"The upper floors of the grand palace penetrate the azure; gold dragons snake around its carved columns." Anonymous (8th century)
China was reunited in 581 under the transient Sui Dynasty, after an epic period strangely reminiscent of the era of the land's first emperor, Shi Huangdi, and several of his successors ("Proving," Jacques-Edouard Berger warned us, "that Chinese historiography, such as it has been handed down to us in chronicles, deserves a good dose of circumspection, since the mandarins have an undeniable tendency to enjoy history that repeats itself, given how deeply the notion of cycles is anchored in the Chinese mentality."). The land fell to the Tang in 618, where it would be subjected to the reign of ten sovereigns, beginning with the founding father Kao Tsong. The Empire's capital at the time, the metropolis of Chang' an (today's Xi' an), was surrounded by 40 kilometers of high walls, into which eight monumental gates had been pierced; it was crisscrossed by a network of avenues and, in around 650, boasted some 800,000 inhabitants. Because of its location at the heart of China, it became a real crossroads for the exchange of goods and peoples. Nothing remains of the city, but again the tombs - in particular, the imperial necropolis situated in Qianling, 106 kilometers from Xj'an - would provide endless clues.
Artistic production was intensified under the third Tang emperor, Kao-Tsong (649-683). The Longmen caves were enriched with a monumental style. The Buddha, graced with calm majesty, a wide, delicately outlined face, and a generously and harmoniously rounded body, wears a light draping. The naturalism typical of this period comes through in the athletic figures of the Dvarapala, guardians with grimacing faces. This realism is even more pronounced in the animal and funerary statuary of the time. Most especially, it can be seen in the mingqi: riders, in each case seated in a picturesque attitude; camels and camel-drivers; officials; dignitaries; court ladies; foreigners (Indians, Afghans, Syrians, Persians...) with the traits of their race typified to the point of caricature; and guardians who turn into demons.
The art and mastery of the mingqi contributed to perfecting various ceramic techniques, which evolved into three main styles: "three-color" (red or blue, yellow and green) glazing on a white slip, either allowed to run freely or corrected by incised motifs; "splash" pieces (a first black envelope is covered with a viscous glaze composed of several oxides which, through heating, turn different tones, drip, and form crackles; and, finally, white glazed pieces which were nothing less than the very first "porcelains." These pieces - bowls and ewers - were small and very diversified in material and tones of white.