Page 434 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

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Shang Xi Little is known about Shang Xi except that he was noted as an animal and figure painter, but only
of his major works
survive.
some four
Puyang, now in southern
Hebei Province,
from
active c. 1425-0. 1450 just over fifty miles southeast of Anyang, last It is no coincidence that the huge scale, brilliant
GUAN Yu CAPTURING PANG DE capital of the Shang dynasty (trad. 1766 B.C.-1045 color, and theatrical figures in this painting recall
B.C.). By the Ming dynasty this region, the heart- the comparable world of the great Chinese novels,
c. 1430-1441 land of ancient China, had become artistically which were a literary innovation of the early
Chinese conservative. Shang Xi must have been recog- Ming dynasty. The subject is taken from the ear-
hanging scroll; ink and color on silk nized as a talented master to have been called to liest of these inventions, the Romance of the
3
200 x 237 f/8 /4 x 93 /4J the court of the Xuande emperor (r. 1425-1435) Three Kingdoms (San Guo Zhi Yan Yi) by Luo
2
references: Erewitt-Taylor 1925, 147-156; Cahill and to have been appointed Commander in the Guanzhong. Written in simple and accessible
1978, 25-26
Embroidered Uniform Guard. This, the emperor's literary style, tending even to the colloquial in
Palace Museum, Beijing personal bodyguard, functioned as a sinecure for passages of dialogue, Romance of the Three King-
the ruler's personal favorites, including profes- doms was based on the turbulent events of the
sional court musicians and painters. Shang was years 168-265 A.D., encompassing the breakdown
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