CategoriesCultural and Religious Styles
Ming Dynasty
Chinese art of 1368–1644: imperial porcelain, the Forbidden City, Suzhou literati painting, expressive calligraphy and hardwood furniture.
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About
The Ming dynasty restored Chinese rule after the Mongol Yuan and lasted from 1368 to 1644. The Yongle emperor moved the capital to Beijing and built the Forbidden City there between 1406 and 1420, and imperial kilns at Jingdezhen produced porcelain of new quality in huge quantity. Blue-and-white wares of the early 15th century have deep cobalt tones, and small cups of the Chenghua reign (1465–87) combine underglaze outlines with delicate enamels.
In painting, court artists favoured bold, polished brushwork, while scholar-painters in the wealthy city of Suzhou, among them Shen Zhou and Wen Zhengming, cultivated a quieter literati style for friends and patrons. Around 1600 Dong Qichang reshaped taste by dividing landscape painting into rival lineages and ranking the amateur scholar above the professional. Late Ming artists grew individual and strange: Wu Bin piled up fantastic mountains, and calligraphers such as Zhang Ruitu and Huang Daozhou wrote in angular, restless cursive.
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