Page "History of painting" Paragraph 75

The earliest ( surviving ) examples of Chinese painted artwork date to the Warring States Period ( 481-221 BC ), with paintings on silk or tomb murals on rock, brick, or stone.

They were often in simplistic stylized format and in more-or-less rudimentary geometric patterns.

They often depicted mythological creatures, domestic scenes, labor scenes, or palatial scenes filled with officials at court.

Artwork during this period and the subsequent Qin Dynasty ( 221-207 BC ) and Han Dynasty ( 202 BC-220 AD ) was made not as a means in and of itself or for higher personal expression.

Rather artwork was created to symbolize and honor funerary rights, representations of mythological deities or spirits of ancestors, etc.

Paintings on silk of court officials and domestic scenes could be found during the Han Dynasty, along with scenes of men hunting on horseback or partaking in military parade.

There was also painting on three dimensional works of art on figurines and statues, such as the original-painted colors covering the soldier and horse statues of the Terracotta Army.

During the social and cultural climate of the ancient Eastern Jin Dynasty ( 316-420 AD ) based at Nanjing in the south, painting became one of the official pastimes of Confucian-taught bureaucratic officials and aristocrats ( along with music played by the guqin zither, writing fanciful calligraphy, and writing and reciting of poetry ).

Painting became a common form of artistic self-expression, and during this period painters at court or amongst elite social circuits were judged and ranked by their peers.