A beginner’s guide to the art of China

Learn about the materials and techniques used in the imperial art of China.

c. 1600 B.C.E. - present

Artists in Imperial China mastered and refined a wide range of techniques, including landscape painting and porcelain production.

Imperial China held the arts in high esteem. Poetry, calligraphy, and painting were known as the Three Perfections.

From mountain-shaped incense burners to paradisiacal Buddhist paintings, landscapes are central to Chinese art.

Not all Chinese porcelain is blue and white. Overglaze enamels add touches of pink, green, yellow, and black.

Blue-and-white porcelain was much admired at the Imperial court, but a booming export market also drove production.

Imperial China, an introduction