A Study On The Painting And Calligraphy Activities Affected By Imperial Power In Yuan Dynasty And Its Political Implication

As the first dynasty established by a nomaaic nation reigning china as a unitea multinational country, the Yuan Dynasty has played a uniquely important role in the art history of China. Besides the impressive paintings created by the men of letters that have won universal attention, the court painting and calligraphy activities taking place against the special cultural and royal background are equally worthy of a further study. In particular, identified by a dual role as both "the Emperor of the Central Country" and "the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire", the emperors of the Yuan Dynasty, including Renzong, Yingzong, Wenzong, Shundi and some others, attached great attention to the traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy and even would do some painting and writing themselves from time to time. Meanwhile, for those literati of Han nationality who had already taken or planed to take official jobs, painting, calligraphy, poetry and prose offered a good way to sing the praise of the emperors and gloss over the tough ruling with a view to winning the favor of the emperors and to justifying their action of serving the Mongolian court. Therefore, the art and literary activities between the emperors and the officials are not merely resulted from the leisurely and carefree mood of elegant scholars but characteristic of political intentions that stand for careful thinking. Hence, upholding the view point that "art serves the politics", this thesis is to analyze some eminent painting and calligraphy activities from the perspective of their embodiment of imperial power, such as "Painting and calligraphy collecting", "Bestowing of emperor’s writing", "Emperor portrait painting", "Khans’ Hunting", "Dragon boat and Han Palaces", "Farming and sericulture illustration", "Official tributes from afar" and "Paintings of auspicious signs". Relevant theories of social history and politics will be adopted.In short, the research and study of this thesis focuses on the documents and materials concerned with the paintings involving or entrusted by royal members of the Yuan Dynasty. On one hand, a through study of the documentary material will be carried out to analyze the close link between the painting and calligraphy works and the imperial power. On the other hand, an image analysis will be made on the paintings created under the influence of imperial power. By studying the works and related activities against the background of imperial influence from a social and historical perspective, the thesis is to discuss the social functions of art under imperial influence apart from its general aesthetic and expressive function, and to prove the interaction between the court painting and the political ruling so as to demonstrate an intimate relation between art and imperial power in particular history conditions.