Ming Dynasty Revival of Arts

The Ming Dynasty introduced cultural restoration, including renewal of traditional
Chinese art such as Chinese porcelain, painting, and calligraphy. Certain types were also
imposed top artists. For example, painters working for the imperial court were mandated to
use realistic and didactic styles of representational art. In Ming architecture, major
construction projects such as the Forbidden City in Beijing and Porcelain Pagoda in Nanjing.
The latter, built between 1406-1420, was composed of porcelain brick walls and color-glazed
tiles. This era also influenced further extension of the Great Wall, which begun in 1449.
Chinese pagodas were more architecturally diverse, beginning their history in ancient India
following the death of the Buddha in 5 th century (Shi 52). A simpler structure, stupa, which
was commonly associated with housing artifacts of the Buddha, was the original source of
inspiration. It eventually became tiered, and this representation, built throughout India in
honor of the Buddha became an important symbol of Buddhism. Emperor Ming built the first
pagoda in 68 CE to spread Buddhism, and constructed it out of wood. Pagodas in China
would later become prominent and significantly taller than their Indian inspiration, and thus
Chines architectural style thrived even without much recognition of Buddhism by the
Chinese.
During the Ming Dynasty, painting modes reflected immense influence from those of
the Song Dynasty, especially the Song Painting Academy. This style mainly included ink and
wash painting, and also the expressive calligraphy which was popularly associated with the
Yuan painters (Clunas 1363). Bold brush strokes became prominent, especially in the way
they expressed the painter’s emotions rather that his mastery of technique. One famous
painter in this period is Xu Wei, whose ink drawing represented his emotional connection
with his material. He has also been commonly referred to as the founder of modern Chinese
painting. Further, this era was also commonly associated with landscape painting, and

narrative figure painting. Chinese pottery also grew significantly during the Ming Dynasty,
and this led to increased trade from pottery exports.
The Literati Painting Movement
Although the Ming Dynasty was marked by great achievement in the arts, the first
Ming emperor was not supportive of painters’ expressionism but rather remanded art
production for political reasons. This further led to the birth of the literati painting movement
whereby famous influence from artists such as those from Southern school, communicated in
subjective, expressive, and personal treatment of reality. Early Ming emperors rejected the
individualist standard of painters in the literati movement and had painters summoned to
court to maintain a connection to the native regimes of Song and Tang. Court artists were
treated harshly, and the gap between scholar-painters in the South and court artists continued
to widen. For instance, it was Bian Wenjin and Lu Ji who maintained the art of bird-and-
flower painting tradition of the Huizong, a Song emperor. Many artists from the famous Zhe
school of painting were more receptive of Daoist themes as opposed to the autocratic Ming
political influence (Shi 100). One key painter, Wang Fu, was a court painter who was later
banished for withholding the Yuan literati style of painting.
The Wu School of landscape painting was popular in the late 15 th century. A flower
painting tradition was advocated strongly by Shen Zhou, whose warm personality permeated
through his technique. However, the morale of the scholar class of painters wined as Ming
become more corrupt.
Ocean Trade Expansion under Ming Dynasty
Ming is widely known as the era of great trade in porcelain and ceramics, but this
quality goes beyond the export of expertly crafted vases and chinaware. The Ming Dynasty
experienced significant growth in ocean trade across the Indian Ocean, whereby one trade
ship could accommodate 500 merchants as well as their goods and tools for trade. According

to (Wetzel 645), the Chinese voyages were different from those of Europeans as they did not
seek to colonize the lands they traded with. On the contrary, traders during the Ming Dynasty
focused on increasing traded and tributed to the Ming emperor. As a result of expansion of
trade between the Americas and Europeans, China adopted new crops such as sweet potatoes
and peanuts. Although Ming Dynasty was crippled by famines and economic crisis towards
the end of their rule, China had opened up more ports for trade and exchanged the goods of
their craft with Europe and the Americas. Handicrafts gained momentum during this era, and
Jingdezhen became a famous hub for pottery.
Although paintings and pottery are two of the most popularly recognized forms of
expression during the dynasty, silk weaving, embroidery, printing, and cotton weaving also
became more prominent. Unlike their painted art counterparts, artisans enjoyed more
personal freedom as demand in their goods catapulted. Moreover, the diversified proliferation
of art also included literature, which also became common under the Ming Dynasty (Clunas
1360). For example, novels such as Journey to the West and the Yongle Encyclopedia was
achieved during Chengzu’s rule; the latter has topics ranging from illnesses to astronomy.
Furthermore, the main language of authorship was traditional Chinese language.
Cultural Arts Exchange
While Ming emperors restricted the style of expression of its artists, China experienced
cultural exchanged with other Asian nations such as India, Korea, and Vietnam (Shi 40). For
instance, the famous artistic pagoda design is associated with Indian origin and quite a
popular architectural design in Japan, China, and Vietnam. Across these nations, the
population would be categorized into distinct factions: farmers, artisans, merchants, and
gentry. Although these distinctions were previously established in previous dynasties, the
Ming Dynasty influenced blurring on the boundaries between these classes. Like the other
Asian countries, China’s main religions were Buddhism, Taoism, and ancestral worship.

Works Cited
Clunas, Craig. “Empire of great brightness: visual and material cultures of Ming China.”
(2007): 1368-1644.
Shi, Li. The Art History of the Ming Dynasty. DeepLogic, n.d.
Wetzel, Jean. “Hidden connections: Courtesans in the art world of the Ming
Dynasty.” Women’s Studies 31.5 (2002): 645-669.