Culture insider: Pretty women in Chinese paintings

Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368)

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.

Painting by Zhou Lang. [Photo/zgshjw.cn]