The Song dynasty is known especially for the development of monumental landscape painting.
960–1279 C.E.
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What is the Song Dynasty?
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Ding ware bowl, Northern Song dynasty
This porcelain bowl with reeds and geese for decoration has a metal rim where the bowl couldn't be glazed
Attributed to Zhang Zeduan, Along the River during Qingming Festival, handscroll
Along the River during Qingming Festival offers a rare glimpse of the thriving commercial activity of medieval China.
Emperor Huizong, Auspicious Cranes, handscroll
Emperor Huizong's Auspicious Cranes records natural phenomena that would be interpreted as a good omen for the dynasty.
Bodhisattva of Compassion Seated in Royal Ease at the Denver Art Museum
Bodhisattva of Compassion Seated in Royal Ease depicts the bodhisattva Guanyin gazing down as if listening intently to its devotees. Guanyin’s name means “the one who always hears.” Discover what makes this 1,000-year-old sculpture a masterpiece with Christoph Heinrich, Frederick and Jan Mayer Director of the Denver Art Museum.
Gu Kaizhi, Nymph of the Luo River
We can recognize from Gu Kaizhi's painting the emergence of Chinese landscape tradition.
Ceramic pillow
Ceramic pillows became a popular domestic item among middle- and upper-class families during the Song dynasty
Bowl with “oil spot” glaze
Jian ware tea bowls were highly prized in China but seem to have gone out of fashion there, whereas the Japanese adopted them for use in tea ceremonies.
Guan ware long-necked vase
Guan ware is probably one of the rarest and most admired types of Chinese ceramics in the present world.
Illustration to the Fumu enzhong jing, Dunhuang
The central section of the painting is made up of scenes illustrating the Fumu enzhong jing, an apocryphal sutra that was popular at Dunhuang in this later period.
Stencil for a five-figure Buddha group
This stencil (or pounce) is one of very few to survive, and is the largest and most impressive of those found at Mogao.
Song dynasty (960–1279), an introduction
Overall, the Song dynasty was a time of stability and economic, cultural, and artistic prosperity.
Liang Kai (attributed), White Egret
A painting of a lonely white egret standing in shallow water, attributed to the famous painter Liang Kai
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