Editing Chinese art (section)

==Sculpture==
{{Main|Chinese sculpture}}
{{See also|Chinese Buddhist sculpture}}
[[Chinese ritual bronzes]] from the Shang and Western Zhou dynasties come from a period of over a thousand years from c. 1500 BC, and have exerted a continuing influence over Chinese art. They are cast with complex patterned and [[zoomorphic]] decoration, but avoid the human figure, unlike the huge figures only recently discovered at [[Sanxingdui]].<ref>Rawson, Chapter 1, 135–136</ref> The spectacular [[Terracotta Army]] was assembled for the tomb of [[Qin Shi Huang]], the first emperor of a unified China from 221 to 210 BC, as a grand imperial version of the figures long placed in tombs to enable the deceased to enjoy the same lifestyle in the afterlife as when alive, replacing actual sacrifices of very early periods. Smaller figures in pottery or wood were placed in tombs for many centuries afterwards, reaching a peak of quality in the [[Tang dynasty tomb figures]].<ref>Rawson, 138-138</ref>

Native Chinese religions do not usually use cult images of deities, or even represent them, and large religious sculpture is nearly all Buddhist, dating mostly from the 4th to the 14th century, and initially using [[Greco-Buddhist art|Greco-Buddhist]] models arriving via the [[Silk Road]]. Buddhism is also the context of all large portrait sculpture; in total contrast to some other areas in medieval China even painted images of the emperor were regarded as private. Imperial tombs have spectacular avenues of approach lined with real and mythological animals on a scale matching Egypt, and smaller versions decorate temples and palaces.<ref>Rawson, 135–145; 145–163</ref>  Small Buddhist figures and groups were produced to a very high quality in a range of media,<ref>Rawson, 163–165</ref> as was relief decoration of all sorts of objects, especially in metalwork and [[Chinese jade|jade]].<ref name="Rawson, Chapters 4 and 6">Rawson, Chapters 4 and 6</ref> Sculptors of all sorts were regarded as artisans and very few names are recorded.<ref>Rawson, 135</ref>

<gallery widths="170px" heights="170px">
File:商青銅鼎-Ritual Tripod Cauldron (Ding) MET DP164965.jpg|[[Chinese ritual bronzes|Ritual]] tripod cauldron ([[Ding (vessel)|ding]]); circa 13th century BC; bronze: height with handles: 25.4&nbsp;cm; [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] (New York City)
File:商 青銅尊-Wine Vase (Zun) MET DP140765.jpg|Wine vase ([[zun]]); 13th century BCE; bronze inlaid with black pigment; height: 40&nbsp;cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
File:POL 3596-Editar (15708757686).jpg|One of the warriors of the ''[[Terracotta Army]]'', a famous collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of [[Qin Shi Huang]], the first Emperor of China
File:Chang Xin Gong Deng, Han Dynasty,China (Hebei Museum).jpg|Changxin Palace lamp; circa 172 BCE; bronze and gold; height: 48&nbsp;cm; [[Hebei Provincial Museum]] (China); excavated from the tomb of Dou Wan
File:雷台汉墓铜奔马2.jpg|The ''[[Flying Horse of Gansu]]''; circa 300; bronze; height: 34.5&nbsp;cm, length: 45&nbsp;cm; width: 13.1&nbsp;cm; [[Gansu Provincial Museum]], [[Lanzhou]]
File:Wei Votivstele Museum Rietberg RCH 113.jpg|Votive stele with [[Buddha Shakyamuni]]; dated 542 ([[Eastern Wei dynasty]]); limestone; [[Museum Rietberg]] ([[Zürich]], Switzerland)
File:唐 彩繪漆金夾紵阿彌陀佛像-Buddha, Probably Amitabha (Amituofo) MET DP170964.jpg|Sculpture probably of [[Amitābha]]; early 7th century; hollow dry lacquer with traces of gilt and polychrome pigment and gilding; height: 96.5&nbsp;cm, width: 68.6&nbsp;cm, depth: 57.1&nbsp;cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
File:Leshan Buddha Statue View.JPG|The ''[[Leshan Giant Buddha]]'', a 71 m tall stone statue, built between 713 and 803, Tang dynasty
File:唐 彩繪石雕阿難陀像（石灰岩）-Monk, probably Ananda (Anantuo) MET DP170269.jpg|Statue of a monk; 8th century; limestone with pigment; limestone with pigment; height (including the stone dowel): 175.3&nbsp;cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
File:Flickr - dalbera - Statue de l'Arhat Tamrabhadra (musée Guimet).jpg|Statue of the luohan Tamrabhadra, one of the [[Yixian glazed pottery luohans|group of glazed pottery luohans from Yixian]]; 10th–13th century; glazed terracotta; height: 123&nbsp;cm; [[Guimet Museum]] (Paris)
File:遼 彩繪木雕水月觀音菩薩像（柳木胎）-Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara in Water Moon Form (Shuiyue Guanyin) MET DP163982.jpg|Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara in water moon form (Shuiyue Guanyin); 11th century; wood (willow) with traces of pigment, multiple-woodblock construction; height: 118.1&nbsp;cm, width: 95.3&nbsp;cm, depth: 71.1&nbsp;cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
File:清 青金石羅漢山子-Seated luohan (arhat) in a grotto MET DT258832.jpg|Seated luohan; 18th–19th century; [[lapis lazuli]]; height: 18.1&nbsp;cm, width: 25.4&nbsp;cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
</gallery>