Beauties in Song Dynasty

With a relatively stable political power, developed economy and prosperous culture, Chinese artists in the Song Dynasty (960-1279), continued to make innovations in their portrayals of women.In addition to mythical female figures and courtesans, the women at the bottom of society began to catch artists' attention.
 
Take Wang Juzheng's " The Spinning Wheel " for example. Women in this picture do not have sweet and pretty facial expressions, attractive statures, magnificent clothing or honored status. They are real, ordinary, rural women.

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder-Women in Chinese Painting.

Beauties Painting in Yuan Dynasty

During the Yuan dynasty, because of social turmoil and ethnic conflicts, many painters escaped to live in the mountains. They began to focus on painting the beauty of the nature that surrounded them, causing a decline in paintings of women.

Painters did not continue the Song Dynasty tradition of positively displaying women of different classes. Instead they drifted away from depicting real life. They sought themes from historical stories as well as literary works. In terms of human modeling, they followed the customs handed down from the Tang Dynasty.

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