Episode 195: Appraising Artwork (16)

This session will talk about the materials used for painting, including silk fabrics and paper. Murals are equally important. Most of the paintings in the Tang Dynasty and before were destroyed in palaces or temples, so many of them were moved to Dunhuang to paint murals to prevent them from being burned. At that time, all the first-class paintings were moved to the West. The silk paintings left over from Dunhuang were national treasures. They were rarely used for exhibitions for fear of damage to the works.
The paintings back then were either painted on the walls or on silk paintings. Silk is smoother and more difficult for painters to control. Some people will boil the hot silk with hot water first, or stuff it with powder to make it smooth. During the Five Dynasties period, the silk at that time had become smooth and delicate. In the Song Dynasty, literati became popular and silk fabrics became finer. By the Yuan Dynasty, the quality of silk fabrics was deteriorating, so textiles from older eras would become more valuable.
The quality of paper in each dynasty is different. From the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, hemp paper was used. The hemp paper used in the north and the south is also different. The paper used in the north is finer and has horizontal grains, while the south is rougher and has straight grains. Due to technical problems, the paper is relatively small, and the paper used for calligraphy appeared earlier in the Six Dynasties period. After hemp paper, tree bark was used to make paper. During the Song Dynasty, it became even more popular to use bark paper for painting.