The Polo Match

The Tang Dynasty tomb murals continue to reveal fascinating artistic evolutions. In Crown Prince Yide's tomb, the figures are all depicted in motion, with the painter consciously creating a sense of visual depth.

Notably, in the Polo Match mural, a row of tall trees in the foreground separates the viewer from the scene. This technique of using trees to define spatial planes originates from pre-Qin, Han, and post-Han painting-but here serves to depict depth, rather than just divide left and right.

Tang Dynasty (618-907) 200cm*890cm. Mural painting in tomb of Prince Zhanghuai, Qianxian county, Shanxi Province.

This piece is compiled from the Chinese edition of Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting by Foreign Languages Press and Yale University Press, translated by Chen Ying.