Culture insider: Pretty women in Chinese paintings

Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907)

The Tang Dynasty was the most magnificent period in feudal society. During this time the traditional Chinese depictions of beautiful women also entered a new stage. Painters paid attention to the richly colorful society, and were especially interested in displaying the idle and carefree life of aristocrat women. In the mid-Tang Dynasty, after a hundred years of development, political power was stabilizing and the economy was prospering. Hedonism became increasingly popular among the ruling class.

The portrait painting style initiated by Yan Liben in the early Tang Dynasty which had aimed at praising national heroes, gradually lost its appeal. Even in many Buddhist paintings, the concubines of the rich were posed as goddesses, an indication that religious painting was becoming more realistic and temporal painting began to take on its initial form. Zhang Xuan and Zhou Fang were two representative artists of the time.

"Ladies with Head-pinned Flowers" by Zhou Fang (part). [Photo/ meishujia.cn]