Compare and Contrast the Shang and Zhou Dynasty Research Paper

Compare and Contrast the Shang and Zhou Dynasty - Research Paper Example The Shang and Zhou dynasties cover the era between 1700 and 250 BC. They were famously known for their use of bronze and jade, and for their well-trained armies and constant use of human sacrifice. One may wonder: what made the two communities rich, strong and powerful? What still make these communities to be heard in the society? These two dynasties of China are the first dynasties for which there are several historical records. Historically, Shang is the first dynasty in China. Shang dynasty emerged after the Xia dynasty of which history slightly touches on and before the Zhou dynasty. This discourse will try find out the historical background of Shang and Zhou dynasties while exploring several happenings during their dynasties. These two dynasties started as semi nomadic tribes that habituated the western side of Shang kingdom. Their nomadic lifestyle prepared them to work with different people who had different cultures. Somewhere around 1040 B.C Zhou conquered Shang during a war fare. To their advantage, Zhou got loyalty of the disaffected cities. Therefore, the Shang collapsed their morals; Zhou took advantage of this and took over Shang dynasty. This made Zhou adopt Shang lifestyle to an extent of applying Shang artisan techniques. Due to their nature of artistic lifestyle, Shang dynasty was well known to practice their art work in a distinctive manner. They majorly got engaged in bronze casting where ceramics were modeled and were used to serve food and wine to their ancestors back in those days. Another distinctive lifestyle is their fully developed writing structure. The state of development and complexity in most of their writings explicitly portrayed early development period which is not attested up to today (Dani 1996). The most discussed distinctive and characteristic image was decoration which was majorly done to the bronze vessel known as taotie. Based on ancient dynasties, the Zhou who had adopted Shang lifestyles and dynasty devised

Artitic Criticism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Artitic Criticism - Essay Example The piece of art is characterized by clouds, stars, whirling wind and a sight off hills in the background provides for a larger dimension. Vincent chose a display a dot-to-dot effect on the sky by spacing the stars and providing a curving effect to the sky composition. This was aimed at ensuring the viewers concentrate on specific details of the paint rather than the sky. The technique can be traced to the 1880s where art was influenced by specific details. The painting has a night setting thus the purpose for its name, ‘Starry Night’. The painting displays an isolated night due to absence of night animals and other creators such as the bat. This displays a gloomy night also creates a midnight impression of the area. The whirling winds in the picture try to give the setting life but fails. The only prove of life in the village in the paint is the glowing windows of the cottages. There exist a contrast in the paint, sky above displays a rough and dramatic nature of the setting but the village shows peace and calmness. The hills represents hope, the decision of Vincent to displays two contrasting moods raises questions. Then again, life in the village is minimal as the dead tree on the painting displays death. The purpose of the dead tree and a peaceful village also contradicts the mood. To evaluate the intended purpose of the Dutch, one has to look at his condition while creating the art. At its creation, the painter was on foreign land and was ill. Despite his conditions, he could see a brighter future hence the representation of a lively background and a gloomy sky. The other unbecoming of the paint is the monotony in which the yellow color has been used in that the stars , the moon , the glowing winds and the whirling wind is represented by the yellow color. The idea of Vincent van Gogh is he displays his love for color yellow. However, he tries to balance the sky composition by introducing the white