East Asian Art

Buddhist monastery in a small valley on the left bank of the River Indus, c. 64 km west of Leh in Ladakh, India. Tradition attributes the monastery’s origin to the Tibetan scholar and temple-builder Rinchen Sangpo (ad 958–1055), the ‘great translator’, and although its buildings mostly date from the 11th century, the site is replete with his memory, from the ancient tree he planted to his portraits and images in the temples. A treasure-house of art, Alchi has been preserved because of its isolation from trade routes and the decline of its community, the monks of the Dromtön sect of the Kadampa order....

Bazaar, which is rooted in Middle Persian wāzār and Armenian vačaṟ, has acquired three different meanings: the market as a whole, a market day, and the marketplace. The bazaar as a place is an assemblage of workshops and stores where various goods and services are offered....

Japanese centre of ceramics production. High-fired ceramic wares were manufactured from the end of the 12th century in and around the village of Inbe, Bizen Province (now Okayama Prefect.). This region had been a centre for manufacturing Sue-style stonewares and Haji-style earthenwares from the 6th century ...

Chinese, 12th – 13th century, male.

Painter. Figures.

Song dynasty.

Bo Liangyu was a member of the academy of painting during the reign of Emperor Ningzong (1195-1225). He devoted himself to painting Taoist and Buddhist figures.

Chinese painter . His paintings of landscapes, figures, flowers, fruit and birds apparently ranged in size and format from large screens to handscrolls, album leaves and fans. The critic Zhao Xigu ( fl 1180–1240) considered Zhao Boju the best of all Southern Song (1127–1279...

Chinese painter . Although documented primarily as a painter of plum blossom, he is also reported to have specialized in the human figure and to have painted bamboo, pine trees, rocks and narcissus. Xia Wenyan, writing in 1365, noted Yang’s personal integrity in refusing to serve the government of the Song dynasty (...

Chinese, 11th – 12th century, male.

Born 1053, in Juye (Shandong); died 1110.

Painter. Figures, landscapes, animals.

Chao Buzhi was a scholar-official and poet. He also painted figures, animals and trees.

Chinese, 11th – 12th century, male.

Born 1059; died 1129.

Painter.

Chao Shuozhi painted landscapes and wild geese. He was the brother of the painter Chao Buzhi.

Beijing (NM): Gathering of Herons and Geese in a River in Autumn (handscroll, with three inscriptions dated 1132...

Japanese, 12th century, male.

Born 1091; died 1152.

Painter. Religious subjects.

Fujiwara no Chinkai was a priest at the Zenriji temple in Yamashiro. One of his favourite subjects was Tokai Monju (the Buddha Monju crossing the waves).

Chinese painter . He was the son of an Academy painter, Yan Zhong, originally from Shanxi Province; Yan Zhong served under Emperor Huizong (reg 1101–25) and moved south to serve under Emperor Gaozong (reg 1127–62). Yan Ciping served as daizhao (‘painter in attendance’) under the latter and his successor ...

Chinese, 12th century, male.

Activec.1110-1125.

Born in Kaifeng (Henan).

Painter. Animals, flowers.

Dai Yuan painted flowers and birds, and was a favourite of the Song Emperor Huizong (1101-1126). He was a member of the Hanlin academy.

New York (Metropolitan Mus. of Art): ...

Chinese, 12th century, male.

Painter, critic.

Song dynasty.

Deng Chun was a scholar-official who came to know painting at a very young age thanks to his family’s extensive art collection. He was the author of the most important history of art of the Southern Song dynasty, the ...

Chinese painter. He was probably born around the time of the fall of the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127), after which the Song court moved to Lin’an (modern Hangzhou). Li Di’s activity as a court painter is documented in a small number of dated works from the period ...

Site of Buddhist cave sanctuaries located 25 km south-east of the county town of Dunhuang, Gansu Province, China. In the wider definition Dunhuang also includes the Yulin caves at Anxi and the Xi qianfo dong (Western Cave of the Thousand Buddhas). From the 4th century to the 14th, Buddhist cave sanctuaries were continuously carved out in four or five tiers on the cliff face of an alluvial hill that faces east over the Dang River. At its height as a Buddhist complex in the 8th century ...

Centre of ceramics production in Japan, based on some 20 kiln sites 7 km north-west of the city of Takefu (Fukui Prefect.). Echizen is known as one of Japan’s ‘Six Old Kilns’. It is one of three centres that arose in the area (the others being Kaga and Suzu) in the 12th century in response to increased agricultural production. Ceramics appeared in Fukui Prefecture in the 6th century ...

School of Japanese sculpture that flourished during the 12th century. It was founded by and named after Ensei (d 1134) and was one of the two major schools of Japanese Buddhist sculpture of the later Heian period (794–1185), the other being the ...

Chinese, 12th century, male.

Active during the first half of the 12th century.

Born in Wuxing (Zhejiang).

Painter. Landscapes.

Fan Long, a pupil of Li Gonglin (1040-1165), is one of the great literati painters of the 12th century. He is known for his ...

Japanese family of Courtiers, regents (sesshō, kanpaku) and artists. They wielded enormous power during much of the Heian period (ad 794–1185) and played a leading role in the regency government (sekkan seiji; ad 967–1068). The years 894–1185 are often referred to as the Fujiwara period. The Fujiwara clan was founded by Nakatomi no Kamatari (614–69), who had assisted Prince Naka no Oe (later Emperor Tenji, ...

Chinese, 12th century, male.

Born 1107; died 1187.

Painter. Figures, landscapes, flowers.

Gaozong (1127-1162) was the son of Emperor Huizong and the first of the Southern Song emperors. He was also a painter and connoisseur.

Beijing (Palace Mus.): River Landscape with Fishing Boat...

Chinese calligrapher, art patron and founding emperor of the Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279). He was the ninth son of the Song artist–emperor Huizong and inherited his father’s artistic talent. He played an important role in encouraging the arts, reviving imperial patronage and setting a standard for his royal successors. Gaozong received a thorough classical education, and his artistic interests were not discouraged, for he was not expected ever to rule. When his oldest brother, the Emperor Qinzong (...