Yuan: the Mongols and the scholars

Under Mongol rule the scholars withdrew and painted for themselves – and the first blue-and-white porcelain was made for export.

Kublai Khan founded the Yuan dynasty in 1271 and conquered all of China in 1279. The Mongols did not trust Chinese officials, and many scholars refused to serve the new regime.

Instead they painted as private individuals. The Four Masters – Huang Gongwang, Wu Zhen, Ni Zan and Wang Meng – created a personal landscape painting in which the brushstroke revealed the artist’s character. Ni Zan’s sparse, empty landscapes became an ideal.

Trade along land and sea routes flourished. At Jingdezhen potters began decorating porcelain with cobalt from Persia – blue-and-white porcelain, which would soon conquer the world.

• Zhao Mengfu and the backward glance
• The Four Masters
• Ink, paper and inscriptions
• Blue-and-white is born at Jingdezhen
• The Mongol court and temples
• Close reading: Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains
• Bamboo, plum and orchid
• Lacquer, silver and silks
• China, Persia and the world
• Zhao Mengfu
• Huang Gongwang
• Ni Zan