Page 5 - Art of the Ming and Qing Dynasty by Johnathan Hay

of Lu, Zhu Tan (ca. 1390), which are also thought to have been made under imperial

direction, show a similar move away from the Yuan interest in lively novelty toward a
stricter decorative aesthetic. The recorded anecdotes attesting to Zhu Yuanzhang's puritan
distrust of luxury thus seem to find a certain echo in the visual evidence.
Yongle and Xuande. The Yongle period contrasts sharply with Hongwu in the court's
artistic achievement. Not only was the Ming now solidly established, but the new ruler, Zhu

Di, was ideologically subtle and culturally aware. Under his patronage, Yongle court art saw
the revival of Song ideals as a general framework within which Mongolian, Tibetan and even
Islamic ideas could find a place as diplomacy required: a grand synthesis through art of

imperial history and geography. The emperors immediately following Yongle did not have
enough time to make their mark. The Xuande emperor, however, more aesthetically than
ideologically inclined, oversaw a change from the relative austerity of Yongle to a rich and
colourful version of the same aesthetic appropriate to a more settled period. China's rulers
from 1436 to 1464 seem to have followed the Xuande lead on a more frugal basis, no doubt

dictated by the economic depression of mid-century.
THE PALACE ENVIRONMENT. The central event in the creation of a Ming
dynastic style was the establishment of a new capital in the north, displacing Nanjing as the

main seat of government. Since the move by its very nature required a new palace and ritual
sites, it lent itself to centralization. As the Prince of Yan, Zhu Di had previously been
enfeoffed at the former Yuan capital, Dadu, which provided his power base in the overthrow
of Zhu Yuanzhang's designated heir in 1403. Moreover, there were strategic reasons for
favoring a capital at this site, which permitted an activist emperor to keep a close watch on

China's vulnerable northern borders. Zhu Di was already planning a move northwards early
in his reign, and by 1420 the ruined Yuan capital had been rehabilitated for Ming imperial
use as the Northern Capital, Beijing.

The primary focus of the construction activity was, naturally, the new palace, here too
named the Polar Forbidden City (472, 474). Its formal plan, still largely visible today, was
developed in response to three different models. Since its site overlapped that of the Yuan
palace complex, the basis of a plan already existed, as did building materials which could be
re-used or reworked. However, as in the case of the first Ming palace in Nanjing, the

planners also looked back to the Song for the idea of a long, impressive extension of the
north-south axis of the palace to the south. This made the palace the culmination of a south-
north journey, symbolically interpreted as an ascent toward the Son of Heaven. Finally, earth

from the construction of a defensive moat around the palace complex (a Yongle innovation)
was used to create a hill immediately to the north, as the center of an imperial garden. This
placed the Polar Forbiden City in the geomantically protective shadow of a mountain,