Page 138 - China, 5000 years : innovation and transformation in the arts
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Fig. 8. Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove and Rong
Qiqi. Six Dynasties (222-5Sg). Tomb mural of painted
bricks. Mt. Gong, Xislianqiao, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province.
tomb in Jiajiachong in Xiangfan, Hubei Province,
are markedly fuller (fig. 10). The amplitude ot the
earthen figures from that tomb is especially
noticeable. 8
III. Fig. 9. Figures. Liang dynasty (502—557). Stamped brick
with traces of pigment. Xuezhang village, Deng county,
Xiao Yan (r. 502—549), who founded the Liang Henan Province.
dynasty, adapted many institutions of the Southern
Qi dynasty, 9 and "for fifty years the south was Fig. 10. Figure of a civil official. Liang dynasty
Auneventful." 10 change in fashion at the southern (502—557). Pottery. Painted brick tomb, Jiajiachong,
Xiangfan, Hubei Province.
courts was reflected in artistic styles, namely, the
popularity of Zhang Sengyou's (act. ca. 500—ca. 550)
school of painting. Zhang Yanyuan praised Zhang
Sengyou's paintings of people as "marvelous" and
"wonderful," and he noted that "the Zhangs, father
and sons [Sengyou's sons Shanguo and Rutong] are
Hein the ultimate rank" (vol. 9, Lidai mingh.ua ji).
also cites this comment from the Duoyisliu
("Enumeration of the Myriad Arts") of Gao
Zongshi (649-683)" and from Li Sizhen (d. 696),
who compiled Paintings: 11
Gu and Lu are now gone, and in terms of being
the best, only Sengyou can claim to be a
worthy successor. Scholars of today look up to
him as they would to the Duke of Zhou and
Confucius. . . .Also, the attire of people drawn
by Gu and Lu is incomparable, to the point
where you notice little else. As for the
marvelous sense of bones in Zhang, he has
studied everything, so he is not only adept in
the Six Methods, he is actually marvelous in
every way. He has infinite variety, and an
abundance of forms, which are seen by his eye
and shaped in his palm; his hand responds to
every thought in his mind, till you sense that
here is a sage sent by heaven who can create as
ORIGINS AND TRENDS IN THE DEPICTION OF HUMAN FIGURES
