Articles

Chinese Antique Still Life (1644–1911)

Vostok/Oriens '2015, №6

 
Still life appeared in China during its heyday in European art. This is understandable: during the reign of the Manchu Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) increased cultural exchanges with Europe due to the formation of the Sino-European market and the work in China of European missionaries (Jesuits). Some innovations (technologies etching, painting enamels, oil painting; costume portrait and still life) were adapted with their participation in the Beijing art workshops. At the initiative of the second Manchu Emperor Kanghsi (1662–1722) still life was introduced in the painting of Chinese porcelain under the guise of images of “antiques” and “attributes of arts”. Both the plots were used in court painting during the Yongzheng (1723–1735); in the time of the Qianlong (1736–1795) and Guangxu (1875–1908) they are widely used in various types of Chinese arts and crafts. This borrowing from European art was fundamentally important for maintaining the authority of the Manchu dynasty, but Western innovations are deliberately dress in the traditional “clothing of Chinese antiquity”. The topics of still life in China can be also interpreted in the context of Western Themes “vanities/Vanitas”.

Keywords: Chinese Still Life, Western Influence, Chinese Art, Qing Empire

Pages: С. 76–83