Title: History of Chinese art - New World Encyclopedia
Headings: History of Chinese art
History of Chinese art
Historical development to 221 B.C.E.
Neolithic pottery
Jade culture
Bronze casting
Early Chinese music
Early Chinese poetry
Chu and Southern culture
Early Imperial China (221 B.C.E.– 220 C.E.)
Qin sculpture
Pottery
TLV Mirrors
Han poetry
Han paper art
Other Han art
Period of Division (220–581)
Influence of Buddhism
Poetry
Calligraphy
The Sui and Tang dynasties (581–960)
Buddhist architecture and sculpture
Golden age of Chinese poetry
Li Po and Du Fu
Late Tang poetry
Painting
Song and Yuan dynasties (960–1368)
Song poetry
Song painting
Yuan drama
Yuan painting
Late imperial China (1368-1911)
Ming poetry
Ming prose
Ming painting
Qing drama
Qing poetry
Early Qing painting
Shanghai School (1850 – 1890)
Qing fiction
New China Art (1912-1949)
Transformation
The Big Three
Comics
Painting
Guohua
Communist art (1950-1980s)
The loss of the Big Three
Painting
Poetry
Redevelopment (Mid-1980s - 1990s)
Contemporary Art
Visual art
Contemporary Chinese art market
The new visual art market
See also
Notes
References
External links
Credits

Content: The early significance of taotie is not clear, but myths about it existed around the late Zhou Dynasty (周朝; 1122 B.C.E. to 256 B.C.E. ). It was considered to be variously a covetous man banished to guard a corner of heaven against evil monsters; or a monster equipped with only a head which tries to devour men but hurts only itself. The function and appearance of bronzes altered gradually from the Shang to the Zhou, and they began to be used for practical purposes as well as in religious rites. By the Warring States Period (fifth century B.C.E. to 221 B.C.E. ), bronze vessels had become objects of aesthetic enjoyment. Some were decorated with scenes of social life, such as banquets or hunts; while others displayed abstract patterns inlaid with gold, silver, or precious and semiprecious stones. A Zhou Dynasty bronze musical bell
Shang bronzes became appreciated as works of art during the Song Dynasty (960 – 1279 C.E. ), when they were collected and prized not only for their shape and design but also for the various green, blue green, and even reddish patinas created by chemical action as they lay buried in the ground. The study of early Chinese bronze casting is a specialized field of art history.