Explore key developments in the history and culture of China, from the arts and crafts of the Song Dynasty up to the present day.
China’s writing system was standardized in the third century BC and within a few hundred years calligraphy was appreciated as an art form as well as being a means of communication. By the eleventh century, writing with ink and brush was highly regarded as a means of self-expression and sometimes as a way to judge a man’s character and education.
The use of calligraphic lines in landscape painting means painting was also viewed in those terms. The associations of painting and calligraphy with scholarship and official life have always been close. The approaches to painting - particularly landscapes - of the Song dynasty were maintained and reworked by subsequent generations of artists so that aspects of Song brushwork, composition and calligraphy are evident even in works of the twentieth century.
Hanging scrolls
Bird paintings
Objects may have since been removed or replaced from a gallery. Click into an individual object record to confirm whether or not an object is currently on display. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis, so contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular Eastern Art object.
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