Chinese Art Collectors: Chinese Painting Essentials
The following notes comment on the basic features of Classical Chinese Paintings. Although they are not exhaustive, we hope that they help you in better understanding Chinese painting and in joining the experts to talk about Chinese art.
Silk over the centuries was the most important medium in Chinese painting. Invented by Chinese farmers as early as 2,500 B.C., silk was not produced outside of China until well into the first millennium A.D. Made from threads processed from the one-half mile long strands unraveled from the cocoons of silkworms, silk fabric was treated in a variety of ways prior to being used as a ground for painting. Different painters preferred different types of silk, ranging from raw, hard silk to soft silk and edged silk.
Paper was also a popular medium for Chinese painting. At first it was used because it was a more economical and flexible alternative to silk, but by the Yuan dynasty it became the most fashionable medium for literati painting.
A Pointed Brush made from animal hair was the primary tool in conventional Chinese painting. The finest brushes, having a straight tip and no loose bristles, have always been made from wolf hair or goat hair. The former is used for defining the outline of the image, which remains the most fundamental act of Chinese painting practice. Goat-hair brushes are the preferred means for adding color wash within the dominant line.
Ink made from pine resin or tung oil was processed into bars or cakes, which the artist ground together with water for use in painting. Since the Qing dynasty, Qianlong and other high-quality inks have been especially valued because they contain quantities of gold and suffer very little oxidation over the centuries. Different inks were used to create particular visual effects, such as articulating human hair. Colored pigments were derived from a range of mineral and vegetable sources, including cinnabar (red), ochre or iron oxide, cyanine (blue), malachite (green), and azurite (blue).
Seals were used, beginning in the Tang dynasty, to mark ownership or authorship of paintings. As paintings were passed down over the centuries, new owners added their own seals. By tracking the history of seals, the authenticity of the painting can be established.
Presentation of a Traditional Chinese Painting
Formats for Chinese painting varied widely over time, including massive wall-paintings, large, free-standing screens, horizontal hand scrolls, vertical hanging scrolls, folded or bound albums, and fans. The horizontal hand-scroll allowed the viewer to enjoy one segment at a time, unrolling the scenes from right to left. Hanging scrolls were suspended on walls and could be wound up easily for storage. They allowed the viewer to shift position, moving in close to examine details and standing farther away to view the entire composition as a whole.
Mounting styles went through periods of change, and painters and owners took pains to match the style of the original work with an aesthetically pleasing background. Chinese paintings were not considered finished until they were mounted properly. As materials, paper and silk were easily torn, and mounting, plus the addition of rollers, staves, and protective wrappers, were used to conserve the original painting. The best presentation of a classical Chinese painting is to have it mounted in the proper style.
