Twenty-four years after the Human,Dragon and Phoenix Paintingwas discovered, anothersilk paintingwas found, also in a tomb of the Chu Kingdom. It depicts a man wearing a thick hat, holding a rein in one hand and a sword in the other, and riding a dragon boat. It is called theDragon Boat Riding Painting.
Dragon Boat Riding Painting
According to experts, the man is a likeness of the one buried in the tomb, and the picture symbolizes his soul rising up to heaven. The concept of one's soul going up to heaven after death was very popular in the Chu Kingdom. This picture is similar in content and expressive form to the Human, Dragon and Phoenix Painting. The only difference is that the figures in the Dragon Boat Riding Painting are rendered more realistically and the proportion of the human bodies is closer to that of real people. These examples show that there were already varied painting styles in theWarring States Period. Some tended to be realistic, others more decorative. Paintings on silk developed to a high level during this period, an advance that laid the foundation for meticulous Chinese painting.
Written theories on painting first appeared during the Warring States Period. For example, the philosopherHan Feizicommented that it is difficult to draw dogs and horses, but easy to depictghosts. There is also a record of an artist painting a winnowing fan for a king with the figures of snakes, dragons, horses, carts and so on.Qu Yuan's famous poem Tian Wen (Asking Heaven), written during the period, contains descriptions of wall paintings in the Chutemples.
Beforepaperwas invented, paintings on silk continued to develop. By theWestern Han Dynasty(206 B.C.- A.D.23), they had become richer in content and color, smoother and more forceful in brush strokes and the depiction of figures had become more vivid.
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