The Matter of Chinese Painting, Case studies of 8th century murals

In the first part of this study a context is set for the research, and translations of classic and modern Chinese written sources are included. In the second part I have explored the technical and material aspects of Chinese painting, starting with a set of murals in three Tang tombs all dating to 706 CE. The tombs were excavated during the nineteen seventies in the Xi’an area of the central Chinese province of Shaanxi. I have collected samples of paint layers and ground layers from these tombs, and have analysed them. The study resulted in a new set of reference materials, because the data that I collected are not challenged in time or geographical location. Other paintings were however examined and compared to broaden the reach of the study. To give just one example: Works in the collection of the Freer and Sackler Gallery in Washington D.C. were included, because they are well documented in the conservation archive of the research department, which contains data that has been collected over many years and by several specialists.