Culture insider: Pretty women in Chinese paintings

Five Dynasties (AD 907-960)

After the Tang Dynasty painters in the Five Dynasties not only inherited the Tang Dynasty tradition of painting beauty but also made changes.

Take Gu Hong Zhong's "Han Xizai Evening Banquet" for example. The court attendant's posture is poor compared to that of the women in earlier Tang Dynasty paintings, but the woman is healthy and beautiful. In Ruan Gao's “Fairies of the Celestial Realm", there are also evident changes. Instead of painting obese models, he began to depict women with a more slender stature and charming posture.

"Han Xizai Evening Banquet" by Gu Hong Zhong (part). [Photo/IC]