Nanyang stone tablets on display at Beijing Shanshui Art Museum

Nanyang, as one of the four major Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) era stone portrait archaeological sites, has sent 110 pieces to the Chinese Han Painting Exhibition, which was staged at Beijing Shanshui Art Museum and will run until Apr 12.

Co-hosted by the museum and Chinese Han Painting Society, the exhibition is the largest of its kind since the founding of the People's Republic of China. A total of 581 pieces of Han painting rubbings have been put on display in an approximately 10,000 square meters area.

Four Nanyang institutions curated the city's selection for the exhibition, including that of the Nanyang Museum of Han Stone Cravings, Xinye Museum, Nanyang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and Nanyang Industial College.

The Nanyang Museum of Han Stone Cravings is one of China's earliest and largest museums and houses more than 2,500 Han Dynasty stone portraits. The content of these portraits which cover everyday life, history, astronomy and myth are of great value to the study of Han Dynasty history.

Compared with stone portraits, Han Dynasty brick portraits collected in Xinye Museum are more simple and abstract in art. They mainly emphasize the expressiveness of lines and are a development of the stone portrait art.

The Han Dynasty stone and brick portraits are special artworks used to decorate tombs, stone pillars and cliffs in the period of the Han dynasties. They were made of stones and carved by knifes with ink lines or painted in color.

As part of China's precious heritage of art,  they are important historical material evidences when people study the Han cultures and have high archaeological and social values. At the same time, their forms are rough and prosperous. Rich symbols and patterns also have inspired the creation of contemporary art forms.