| From ancient times, women have been in a state of conflict between the mythology of their own beauty and the familial and social role.This paper explores the relation between the social mode of China's Tang Dynasty, the evolution of aesthetic views and of women's portrayal. Furthermore, the social modes' origin and eventual influence.In the Tang Dynasty, the painting of women of the palace became an independent genre and a favorite subject for court artists. This thesis first offers an analysis of women's portrayal and it's subsequent nature in order to reflect the historical track of changes during the Tang Dynasty. Confucian morality in Chinese culture served as women's social framework and deeply influenced women's lives. Ideals of women's conduct (san cong si de), the three obediences and four virtues established images of exemplary women's figures. Through Chinese historic models of virtuous women established woman's life goal and provided her social role. Women's exemplary figures were meant to express their function in society as a didactic art. So early texts about the ideals of women's behavior became a subject of painting to both educate women and to serve the Emperor. The oldest of the texts "Biographies of Eminent Women" from the Han Dynasty was painted by Cai Yong, painting "Illustration from the Biographies of Eminent Women" and he was the first recorded painter to paint this subject. The scroll extant today "Illustration from the Biographies of Eminent Women" revered as the work of the early master Gu Kai Zhi is also a narrative illustration of didactic text mentioned as above & similar as "Admonition of the Court Instructress" (Nu Shi Zhen Tu). These didactic paintings do not emphasize women's beauty but the instruction of women., they provide women's conduct "moral excellence" taking Confucian morality as a standpoint, but in Tang Dynasty appears a new appreciation of women's beauty.Author from these points analyses appearance of new aesthetic:1. Influence of Northern Dynasties on Tang Dynasty2. Influence of new religion thoughts3. Similarities in women portrayal between Tang and Gupta DynastiesNorthern dynasties, one of the most pronounced periods of upheaval in Chinese history, the Han population floated North which brought about the process of cultural intermixing of Northern China minorities with the Han population. This phenomenon directly reflected on women's social status and appreciation of beauty. At that time, northern nationalities, were just breaking away from matriarchal society so women still kept a high status. So this intermixing was an issue of great importance for women's status in the Tang Dynasty as well as in their portrayal.Moreover, philosophical-spiritual schools of thought, such as Buddhism & Daoism were of great importance. In the Tang Dynasty, the Bodhisattva became feminine, a female image with a fat body and white skin related to Tantrism and it's spread in China. Su Si Miao "Qian Jin Fang" was adopted in accordance to Tantric Scripts. Thus, in the Tang Dynasty, Tantric scenes of beauties playing different instruments and making offerings became symbols of the Pure Land of murals.These beauties lost their didactic role and the emphasis lay on their beauty instead. These images of beauties were intended for the enjoyment by men which is an important transformation in the development of women's beauty within Chinese art.Thanks to the influence of Buddhist thought, the art of Gupta poured into China so the Tang Dynasties images and the Gupta's images of women held common characteristics: a sense of femininity, plump, full-faced... a stereotypicaL palace lady.Palace ladies painting flourished in the Tang Dynasty, murals in tombs suggest not an influence of foreign cultures yet it's own process of development.Following the Tang Dynasty, this genre didn't gain great influence, did not disappear, yet persisted in the works of some of the painters where the Tang's court ladies characteristics could still be found.Accordingly after 755 years, unst... |
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