Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Beauties and Heroes: Legends and Stories in Chinese Art

(from 21st Jan until 15th Jul 2012)

Explore paintings, prints and papercuts depicting legendary figures from Chinese folklore.

See all 38 related objects

Detail of Heroes from The Water Margin, by Shi Dawei, Shanghai, 2003 (Museum No: EA2007.194)

Skip timeline

Help
Hide
Maximise
Timeline

This is a visual browsing tool that maps objects in this publication, gallery or collection trail by date of creation onto a timeline.
The circular markers indicate where objects are on the timeline.
- The size of the markers indicates the relative number of objects at that point on the timeline.
- over over a marker to find out which objects are represented at that point in time.
To expand, collapse or hide the timeline, click these symbols found at the top right of the timeline.

1610
1630
1650
1670
1690
1710
1730
1750
1770
1790
1810
1830
1850
1870
1890
1910
1930
1950
1970
1990
2010

All Objects

You can drag these handles to filter your results by time Close

back to list

Introduction

Legends and stories have been represented in houses, temples and tombs for more than 2000 years in China. These images of beauties and heroes are not realistic portraits, but illustrate scenes of classic literature, frozen moments of theatrical plays, or snapshots of imaginary worlds in folklore. Many of these paintings serve a similar function to traditional Chinese performance art to teach history and moral standards. Some are closely connected to festivals, such as the New Year celebration, as a way to bring good fortune.

These paintings are designed to be read, not only as iconography but also literally, with the help of inscribed poetry, quotations from literature, or artists’ scholarly comments. The visual-textual tradition of representation also goes beyond China to other East Asian cultures, and remains one of the major differences from Western art.

Join us in celebrating the Chinese New Year with this online version of Beauties and Heroes for Eastern Art Online. Visitors can browse, search and explore the high-quality zoomable images of the paintings, prints and papercuts of legendary figures from Chinese folklore on display in the Ashmolean's Chinese Paintings Gallery.