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Chinese Ancient Painting

"Beauties Wearing Flowers", by Zhou Fang of Tang Dynasty(618-907), significant in the history of art. It depicts the comfortable, gorgeous, happy life of noble women in the Tang Dynasty.  Zhou Fang was famous for feature painting during the then times. This painting is set on a scroll, 180 cm long and 46 cm wide.

The women's hair is done up in towering chignons, and decorated with flowers or buyao ornaments with swaying appendages. Their eyebrows are finely painted, their foreheads adorned with pasted decorative motifs. They all wear a low-cut long gown over which is a robe with centre opening and voluminous sleeves, made of a fabric so sheer that the arms are visible. In addition they wear an embroidered shawl. 

The painting is a rich colorful painting in traditional Chinese realistic skills characterized by the fine brushwork and close attention to detail. The lines are the major means for modeling in Chinese paintings. The lines drawn on this painting are fine and colorful, simple and expressive. The faces and hands of those noble women are drawn precisely, refined and round and tender, a little exaggerative but animated, for example, the delicate fingers of the butterfly - catcher, the manner of the flower-holder, the nimble hand of the rope-whipper. The silk clothes on those noble women appear flowing and fluttering, showing their feel of good quality.

"Along the River During the Qingming Festival" is one of serveral Panoramic paintings, the original version generally attributed to the Song Dynasty artist Zhang Zeduan (1085-1145). It captures the daily life of people from the Song period . The theme celebrates the festive spirit and worldly commotion on the Qingming Festival, rather than the holiday's ceremonial aspects such as tomb sweeping and prayers. The entire piece was painted in handscroll format. In the 5.28-meter long picture, there were 814 humans, 28 boats, 60 animals, 30 more buildings, 20 vehicles, 9 sedan chairs and 170 trees drawn