Title: Chinese art | Britannica
Headings: Chinese art
Chinese art
Learn about Chinese art including their sculptures during the Han dynasty
Aesthetic characteristics and artistic traditions
Art as a reflection of Chinese class structure
The role of linearity in Chinese art

Content: The following article treats the general characteristics of Chinese art as a whole. For a detailed discussion of each of the arts mentioned above, see Chinese painting, Chinese calligraphy, Chinese architecture, Chinese pottery, Chinese bronzes, Chinese lacquerwork, Chinese jade, and silk. Aesthetic characteristics and artistic traditions
Art as a reflection of Chinese class structure
One of the outstanding characteristics of Chinese art is the extent to which it reflects the class structure that has existed at different times in Chinese history. Up to the Warring States period (475–221 bce ), the arts were produced by anonymous craftsmen for the royal and feudal courts. It is believed that during the Shang and early Zhou periods the production of ritual bronze s was exclusively regulated under the authority of the court, which could grant or withhold authorization for production by regional workshops among the various states or others who paid fealty to the court. Under the careful regulation of court patrons in the Shang and Zhou periods, design features were shared among specialists working in the various media and were remarkably uniform from bronzes to lacquerwares to textiles. During the Warring States period and the Han dynasty (206 bce –220 ce ), the growth of a landowning and merchant class brought new patrons. After the Han there began to emerge the concept of cultural practice as the product of the leisure of the educated gentry, many of whom were amateur practitioners of the arts of poetry, music, calligraphy, and, eventually, painting. At this time a distinction began to arise between the lower-class professional and the elite amateur artist; this distinction would have a great influence on the character of Chinese art in later times.