After nearly a hundred years of Mongol rule, China returned to native rulership in the Ming dynastya series of rulers from a single family. (1368–1644). The Ming was founded by a commoner, Zhu Yuanzhang(joo yoo-en jahng) (1328–1398), who established Nanjing(nahn-jing) as his capital. However, nearly fifty years later, the third Ming emperor relocated the capital to Beijing, which has remained China’s main seat of government ever since. The Ming dynasty’s almost three hundred-year span witnessed unprecedented economic and cultural expansion and the near doubling of its population. The last century of the Ming, however, was besieged by border troubles, crop failure, fiscal instability, and court corruption leading to an overthrow by Manchu(man-choo) ethnic group that lived for centuries in the northeast of modern-day China. In the seventeenth century CE, Manchu people conquered China and ruled there for more than 250 years. invaders from the north, who took Beijing in 1644.
During the Ming, most people believed simultaneously in multiple gods and followed the Three Teachings of Confucianisma system of ethical and philosophical teaching associated with the Chinese philosopher Confucius (551–479 BCE). He developed a system of thought that stressed the importance of good government, social order, and harmonious and moral living., Buddhism(bood-ihz-uhm) a widespread Asian religion or philosophy founded by Siddartha Gautama in northeastern India in the 5th century BCE., and Daoism(dow-ihz-uhm) a philosophy based on the ideas of the Chinese thinker Laozi, who taught that people should be guided by a universal force called the Dao (Way).. Commoners and emperors alike supported temples and honored devotional images in their homes. In addition, overland and maritime trade routes kept China open to followers of Islama monotheistic religion that developed in Arabia in the seventh century CE. and allowed for the arrival of European Christians.
Notable Ming achievements include the refurbishment of the Great Wall to its greatest glory, large naval expeditions, vibrant maritime trade, and the rise of a heavily monetized economy. Vital cultural achievements included the production of exceptional—and often colorful—porcelains, paintings, lacquers, and textiles, which created a dazzling visual world. The rise of the novel as a popular literary genre, accompanied by affordable illustrated books, brought literature to many. As a result of cultural achievements and economic achievements, the Ming saw a larger consumer base for luxury goods than any earlier period.
In south China in Jingdezhen(jing-duh-juhn), kilna type of oven for firing clay or porcelain to make ceramic ware. workshops during the Yuan(yoo-en) dynasty had already produced large amounts of porcelaina hard, fine-grained, nonporous ceramic ware that is usually translucent and white., but the city’s position as the main ceramicpots and other articles made from clay hardened by heat. supplier for both domestic and foreign markets was solidified during the Ming. Judging from its broad distribution, Ming “blue-and-white” porcelain (white body decorated with cobalt-blue painting under the glazea thin, glass-like coating made of powdered rocks, minerals, ashes, and water. Applied correctly it makes a clay body impervious after firing. The colors of glaze are determined by the mineral oxides used and various aspects of the firing conditions.) was the dominant ceramic ware around the globe. Especially in the early to mid-Ming period, many porcelain shapes and decorative schemes drew inspiration from the Islamic world, which had helped create a taste for a blue-and-white palette (F1958.2). The finest porcelains were commissioned by emperors for palace use and as gifts, including for foreign diplomats. Beyond blue-and-white, the palace also commissioned stellar monochromes, especially red, and promoted a new development of exquisite overglaze enamelan opaque (dark) paste that is used to add color to hard surfaces like metal. It turns into a glass-like texture, which also provides protection, when heat is applied. decoration on porcelain.
Another type of enamelware greatly admired by the court was cloisonné(cloy-zuhn-ay) a decorative method that uses small metal wires to outline shapes/designs on a piece of metal. The shapes (cloisons) are then filled with enamel that, when fired in a kiln or heated to a very high temperature, turns into a glass-like medium and creates bright and opaque areas of color., a technique which originated outside of China, but by the Ming was manufactured in China according to local taste. In this technique, a worker attaches thin metal strips to a metal base outlining all the details of a design, and then fills the empty cells (cloisons) with colored enamel pastes. Firedthe act of heating pottery in a kiln. to a high heat, the enamel pastes are transformed into an opaque, glass-like surface (F1961.12a-b).
In the first half of the Ming dynasty, the court actively recruited painters from across the empire to serve in an academy producing works on themes that acclaimed the court’s majesty and glory. The emperors favored a representational style that revived many features from the Southern Song Imperialrelating to an empire, an emperor, or the home of royals. Painting Academy (F1916.403). Palace painters excelled in religious themes, moralizing narrative subjects, auspicioussuccessful or prosperous; a sign of future success bird-and-flower motifs, and large-scale landscape compositions. Simultaneously, outside the court, scholar-artists were more self-expressive in their brushwork based on training in calligraphythe art of producing decorative handwriting with a pen or a brush., which continued a style promoted by Yuan dynasty literati-artists.
By the sixteenth century, a decline in imperial patronage and rapid economic expansion in south China created a new clientele for art, including landowners and wealthy merchants, many of whom wanted images that portrayed the cultivated lifestyle of a scholar (F1934.1). Many literatiwell-educated people who are interested in literature. and professional painters lived in the same cities seeking support from the same patrons, which led to greater synergy and fusion between their painting styles as exemplified by the professional painter, Qiu Ying(chee-oh ying) (ca. 1494–1552). His work became so popular that many of the stunning and lyrical paintings produced in the Ming either copied or were in part inspired by his style—some of the works even bear a fake signature (F1993.4, F1953.84).