Topic of survey 2, the daily lives of the Tang Dynasty (C. 618-907). While researching the topic, one of the most interesting and useful websites that we found was http://factsanddetails.com/china/cat2/4sub9/entry-5431.html. This website told us all about the Tang dynasty’s big city and the life that populated them. The main topics that the article goes through are daily lives, holidays, the capital Chang’an, other cities, food, styles and luxuries, technology, inventions, medicine, and printing. Through researching this site and all the topics, I believed it would be informative to summarize and present to you the ways that new technology really affected everyone of the Tang dynasty.

 Therefore the topics that we will be going through for my part are, technology, inventions, and printing. Some new inventions that they had recently put to use would be a 3 ft tall wine serving machine disguised as an artificial mountain. The serving faucets were also in the shape of a dragon and a tilting bow was used to pour the wine into goblets to serve with a silver leaf tray. Another invention of theirs that was foraged from an invention of the previous Han dynasty was the first gas cylinders, these were said to be able to be carried “dozens of kilometers and still produce a flame”. 

 Along with these, during the Tang dynasty they also invented the first mechanical clock but also were the first to lose it somehow. The way it worked was that it divided up the day into temporary hours which were determined by other factors. The astronomical clock had a clockwork escapism mechanism, a waterwheel alongside a clepsydra clock to “power a rotating armillary sphere” to show astronomical observation. The clock became so well known that students trying to pass the imperial exams had to write an essay on it in order to pass. 

 Now the last thing to bring up would be that the Tang dynasty developed woodblock printing further into the future. However the way that they made printing work was very different than that of the movable printing style that Bi Sheng developed around the same time, as they instead carved the strokes or images out of wood rather than putting characters together in an almost impossible way to categorize. Now the effects of establishing this new style of printing was that most people in China were now able to access tons of new reading materials. Therefore making most of China more literate. They were also able to spread their language to neighboring countries as well, spreading religion and connecting people as well. Since it was cost effective, it also caught the eyes of Europe and spread a small bit there too. 

 To conclude, China remained using the woodblock printing style until the printing press became the global phenomenon that it was. 

Sources:

• http://factsanddetails.com/china/cat2/4sub9/entry-5431.html

 Hieronymus Bosch (c.1450-1516) was a notable painter of the fifteenth and sixteenth century. The main theme of his artworks were fantastical, imaginative, apocalyptic, and satirical. Bosch was quite popular as he constantly received commissions. However, Bosch never dated his paintings and had only signed some of them, therefore we have less than 25 paintings from him. 

“The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things” (c. 1500) is one of Bosch’s more important works as it depicts God watching man’s downfall and the 7 deadly sins in everyday situations with different social classes. There are also references to his other works in the four corners with, the Death, the Last Judgment, Heaven, and Hell.

 “The Last Judgement” (c. 1482-1505) presents the fall of humanity from left to right. An interesting thing to note is that the piece only depicts heaven and hell, with no indication of a reflective purgatory or middle ground.

 “Death and the Miser” (c. 1490) is the piece I enjoy the most and one that blends the fears of imagination with the grounds of the tangible. Quite relatable as sometimes people fear imaginary creatures around their bed.

 “The Garden of Earthly Delights” (c. 1490-1510) Considered Bosch’s masterpiece, displaying the Garden of Eden, the third day of the world’s creation, and the last judgement, the key stories of mankind in the Bible.

 A famous painting of the Triptych of “The Temptation of St. Anthony” (c.1501), one that has been recreated many times. Interestingly enough this is one of Bosch’s many interpretations and paintings of “The Temptation of St. Anthony”.

Sources:

• https://www.hieronymus-bosch.org/
• https://www.theartstory.org/artist/bosch-hieronymus/

 Stefan Lochner was a ‘Late Gothic’ artist and considered one of “the last great old masters of German Gothic art”. Born in 1410 and died 1451in Germany, Stefan was regarded as one of the finest painters of the “school of Cologne”, and had a soft oil painting style based off of Jan Van Eyck, Netherlandish art, and early Cologne school works, as well as a mystical religious theme.

His earliest work “The Last Judgement”(1435) was mellow and dark, but still held a strong sense of a climactic drama. After meeting Jan Van Eyck, the piece showing his new learning the best would be “Altarpiece of the Patron Saints of Cologne”(1445), as the colours feel more saturated and livelier than his older works with the usage of oil.

One of Stefan’s more famous and well recognized pieces is”Madonna in the Rose Bower”(1448), this piece shows off Stefan’s soft and bright style the best.

The last two pieces shows Stefan’s growth as an artist well, as the “Sts Anthony the Hermit, Cornelius and Mary Magdalen with a Donor”(1445) was painted in the middle of his career compared to “Saints Matthew, Catherine of Alexandria and John the Evangelist”(1445) which was one of his last works. The pieces are similar, yet different usage of mediums, colours and softer lines set them apart.

Sources:

• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Stefan-Lochner
• http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/old-masters/stefan-lochner.htm
• https://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/list.php?m=a&s=tu&aid=6158
• https://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/l/lochner/index.html