Tipos de capas .1 Capa convolucional.1 Capa convolucional

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Th e earliest paintings in India are probably ones found on large stones and rock faces, mostly in central India, in the re- gion of the city of Bhopal. Th ey depict humans and animals and are all thought by archaeologists to have been painted aft er 5500 b.c.e. Th e earliest ones show people as stick fi g- ures wearing only loincloths and animals that sometimes have abstract designs on their bodies. Th e humans appear to be hunting the animals with spears and bows and ar- rows. Later rock paintings show humans riding horses and wielding swords and shields. Th e innards of animals are sometimes depicted, a style also found in rock paintings in faraway Borneo and Australia.

Few other paintings in India and southern Asia survive from before the 200s c.e. because surfaces such as wood and silk and other fabrics, which were used for painting, decay quickly in wet climates and are subject to destruction by fi re. In India the second-earliest surviving paintings are found on walls in cave temples at Ajanta; they are fragmentary because much of the paint has peeled off over the centuries. Cave X of Ajanta houses the earliest painting that dates from the fi rst century b.c.e. It depicts the life of the Buddha and is so richly presented that the mural suggests that painting had become a highly sophisticated art form much earlier in history. Much better preserved are paintings in Cave I from the 400s c.e. In these paintings, human beings and gods are sometimes serene, sometimes joyful, and always surrounded by activity, suggest- ing that life is an enterprise rich in spiritual and physical plea- sures that people who set free their inner vitality can enjoy.

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Th e roots of Indian arts probably reach back to the Harap- pan civilization of the Indus River region (ca. 2600–ca. 1500 b.c.e.). Metal casting emerged early in Harappan culture, perhaps 2300 b.c.e., and it was already highly developed, sug- gesting that the Harappans learned how to make bronze and other metal fi gures from Mesopotamians. Most Harappan castings have been found in the ruined city of Mohenjo Daro. Perhaps the most spectacular artifact is the copper image of a young woman housed in India’s National Museum in New Delhi. Dating from before 1750 b.c.e., she is 5½ inches tall, missing her feet, and clad only in bangles and a necklace. She features the wide nose and thick lips typical of the Harappans and may represent a dancing girl. She is in a relaxed, languid pose, as if waiting for something, and the fi gure presages the graceful ancient Indian style to come.

Th e Harappan culture began to decline between 1900 b.c.e. and 1800 b.c.e. Aft er its fall to natural disasters and an Aryan infl ux around 1500 b.c.e., the primary infl uences on Indian art were remnant Harappan populations southeast of the Indus River and the Greeks. Th e Aryan tribes that in- vaded the Harappan lands in the Indus Valley spread through northern India. Little remains of Indian art from about 1500 b.c.e. to about 500 b.c.e., though Indian writings indicate that the period was a colorful one for the arts. Perhaps most artworks were made with perishable materials such as wood, which rapidly decayed in India’s wet environment.

A new sculptural tradition began in India from the in- fl uence of a Hindu prince named Siddhartha Gautama. Born into the warrior caste (one of four social divisions in India), Siddhartha lived from about 563 to about 483 b.c.e., and he became known as the Buddha. He traveled through the northeastern kingdoms, urging people to forsake their de- sires, and he formed the fi rst Buddhist order of monks. At fi rst Buddhist sculptures focused on symbols, but in the 200s b.c.e. artists began sculpting realistic portraits of the Bud- dha, starting an artistic tradition that would shape much of the art and taste of Asia and the Pacifi c.

In 326 b.c.e. Alexander the Great conquered much of northwestern India. He brought with him Greek culture, in- cluding artists. In 321 b.c.e. a general of the Nanda Dynasty, Chandragupta Maurya, overthrew the Nanda government and defeated the Greek state that had been created by Alex- ander in the northwest of India. Th e Maurya Dynasty (321– 185 b.c.e.) featured great empire builders in its fi rst three rulers, who expanded their nation to cover most of the In- dian subcontinent, but in 261 b.c.e., Chandragupta’s great- grandson Asoka had a crisis of conscience aft er seeing the misery his conquering had caused, converted to Buddhism, and made his nation a pacifi st state. Th ereaft er its power and territory waned, yet the Mauryans initiated a great age of stone sculpture.

Greek-style sculpture was immensely popular, especially for portraits, and Greek sculptors found ready work in the

Schist head of the fasting Buddha, from Rawalpindi District, Gand- hara, Pakistan, second to third century c.e. (© Th e Trustees of the British Museum)

Maurya Empire. In India, Greek artists would carve stan- dardized torsos of men and women, leaving off the heads, and would later supply heads when orders for individual portraits were made. Th us were made numerous portraits of wealthy Indians that had identical Greek bodies. Indian-style sculp- tures were also common, especially for public works. Such an example from about 200 b.c.e. is in the Patna Museum. It is a depiction of a yakshi, a female spirit that protected the wealth of the earth. At 5 feet, 4 inches tall, it has a lifelike height, but its curves are exaggerated, creating fl uidity in its pose and suggesting it might step forward, alive. Its clothing and other physical features are done in fi ne detail, and it glistens with Mauryan gloss, a smooth, highly polished shiny surface that was unique to the Maurya Era.

Th e Buddha’s death sparked another kind of sculpture that came into full fl ower during Asoka’s reign. Burial hemi- spheres of dirt, called stupas, had been in use on a small scale for the interment of important people, but the Buddha’s ashes were divided into eight large stupas aft er his death. A fervent convert to Buddhism, Asoka had seven of the stupas opened, and he divided the remains among 84,000 new stu- pas throughout India. Th e fi nest of these is the Great Stupa in Sanchi in central India. Originally a mound of dirt 25 feet tall and 60 feet across, the dirt was covered by bricks and sur- rounded by temples and gates. Th e stone gates date from the fi rst century b.c.e., and they mark the end of the major build- ing period for the shrine. Sculpting the stone as if working in wood, artists adorned the gates with a dazzling number of fi gures so that the pillars and crossbeams appear to be crawling with life, including graceful fi gures of women who exemplify inner vitality. Indians loved depictions of life, and their architects believed that no public building was complete without depictions of women.

Th us, for Indians buildings became works of art. Th ey built towers abounding with sculptures of trees, plants, ani- mals, and stones, making the entire structure a sculpture on a grand scale that was meant to emulate mountains. Th ese towers represent a Buddha-like climb to enlightenment. Th e ascendancy of Buddhism did not last for long in India, and by the 100s c.e. Hinduism was reasserting itself. New Hindu towers were adorned with sensuous images of gods, goddesses, nature spirits, and people, usually naked and al- most always graceful and lively; these towers represent the phallus, symbolizing creative power.

Buddhism inspired another spectacular form of sculp- ture. In Bihar, near Nepal, Asoka displayed his religious tolerance by having rooms carved into huge rocks so that a non-Buddhist sect of ascetics could meditate in them dur- ing the rainy season. Th e interiors of the rooms are carved to look like the interiors of wooden, thatched houses. Th ey would inspire great Buddhist structures elsewhere in India. Good examples of their development can be found in the Western Ghats mountain range, where thousands of rock structures were carved into the mountainsides and cliff s. Th e fi rst structures were Buddhist monasteries, begun in

150 b.c.e. Th ese were followed by temple complexes, carved by iron tools into rock faces, with one temple having a hall 124 feet long. Th e main structural elements were made to look like wood, as if the monastery or temple were wooden. Th e walls were carved with scenes of the Buddha’s life and teachings. Dancers, preachers, kings, and bodhisattvas were depicted on pillars and walls as well. Bodhisattvas were peo- ple who could have ascended to oneness with God but who chose to put off their salvation to help other human beings reach nirvana—a state of blessedness or union with the god- head. As Hinduism returned to dominance in India, caves were carved to become Hindu temples where even lower castes would worship. Th ey feature lush statues of nature deities, oft en monumental in stature. At Elephanta Island a three-faced statue of the god Shiva from the 500s c.e. is 17 feet tall and situated so that light from the entrances to the cave falls directly on the faces.

Th e Indian style of sculpture, especially when connected to the Buddhist or Hindu faiths, spread throughout Indo- china and eventually to the main Indonesian islands, reach- ing Java in about the 700s c.e. Th e Indian painting style also spread, though surviving examples in Indochina tend to date from the 1200s c.e. In the 100s and 200s c.e. Buddhist evan- gelists brought Indian sculptural and painting traditions to China, which already had a well-established painting tradi- tion of its own.

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Th e earliest known paintings in China are from Inner Mon- golia. Consisting of mineral pigments drawn on stone, they are on large rocks and sheer rock faces, all in the open; none so far have been found in caves. Th e paintings depict animals and stick-fi gure people, and they include elephants—crea- tures that became extinct in the area before 8000 b.c.e. Such rock paintings continued to be created among illiterate peo- ples in this region until about 200 b.c.e. Th ey may have been created to give the painters magical powers while they were hunting, or they may have had more prosaic uses, such as tell- ing travelers the kinds of game that could be found nearby.

Lacquer at fi rst came from the resin of the lacquer tree (Rhus vernicifl ua), yielding a glossy black paint that was highly durable. During the Shang Dynasty (ca. 1500–ca. 1045 b.c.e.), Chinese painters began experimenting with pigments in lacquer to give it color, and vivid yellows, reds, and browns still survive. Archaeological fi nds suggest that lacquer may not have come into widespread use until the Warring States Period (453–221 b.c.e.). From the 400s b.c.e. on, lacquer was used for decorative art on chests, furniture pieces, walls, doors, and other household surfaces. Th is must have made homes brightly colorful during the Warring States Period and the ensuing Qin Dynasty (221–207 b.c.e.) and Han Dynasty (202 b.c.e.–220 c.e.). Surviving paintings depict animals and mystical beasts such as dragons, usually in highly stylized forms more interesting for their symmetrical patterns than their verisimilitude.

Paintings of other sorts were common, especially on silk. By the end of the Zhou Dynasty (ca. 1045–256 b.c.e.) there were tens of thousands of silk paintings, but only one from the Zhou survives, dating to the 400s b.c.e. Housed in the Beijing Historical Museum and known as Lady with the Phoenix, it was discovered in Changsha and is about eight by twelve inches. In it, an elegantly robed woman in profi le looks at a dragon and a phoenix.

Th e invention of paper in the 100s c.e. signifi cantly af- fected Chinese art. Paper expanded a painter’s artistic possi- bilities beyond silk by being cheaper and fi rmer. Calligraphy was regarded as a fi ne art and oft en became part of paint- ings, uniting into a form of storytelling that was created on paper scrolls. On a scroll a single fi gure or landscape could be depicted as if in motion, with the unrolling of the scroll showing someone standing and turning around or showing the passage of time in a single setting. Combined with the calligraphic art, by the 400s c.e. scrolls had become short moving pictures, telling tales about the Buddha, tales from mythology, or even tales drawn from contemporary life.

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Chinese writing inscribed on bones and turtle shells that were used to foretell the future is known from as early as the Shang Dynasty. Even in the 1500s b.c.e. Chinese writing was taking the form it has today, creating a writing tradition that has been unbroken for 3,500 years. Chinese is written in ideograms, characters that represent an idea or thing. Th ese began as small pictures representing objects such as trees or houses; then such characters were combined to suggest new ideas. During the Han Dynasty and thereaft er, scholars were held in high esteem because they knew 40,000 to 50,000 individual characters.

Early in the Han Dynasty calligraphy came to be regarded as an art form. Calligraphers used brushes lightly dipped in very black ink that they mixed themselves to paint characters on silk, bamboo, and wood. Th eir work was taken so seriously that their brushes and bars of black pigment became works of art themselves. Pigment came in beautifully embossed sticks, and the grinding of such beauty to make ink impressed on the calligrapher the importance of his putting the destruc- tion of the stick to good use. Calligraphers developed styles of their own and learned how to express emotions with the way they stroked their brushes—fi rm or careless, fi ne or crude, long or short. A form called cursiv developed, in which the calligrapher’s strokes blended from one ideogram (written symbol) down to the next in a constant fl ow. Th e invention of paper revolutionized calligraphy by providing an inexpensive surface that held ink well. It allowed nearly any educated per- son to practice calligraphy, and some calligraphers became famous for their styles.

Th e artist Wang Xizhi (321–379 c.e.) was China’s great- est calligrapher. His preface “Lanting Lu” for a book of po- etry, Meeting at the Orchid Pavilion, is considered to be the pinnacle of Chinese calligraphy. It was written in fl owing

semicursive characters that melded ideas and ideograms into images that its readers loved passionately. Th e emperor Taizong (r. 626–649 c.e.) revered this work so much that he wanted to have it with him in the next life, and he had it buried with him. Only copies remain.

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Th e history of Chinese stone sculpture is sketchy. Th ere are stone carvings associated with the ancient rock paintings, and such carvings that depict people wearing masks date from about 3500 b.c.e. During the early Shang Dynasty tombs were sometimes decorated with carved stone or ce- ramic tiles portraying people, such as guardians to ward off enemies and entertainers to make the next life pleas- ant. Many tomb sculptures survive from the Han Dynasty. Th ese were relief carvings in stone. Relief carvings have fi gures projecting out from a fl at background. In the Han reliefs, the fi gures themselves are slightly fl attened. Th ese relief sculptures show scenes from everyday life and objects such as peasants and fi sh. Th ere are many scenes of people and animals during hunting.

The most spectacular tomb sculpture predates the Han Dynasty by several years and was not in stone, but in ceramic. The tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi (r. 221–210 b.c.e.) in Shaanxi province has about 7,000 life-size figures of soldiers, though as yet 80 to 90 percent of the tomb re- mains unexplored. Although there seems to have been a set pattern underlying the sculpting of each figure, the soldiers are individualized with details such as improperly buttoned jackets and different sorts of personal jewelry. Each face and head is unique, as if every figure were mod- eled after a real-life person.

Monumental public sculpture began in the 400s c.e. Buddhism had been introduced to China in about 65 c.e., and by the 400s it had become a major part of Chinese cul- ture. Sculptures of Buddha in the 400s resembled the Indian style of sculpture, with fi gures having Indian features and the serene grace typical of Indian depictions of human fi gures; the garments shift ed from Indian ones to ones typically worn by the Chinese. An example of this is the great 45-foot-tall Buddha Amitabha from about 460 c.e. found in the Yungang Caves in Shanxi province. His massive stone features are still not Chinese, but he wears clothing typical of a Chinese man of the 400s.

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Elaborate decorations on the sides of pots, kettles, and chalices indicate that the decorative arts were already well advanced when people of the Shang began working with bronze, suggesting a highly developed art of wood carving, with the wooden works now being lost. Th e decorations on bronzes featured abstract images such as crisscrossed pat- terns and bumpy surfaces, but they also had images of ani- mals and mythical creatures that were usually rendered in a symbolic style that oft en make them diffi cult for modern

observers to interpret. Eyes could be whorls, faces could be represented twice on two sides of a pot, and wings could be depicted with sharp S-shaped swirls. Th ese images indi- cate that the Shang had a well-known and complex system of symbols that would be readily recognized by those who used the bronzes. Th e Shang bronze sculptors oft en com- bined realistic images with abstract or symbolic images; the ram’s head was especially popular for decorating kettles and storage vessels.

Th e Shang was a warlike culture, expanding territory through conquest, and it is therefore not surprising that along with making extraordinarily beautiful household bronzes, they made decorated weapons. Th e most elaborate weapons tended to be sacrifi cial axes. Th e Shang practiced human sac- rifi ce, usually by beheading. When a military or civic leader died, his servants would be ritually executed and interred with him to serve him in the next life. Th e axes used were specially made for the purpose and could feature molded hu- man faces, engraved decorations, and openings for mouths or other facial parts such as ears.

Th e people of the Zhou Dynasty were a technologi- cally less advanced group from the west who overthrew the Shang Dynasty in 1045 b.c.e. At fi rst, the Zhou seemed to have employed the same bronze makers as had the Shang. Even so, there was a notable shift in style. Th e Zhou bronz- es of the 1000s b.c.e. were oft en constructions of multiple castings, with images exploding into three-dimensional