102 
House & Garden 
A Home to be 
proud of 
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This super-coating comes in white 
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Paint and Varnish Makers 
Boston, Mass. 
New York Office, Architects’ Bldg. 
This bronze wine jar 
dates from the Chow 
Dynasty (300 B. C.). 
Courtesy of Ton Ying 
Ancient Chinese Art for Moderns 
(Continued from page 100) 
mind that the early and pure religion 
of China—antedating both Taoism and 
Buddhism—was simply a worship of 
Heaven, which was probably the most 
abstract religion that has ever existed 
on the earth, as well as one of the most 
beautiful. There were no idols, and 
no object of worship at any of the 
main rites. A jade disc—a circular 
plaque with an aperture in the center— 
symbolized Heaven. The circular aper¬ 
ture was there to arrest the attention 
and to enable the worshipper to con¬ 
centrate his mind, shutting out every¬ 
thing else except the contemplation of 
Heaven. It tied up all his thoughts in 
his worship, eliminating all else. He 
did not require angels. There was no 
deity—only a hereafter. There was not 
even an “above”, for Heaven was too 
abstract to have a concrete location. 
Buddhism and Taoism 
This was the religion of China dur¬ 
ing the great Chow dynasty (1200 B. C. 
to 300 A. D.). Buddhism and Taoism 
came with the succeeding Wei dynasty, 
but they failed to change the intro¬ 
spection of the Chinese mind, which 
has survived down to this day, just as 
the elements of the ancient art have 
survived though polluted by outside 
influences. Hence it 
is that during the 
T’ang and Sung 
periods of Chinese 
painting, artists 
clung to the ab¬ 
stract method of 
representation. A 
mountain or a tree 
was represented with 
simple, free strokes, 
that left the mind 
at liberty to do 
what it would and 
to build with the 
imagination as it 
chose. In the suc¬ 
ceeding Ming period, Chinese art be¬ 
came more ornate, yet retained its soul¬ 
ful quality. It was at this time that 
cloisonne came to be used, drawing its 
methods and designs from the early 
Damascene art. In the still later Ching 
(Manchu) dynasty, a strong Jesuit in¬ 
fluence came to be felt, and objects were 
loaded down with ornamentation, 
though still redeemed by the survival of 
symbolism and the absorption of some 
of the worldly beauty of the Louis XV 
influence. It was during this time that 
Europe almost stripped China of porce¬ 
lains, but she did not care for the old 
paintings or the fine old potteries and 
sculptures. 
Chinese Impressionism 
It is only in the, last fifteen years that 
the old Impressionism has come to be 
understood and desired by western 
connoisseurs, and this, thoughtful people 
will say, is because our own art has 
reached a development of abstract rep¬ 
resentation that makes it possible to 
understand what is abstract in the art 
of other ages. This perhaps gives the 
key to the modern appreciation of 
Chinese art as a whole. It must not be 
understood that only the very oldest 
works are desirable, for at no time was 
Chinese art so viti¬ 
ated that it ceased 
to display those ele¬ 
ments which make 
it great. However, 
the grotesque fea¬ 
tures that some peo- 
sons dislike about 
Chinese Buddhistic 
art—the gods and 
demons and such 
things — are not 
found in the older 
and more simple 
landscapes and 
sculptures. 
(Cont. on page 104) 
“A Gorge in the 
North”, a landscape 
of the Lung Dynas¬ 
ty. Courtesy of A. 
W. Bahr 
Riderless horse of a 
dead emperor. From 
the T’ang Dynasty. 
Courtesy of A. W. 
Bahr 
