Asian ArtStudy Guide for

Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties
The Warring States Period

Spirit of the Gods by Lampo Leong,
25.5" by 35.5", water color and acrylic on rice paper, 1992

And how goes this rite we have?—
. . . as the scent first rises
the high god is peaceful and glad.
—from the Classic of Poetry No. 245

Required Reading:

The Shang Dynasty", "The Chou Dynasty" and "The Period of the Warring States", Chapters 2 through 4 in The Arts of China by Michael Sullivan;

"Chinese Art from the Shang through the Middle Zhou Period", Chapter 2 in A History of Far Eastern Art by Sherman E. Lee.

Recommended Reading:

The Art of the Bronze Taotie", Chapter 2 in The Path of Beauty: A Study of Chinese Aesthetics by Li Zehou;

"The Classic of Poetry: Beginnings" in An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911, edited and translated by Stephen Owen;

"Oracle Bones and Bronzes" in China: Empire of Living Symbols by Cecilia Lindqvist.

Moonlight by Lampo Leong, 19" by 24", watercolor, 1993

Study Questions:

1. Compare two vessels, one from the Shang Dynasty and the other from the Zhou Dynasty or the Warring States Period. Describe three features that help tell them apart. Illustrate your ideas with pictures from the textbooks, from library books or from images on the internet.

2. If any local museum is currently displaying Chinese bronze vessels, go look at the vessels and describe one of them in detail, applying what you have learned. Pretend that you are visiting the museum with a friend whom you want to impress with your knowledge of Asian art. What would you tell the friend when you see the bronze works?

...Or Try This:

Read LiZehou's comments about the taotie and the Zhou Dynasty poems used for rituals with the bronze vessels. Then try tracing or drawing a copy of the taotie. (You really must try to draw the image for this exercise; do not just look.) Once you have drawn the image consider: what features give the image its "ferocious beauty"? Is it the repetition? the angularity? the proportions? Or consider: what did Shang and Zhou Dynasty humanity feel? How has so-called "modern" humanity changed and how is it the same?

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See on the Web:

Shang Dynasty Chinese ding from an exhibit at the Metropolitan Art Museum.

Do you recognize the taotie image?

Shang Dynasty Chinese ding in the shape of a beast devouring a man

Western Zhou Chinese fang-ding from the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art collection

Shang Dynasty Chinese vessel from the Imperial Museum in Taiwan

Western Zhou Chinese vessel

Shang Dynasty Chinese hu  (These last three images are from the image archive maintained by Haines Brown.)

Shang Dynasty vessel from Remy Guo's "Art of China"

Vessels and bronze bells from the Taiwan collection. And consider the significance of Chinese bells.

Chinese Jade dragon pendant from the Royal Ontario Museum

If you did not do so earlier, now you might want to view the "Indus Slide Show" and read the essay by Jonathan Mark Kenoyer.

Golden Glow by Lampo Leong, 20" by 26", acrylic, 1993

Reading on the Web:

Ancient Dynasties -- a history of the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties with images to go with the text, by Leon Poon.

Shang Dynasty Chariot -- an examination of the chariot and a Shang ideograph, by the Royal Ontario Museum

Poems from the "Classic of Poems" used in rituals of the Zhou Dynasty;

The Tao Te Qing (this translation by Stephen Mitchell) was written during the period of the Warring States, as were

writings of Confucius.

These last two texts can be accessed through a site maintained by Professor Paul Halsall for a course at Brooklyn College.

For review:

Can you identify the shapes of the bronze vessels portrayed in the paintings on this page or in the
Bronze Age Series?

What was happening in the world at this time?