsylvaniaMuseum, Philadelphia.

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The six horses were originallylocated in the northern area of thetomb of Emperor Taizong atZhaoling, in the area of Changan.

The subjects are carved with adynamic realism that displays boththe details of the saddles and themuscles of the horses in movement.

In AD 636 the emperor

asked the famous painterYan Liben to paint the sixhorses he had ridden duringthe military campaigns thathad preceded his ascent tothe throne. These portraitsserved as the models for thestone sculptures.

General Qiu Xinggong isdepicted withdrawing an arrowfrom the chest of an imperialhorse, wounded in battle.

The horses have fascinatingnames, such as Purple of theMisty Dew; their manes are

woven to form the so-calledthree flowers (sanhua),

indicating they belong to theimperial stables.

In 1914, a group of

smugglers broke the reliefswhile attempting to takethem to the United States.Two of the six sculptures

are today in Philadelphia,the others were taken to a

museum in Xian.


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In AD 641 Emperor Taizongreceived an emissary from thefirst king of Tibet, sent to escortPrincess Wencheng to Tibet.

Taizong

Yan Liben (attrib.), The EmperorReceives the Tibetan Ambassador(painted section), Tang dynasty, 7thcentury AD, horizontal scroll, inkand color on silk, 38.5 x 129 cm,Palace Museum, Beijing.

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The princess married the king of Tibet,following the matrimonial diplomacytradition of the Chinese emperors. The

union proved very happy, but other Chinesebrides were consumed by nostalgia for home

in the cold tents of their nomadic husbands.

Most of the figures are depictedwith subtle but homogeneousfeatures; the leading figures inthe work are given strikingly

individual features, while thefaces and clothes of the othersare not differentiated.

The attribution of an ancient workof art to any one artist is almostalways uncertain, given the habit ofartists of reproducing famous

paintings to closely study theirdetails and understand their essence.

Ambassador Ludongzan,depicted with two membersof his retinue, wears a longbrocade cloak and bears a

letter from the king.

Emperor Taizong, depictedlarger than his retainers, sitson a sedan chair carried bysix women; other womenhold large fans and a parasol.


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Xuanzang

Itinerant Monk (detail), endTang dynasty, 9th century, fromDunhuang, Gansu, ink and coloron paper, 49.6 x 29.4 cm, MuseGuimet, Paris.

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The Big Wild GoosePagoda (Dayanta), Tangdynasty, circa AD 652, brick,64 m high, Xian, Shaanxi.

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The stone architraves over theground-floor doors are decoratedwith motifs of Buddhist inspiration,which legend attributes to thefamous painter Yan Liben.

The pilgrimsfeatures arealmostcaricatural to

indicate hisforeign

provenance;thick lips oversquare teeth, alarge nose, andthick eyebrows.

A smallperfume holderhanging from achain fixed to a

stick swingsover a stack ofwritten scrolls,

apparentlysacred texts of

the Buddhistcanon that the

monk carrieslike a backpack.

The monk travels on a cloudaccompanied by a tiger and a smallmeditating Buddha seated onanother cloud. The striding figureexpresses vigor and dynamism.

Xuanzang wasnot the first

Chinese pilgrimon the SilkRoute: the

monk Faxianreached India

during his longtrip, from

399 to 413,followed in 518

by the monkHuisheng.

Inside, a windingwooden staircaseleads to theseventh floor.Beginning at asmall central spaceof each floor, fournarrow passageslead the visitor todoor windows,which open on thefour sides of the

construction.

The pagoda ispart of acomplex

dedicated to therulers mother

called theTemple of

Great Goodwill(Da Cien Si).

The pagodarises from itssquare base,

narrowingupward floor by

floor. Thebuilding has

been destroyedand rebuilt

several times,with two floorsbeing added to

the original five.

The texts brought by Xuanzangwere preserved in this pagoda, builtby the successor of Taizong.

In his left handhe holds aflyswatter,while his rightrests on awalking stick.


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Li Bai

Attributed in the past to DuDashou, The Poet Li Bai Drinkingwith the Emperor Minghuang,Ming dynasty, early 15th century,horizontal scroll, ink and color onsilk, 29.6 x 83 cm, Museum ofFine Arts, Julia BradfordHuntington James Fund, Boston.

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Two maid servants are busyheating the wine, made of grainsand always served warm.

Li Bais fondness for wine was thesubject of many legends. The stateof drunkenness not was deploredin China, being considered insteadone of the ways to stimulate the

free flow of creativity.

Du Fu, another great poet of theperiod, claimed that one cup ofwine was enough for Li Bai towrite one hundred poems.

The emperor, althoughrelaxed, sits composedly

on a stool in the innercourt of the palace; thepoet, without his outer

clothes, is sprawledacross a nearby bench.

Only once did Li Baiand Du Fu actually meet,but Du Fu, a poet ofdramatically realisticworks with an innovativeform, was profoundlystruck by the encounter.


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Huizong

Emperor Huizong, Five-coloredParakeet, calligraphic section,Northern Song dynasty, late11thearly 12th century, ink andcolor on silk, 52 x 125 cm,Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

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Huizong, Auspicious Cranes,painted section, Northern Songdynasty, late 11thearly 12thcentury, ink and color on silk,51 x 138 cm, ProvincialMuseum, Liaoning.

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The white wings of the cranes standout luminously against the bluebackground without need of furtherdefinition. The emperor adoptedthe boneless (mogu) style of

painting, which did without theclassic black outlines given figures.

Huizong wanted to commemorate

two propitious events that hadhappened in the capital ofKaifeng: the appearance of an

auspicious cloud (white edged inred) that enclosed the palaces of

the capital, and the flight of aflock of cranes across a clear sky.

The characters are composed ofsharply defined and vigorousstrokes, making them appearengraved rather than brushed onthe absorbent support.

The emperors paintings areequally lucid and precise, butalso so detailed they seem static,lacking the dynamic touch thatcharacterizes his calligraphy.

The emperors elegant and refinedtaste is best expressed in his

personal calligraphic style, knownas slender gold (shoujin).

The structure and proportionsare perfectly balanced, anddespite their markedly

personal style the charactersare easily legible.

The emperor took a personalinterest in the painting academy

he founded, sometimes instructingand correcting the painters and

often suggesting themes to workon, including auspicious events,

such as this work.

The unusual angle of the

painting reflects the emperorsrespect for the private life ofall citizens. He once severelycriticized a painter who haddepicted scenes of daily life

inside homes for havinginvaded privacy.


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Su Shi

Inkstone of Su Shi, shown topand bottom, Northern Songdynasty, 11th century, black stone,11.4 x 7.9 x 3.3 cm, NationalPalace Museum, Taipei.

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Su Shi, Old Pine and Rock,Northern Song dynasty, secondhalf 11th century, ink on paper,sine loco.

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The rock and tree seem to havebeen made in a single circular

gesture from left to right, ending inthe short lines that suggest driedbranches. The effect is dynamic andat the same time balanced.

The composition doesnot seem copied fromlife and correspondsinstead to a mental

image created by theartist, who had studiedand memorized forms tocreate an ideal image.

Two characters,dong jing (easternsource), engravedon the raised edge,refer to the famousman of letters, whochose EasternSlope (Dongpo) as

his nom de plume.

Carved from a single piece,Su Shis inkstone has a slighthollow in the front part wherethe ink stick was rubbed.

A few drops ofwater are poured

onto the stone withgrindings from an

inkstick, and inkcollects in the

hollow rear of thestone, enclosed bya raised border.

An inscription onthe front sidehighlighted in

gold leaf repeatswords from

EmperorQianlong of the

Qing dynasty,thus supportingthe presumed

provenance ofthe stone.

The inkstone wasa very personalobject and afundamental toolto the Chineseliterati, and itsusefulness countedas much as thesimple eleganceof its shape.

Several calligraphic works by SuShi have survived, but of his

paintings in black ink there isonly this one black-and-white

photograph; all trace of the workwas lost several decades ago.

Su Shi wrote, In the momentin which you take brush in

hand, staring fixedly, what youwish to paint will appear before

your eyes, and you must get upin a hurry to pursue it.

The moment of inspirationdistinguished painter-literati from painter-artisans, a distinction

created by Su Shi thatbecame fundamental tothe history of Chinese

painting in later dynasties.


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Kublai Khan

Portrait of the Empress Zhabi,Consort of Shizu (Kublai Khan),Yuan dynasty, 13th century,album leaf, ink and color on silk,

61.5 x 48 cm, National PalaceMuseum, Taipei.

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Liu Guandao, Kublai KhanHunting, Southern Song dynasty,dated 1200, vertical scroll, ink and

color on silk, 182.9 x 104.1 cm,National Palace Museum, Taipei.

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The genre of portraiture of the imperial familybegan taking shape during the Song period andwas continued during the Mongol domination,reflecting the identity of the foreigners, madeclear in their facial features and clothing.

It seems the emperor truly lovedhis consortwhich did not preventhim from frequenting concubinesand that her death threw him intoa state of grave depression.

Beginning in the10th century therepresentation ofthe life andcustoms ofnomadic peoplesbecame acommon

pictorial genre.Among that

genres favorite

subjects werehunting andhorseback sports,

pastimes theChinese hadabandoned afterthe 8th century.

Perhaps the

painter intendedto emphasizethe emperors

Mongolianorigin. The

subject of thepainting itself

must haveseemed strangeto the Chinese,but in addition

there is the

presence of awoman alongwith men of

clearly foreignextraction.

The imperial familywas careful to

maintain Mongolhabits and customs,in part because theywere deeply tied tothem and in part toavoid being seen as

having betrayedtheir culture in theeyes of the Mongol

aristocracy.

The portraits of theMongol emperorswere held in state

temples dedicated toLamaism, which had

become the officialreligion of the

Mongols in 1253.

The painteremphasizes

the emperorsregality in

every detailbut presentshim busy inan informalactivity in awild setting,

thus breakingwith the

schemes ofroyal

portraitureknown until

then.

A hunting dog, a felinecrouching behind a rider,and a falcon resting on thehand of a rider accompanythe men during their hunt.


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Hongwu

Commemorative stele to theemperor Hongwu, Ming dynasty,

1405, stone, 8.8 m high, Xiaolingtomb complex, Sifangcheng, Nanking.

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Geomancers identified aspot in the PurpleMountains (Zhongshan) asthe ideal location to erectthe tomb. The site wasthen occupied by the LingGu monastery, founded inthe 6th century, but theemperor had it relocatedto the north.

The turtle is the animal of the north,symbol of long life and constancy.The turtles that support imperialcommemorative steles often havedragon-shaped heads.

Hongwus tombcomplex, built between1381 and 1383, is near

Nanjing, the city that hechose, as first emperor

of the Ming dynasty, ashis capital.

This enormous stele isenclosed within the wallsof a pavilion that long agolost its original timberroof; it marks thebeginning of the SacredWay that leads to thetomb complex.

The stele was erected by Hongwusson, the emperor Yongle, three

years after his illicit appropriationof the throne, and it commemorates

the deeds and virtues of his father.

Last of the Four great mastersof the Yuan dynasty, WangMeng made liberal use ofstylistic elements andtechniques from the entirehistory of Chinese landscape

painting to develop his ownexpressive style, admired andimitated by later painters.

Wang Meng was one of themany literati who sufferedharsh punishments followingthe installation of the Ming:

imprisoned for havinglooked at paintings togetherwith another man latercondemned for treason, hehimself died in prison.

The paintings madeafter the foundation

of the dynasty in1368 are dense,

almost obsessive intheir tendency to

completely cram the

surface, whereas thislandscape is given

luminosity andbreadth by its few

empty spaces.

The human presence is limitedto small huts located on theedges of the composition.

The famous criticDong Qichang

(15551636) saidof this painting,Master Wangsbrushstrokes arestrong enough to

lift a tripod; for fivehundred years there

has been no onelike him.

Wang Meng, The QingbianMountains, Ming dynasty, dated

1366, ink on paper, 141 x 42 cm,Shanghai Museum.


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Zheng He returned from his firstexpedition with two giraffes, highly

prized by the Chinese because theywere associated with the unicorn, a

mythical animal that signaled thepresence of a wise and benevolent ruler.

Yongle

Dish with scalloped rim, Mingdynasty, early 15th century,cloisonn, 15.2 cm diam.,

Metropolitan Museum of Art,New York.

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Tribute Giraffe with Attendant,Ming dynasty, dated 1414,vertical scroll, ink and color on

silk, 171.5 x 53.3 cm,Philadelphia Museum of Art.

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Lotus flowers inred, blue, yellow,and white standout against a

background ofdeep turquoise,surrounded byvolutes of greenleaves.

The technique of cloisonn consistsin the creation of decorative designson a metal vessel by solderingcopper or bronze wires to it andfilling the areas with a colored-glass

paste that is then melted when thevessel is fired at a temperature ofabout 800C.

It is not known when the CentralAsian technique of cloisonn was

introduced to China, but theoldest examples known todaydate to the early 15th century.

The metallic wire of thisplate has been gilded

along the scalloped edges,on the two inner circles,

and along the entire base.

Initially condemned as vulgarand showy, cloisonn wares

were highly appreciated in thesecond half of the Ming dynasty

as well as during the Qing.

Between 1414and 1433 theMuslim eunuch

Zheng He(13711435),nominatedadmiral of theChinese fleet bythe emperorYongle, ledseven large-scale navalexpeditions,reaching Indiaand Persia and

going as far asAfrica.

At leastsixty-two

transoceanicships, each

more than 400feet long with

holds largeenough for1,500 tons,

accompaniedby more thanone hundred

smaller ships,carried crews

numberingmore than30,000.

EmperorYongle clearly

intended to usethis enormous

fleet to makeclear the gloryand power of

the new China,which had freed

itself fromforeign ruleonly a few

years earlier

For the first timedirect officialcontacts were

made betweenthe Chinese

court andseveral African

countries,which sent

ambassadors

and preciousgifts to Beijing.

Despite thediplomatic andcommercialsuccessesobtained by thefleet, the mostmodern of itstime, the costlytrips werecriticized afterthe death ofYongle andwere ultimately

suspended afterthe final 1433expedition, inwhich theelderly admiraldied.

people cao family

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