Chinese art, traditionally, requires a great amount of dedication to detail and many years of training must be completed for an artist to perfect the skills necessary for many of its forms. Years ago, during the earlier dynasties of China, these artistic skills would have come in handy as most objects made were considered pieces of art or, at least, were used as a canvas for art itself. A long and delicate Chinese dragon might be found winding its way around the base of a rice bowl or cherry blossoms might come into vibrant bloom on a drinking cup. Even the traditional robes worn by the Chinese, were created by artists proficient in the ways of silk weaving and what might otherwise have been an ordinary outfit would have become a brilliant work of art.

Strong moral values and earthly beauty were commonplace themes in Chinese art and there were many methods to go about depicting these ideals. Many artists would not only paint a stirring image of, for example, a Chinese temples shrouded by bamboo on a mist covered mountain top; they would also incorporate the deeply traditional art of calligraphy. Many ancient Chinese proverbs can be seen, written in the precise strokes of calligraphy, just on the edge of a piece of artwork. Within the Chinese art prints that can be found in the Imagekind gallery, Michael Vigliotti’s ink on Tibetan rice paper print, entitled Asian Art (Peacock), is a perfect example of the Chinese tradition of including proverbs or poems in the finished piece of art.

Bada Shanren, who changed his name from Zhu Da for religious reasons, created many pieces of famous art during his life, which spanned from around 1625-1705 during the Qing Dynasty. As well as being proficient in the art of calligraphy, Shanren also drew scenes that depicted another ancient Chinese tradition, the theme of the Four Noble Ones. In one such drawing, Shanren inks the picture of a delicate flowering branch and writes a proverb on the left hand side of the page. This piece is called Chrysantheme and directly refers to one of the Four Noble Ones, the chrysanthemum which also signifies autumn and one of the four virtues of a Confucian, whom the Chinese considered the ideal man. The other four virtues and seasons are depicted by the plum, for summer, the orchid, for spring, and bamboo, symbolizing winter.

T’ang Yin is one of the most revered Chinese painters and was given the title of one of the Four Great Masters of the Ming Dynasty. He lived from 1470-1523 and produced staggeringly beautiful prints showing his mastery of the human figure and the art of landscape. One such print, framed and hanging in the Palace Museum in Beijing, China, is called Drinking Tea and shows the precise strokes needed to give detail to the human form seen from a distance. He also incorporated the traditional blossoms, mountains, and waterfalls seen in many pieces of Chinese art.