GREEK AND CHINESE ART IDEALS 19 



government and family life, that the incomparable continuity 

 of China's national life is due. 



The sublime bronzes and carved jades of the Chou 

 •dynasty which still exist, bring an aura of dignified restraint 

 from the time of Confucius and are worthy of being placed 

 with the marble sculptures of Ancient Greece. 



During the Han dynasty the art of China developed 

 along Confucian lines as shown by the rock sculptures and 

 •other stone carvings and the bronze. The paintings of that 

 time are not now extant, but a survival is found in the 

 frequent paintings during the Sung, Ming and modern period 

 of the palaces of the Han dynasty, which show a considerable 

 development of architecture and ornament. 



The Chinese system of examinations, which early in the 

 Han dynasty made a knowledge of the Confucian classics 

 necessary for those seeking government appointments, 

 though restricted toi a narrow literary scholarship, had a 

 refining influence and, when combined with painting, as by 

 ithe poet-painter officials, exercised a powerful influence on 

 the art of the country, especially on that of landscape 

 painting. The art ideals resulting from Confucian culture 

 tended towards restraint and harmony, while the literary 

 refinement and comparative absence of mysticism kept the 

 .art pure and to a large extent decorative. 



The Influence of Taoism 



The effect of Taoism towards natural phantasy and of 

 Buddhism towards grandiose and unnatural imaginative 

 work, may be regarded as retrograde. 



Laotzu, the Old Philosopher, the founder of Taoism, a 

 contemporary of Plato, Socrates and Aristotle, was some 

 fifty years older than Confucius and, although their teachings 

 differed so' markedly, they greatly respected each other. The 

 Tao Te Ching or Book of Virtue, which is attributed to 

 Laotzu, appears to< be a groping towards nature knowledge 

 and individualism freed from conventions, as opposed to the 

 communism of Confucius. This love of nature and liberty 

 to roam over hill and dale lent itself to landscape painting 

 and especially imaginative landscape, which is most 

 characteristic of Chinese art. 



The Tao Te Ching has been compared with the 

 Nec-Platonism of the third to fifth centuries A.D., wherein 

 pseudo-scientific philosophy was strangely united with 

 mystic religion. No one seems to know exactly what the 

 Tao really was, although Impersonal Nature has been given 

 •as the equivalent; as also has the pursuit of the Elixir 

 .of life. 



