Arts Description Essay

Question: Write about theArts Description Essay. Answer: Introduction The glorious Bronze Age had its onset in China in around 2000 B.C and this period marks the beginning of magnificence and expertise in bronze art. The period began with growth of urbanization and gradually, bronze acted as a cohesive force in establishing social order. With time it became a cardinal part of reutilization among the Haves of the society. The era of the Shang Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty is marked as the Bronze Age of China and the earliest method that was exercised to make bronze, an alloy of tin and copper, was the piece-mold casting method. This technique helped to achieve high degree of sharpness while carving delicate and intricate designs. The most popular among the Shang Dynasty bronze vessels had been the taotie which is protruding animal like mask with a pair of eyes and nostrils at the base (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2004). Imagination of the carving artiste often adorned the taotie with a jaw, fangs earlobes and eyebrows. It was also found with a tail o r a pair of legs. The taotie came with myriads of variations like motifs of bovine and avian creatures and sometimes even dragons (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2004). Varieties also included geometric patterns and sometimes an entire beastly body with each flank on either side of the mask. For the Shang and Zhou rulers, ritual bronze vessels were not only just elegant objects of status, but were also the symbols of power that demanded respect from the subjects and viewers (Shang dynasty ritual bronze vessels, 2015). The Shang styles of decoration, especially the ritual bronze mask decoration continued into the early Western Zhou period (Wang et al., 2011), paving the way for the development of unique pieces of art. Max Loehr was the first to understand the nature and sequence of the bronze dcor, from Anyang period which dates back to 1300 1038 B.C. This was the period of late Shang dynasty and it was this particular period when the scholastic approaches began to bifurcate. One group proposed the idea that these animal masks represented the pre existent system of beliefs as they laid focus on the iconographic connotations. The other group had a firm faith on the nature and gradual evolution of the taotie and to them it was an outcome of artistic sophistication in respo nse to any external stimulation which might very well be religious faiths. The real or mythical animals depicted on these motifs might have represented spiritual and political empowerment. The use of jade and bronze vessels was often a part of sacred rituals as an instrument of sovereignty in political power, the design tended to be more sophisticated (Lopes, 2014). The Bronze mask with hooked cloud ornament from the Late Shang period (c. 1300-1100 BCE) that had its provenance in Pit 2, Sanxingdui, Guanghan, Sinchuan Province, and has been exhibited in Sanxingdui Museum, Guanghan, Sichuan Province, is a perfect example of the taotie. Certain features of the mask are embodiments of the features that thoroughly constitute and characterize a typical taotie. The interesting repertoire of shapes of the ritual bronze masks that were developed during the Shang and Zhou dynasties made the productions unique ones (Shang dynasty ritual bronze vessels, 2015). The unique characters are to be fo und in the concerned mask that symbolizes many of the characteristic features of the ritual bronze masks of the concerned period. The first characteristic that one may notice in the Bronze mask with hooked cloud ornament is its intricate design covering its surface. The design is precise, sharp, and edged. It seems that the shape of the bronze mask had been developed from ceramic prototypes, and as a part of the experimentation process used to build the mask, the shape was hammered and then carved out to provide particular sharp-edged and blunt features. The eyes of the unique face depicted as the mask are protruded, and this is one significant feature of a taotie. Another important feature that has to be observed in the Bronze mask with hooked cloud ornament is that; the face resembles the face of a monster, and representing the design of a typical taotie, the concerned mask had been designed in such a way that today for many viewers it seem to be a monster mask in which the face of the half-human monster seems to be divided and then splayed across. Interestingly, the design makes the mask look the amalgamation of dual profiles in a single projection. Moreover, a close observation of the Bronze mask with hooked cloud ornament from the Late Shang period is going to reveal the fact that it had been developed from a cast with the use of ceramic piece molds that was, as it seems, developed on the basis of a clay model. It is noteworthy that the Bronze mask with hooked cloud ornament from the Late Shang period would have been imprinted with several designs from the concerned model, and then the model would have been carved down to allow for the met al to be poured into the empty space that usually is there between a model and a mold (Shang dynasty ritual bronze vessels, 2015). Furthermore, it must be noted that the Bronze mask with hooked cloud ornament is an explicit example of animal imagery, and the image of the strange symmetrical monster, that has been actually embodied by the concerned bronze ritual mask, points towards the predominance of mythological aspects in the sphere of Chinese religious practices dating back to the Shang and Zhou periods. The staring eyes of the monster, the gaping jaw, and the sharp features render a ferocious, yet interesting, look that symbolizes insatiable greed that characterized many of the mythical Chinese beasts. Also, embodying the mythical lore, the Bronze mask with hooked cloud ornament from the Late Shang period has, till date, been one of the precious archaeological findings that have made it easier for todays scholars to understand the cultural practices of the Shang and Zhou period s in China. References Lopes, R. O. (2014). Securing the Harmony between the High and the Low: Power Animals and Symbols of Political Authority in Ancient Chinese Jades and Bronzes.Asian Perspectives,53(2), 195-225. Shang dynasty ritual bronze vessels (2015). Retrieved February 24, 2017, from https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-asia/imperial-china/shang-dynasty/a/shang-dynasty-ritual-bronze-vessels The Metropolitan Museum of Art (2004). Shang and Zhou Dynasties: The Bronze Age of China. HeilbrunnTimeline of Art History. Retrieved February 24, 2017, from https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/shzh/hd_shzh.htm Wang, Q., Priewe, S., Chen, K., Niece, S.L. (2011). A Chinese bronze gui vessel: genuine Western Zhou object or fake? The British Museum Technical Research Bulletin, 5. Retrieved February 24, 2017, from https://www.britishmuseum.org/pdf/BMTRB_5_Wang_et_al.pdf