Volume 39 – Number 4

In our May issue, we focus mainly on aspects of China's art and architecture. Ronald Knapp's article centres on the mysterious architecture of the wooden `rainbow bridge' in the famous Song dynasty painting Qingming shanghe tu, and presents examples of recently discovered bridges in southeast China that reveal a similar structure. Nick Pearce discusses the qin's relationship to painting and ideas stemming from Chinese visual culture, and its intimate association with the literati. Margaret Prüch introduces a rare example of a gilded and silvered lacquer lian from the Western Han period; the box, which is published here for the first time, has an inscription listing the craftsmen involved in its production. Lee King-tsi's study of Ming and Qing texts, maps and extant pieces challenges the common assumption that Guoyuanchang was a lacquer workshop in Beijing. Burglind Jungmann examines two Korean screens depicting Chinese scholars in a scene known as the Elegant Gathering in the Western Garden - a popular status symbol in the Choson period - and compares them to Chinese hanging scrolls. Joseph Chang discusses the little-known Buddhist monk-painter Xuezhuang, who lived as a recluse on Huangshan in the early Qing dynasty; aspects of Xuezhuang's identity are revealed in the show `Yellow Mountain: China's Ever-Changing Landscape' at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of Art in Washington, DC (31 May-24 August).

• Features
• |
• Previews & Reviews
• |
• Interviews
• |
• News
• |
• Commentary
• |