The Courtyard Buildings

Eastern Han (25–220). 230cm*115cm. Mural Painting in tomb of Han Dynasty, Anping, Hebei Province.

The buildings painted on the opposite wall seem to represent his former residence. However, these buildings were surrounded by high walls, and on the high walls there were castles, like a dock fort. The group of buildings depicted from an overhead angle is a mature work of ancient boundary painting. The most amazing thing is that the artist used the perspective technique here, and the lines of the cloister gradually converged to produce a strong three-dimensional effect. This is rare in early Chinese painting.

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.