宋代文明：世界历史中的首次文艺复兴

马麟【美国】

美国堪萨斯城纳尔逊—阿特金斯艺术博物馆东亚部主任

文艺复兴向来被誉为人类历史的转折点以及沟通中世纪与现代的桥梁，而这种赞誉的确是实至名归的。文艺复兴运动源于14世纪晚期的意大利，到1600年至欧洲各地。它被定义为人类思想史上的革命期，不仅促进了方言文学的兴起，也重新唤起了人们对古典艺术与建筑的兴趣，令古典准则成为进一步探索艺术形式与建筑形式的基础。此外，文艺复兴推动了科学方法与科学技术的革新，中国的活字印刷术便是在这一时期内引入欧洲的。毫无疑问，古典兴味的复兴促进了科学思想的发展，近期以来，文艺复兴时期阿拉伯数学家的贡献正逐步得到当代学界的认可。虽然对于文艺复兴的概念尚存在诸多置疑，但这一时期无疑代表着人类史、特别是艺术史上的一段革命性的时期。

从世界艺术史的标准教材——玛丽琳·斯托克斯塔德的《艺术史》中便能看出文艺复兴在艺术及建筑领域内的重要性。该书用长达140页的篇幅讲述了1430—1600年间文艺复兴时期的艺术史。相比之下，关于有300多年历史的宋代（960—1279）的介绍则仅仅只有7页。

即使在中国，宋代也不如之前的唐朝和之后的明朝那样瞩目。与唐朝相比，宋朝军事力量孱弱，地理版图较小。相比之下，唐朝在历史上向来以“黄金时代”、“丝绸之路的世界主义时代”而著称，“大明王朝”则因紫禁城所折射出的巍巍皇权而传颂于世。

事实上，在很多方面，宋朝的重要性并不亚于唐朝和明朝。尽管历史性的跨文化比较常常有失精准，但宋朝与欧洲的文艺复兴之间的确存在着许多共性与平行（同时也存在诸多差异）。如果将文艺复兴视作中世纪与现代世界的桥梁，那么考虑宋朝时期的中国在何种程度上体现出现代性则并没有不当之处。首先我必须承认，我并不是研究中国历史或中国文学的专家，只是一位典藏研究员和艺术史学者。对于汉学家群体而言，我的讲述或有班门弄斧之嫌，因为宋史专家早已谙熟这个朝代的诸般成就。因此，我的目的在于向国际学者而非汉学家推广宋朝的文明成就。若问此举目的何在，我只能说，作为西方国家博物馆的一名典藏研究员，我也负责管理中国艺术品，但每天接触的历史或艺术史中都凸显着欧洲中心主义倾向。在我看来，宋代的现代性丝毫不弱于文艺复兴时期，甚至比同时代的（10—13世纪）欧洲国家更为进步。

在审视物质文化之前，有必要对宋代文明的成就——知识复兴及科技创新——做一总括式回顾。在这一时期内，儒学得到复兴，科举制得到推广；在官吏选拔方面，选贤任能的观念深入人心；在科技方面，印刷术得到迅速推广，丰富了书籍品类；农业技术的进步成倍地提高了生产率，海洋技术取得了重大进步，包括指南针、船舵、防水壁的发明；此外，人们对古文物、器物的学术兴趣与日俱增，编纂了关于青铜器及书画作品的目录。

在对中欧文化进行对比之前，有必要指出两者在物质文化层面上的鲜明差异：中国古建筑多为木质，且明朝之前的宫殿建筑大多已损毁，外观气势上略逊于哥特大教堂，比如，沙特尔圣母大教堂（建于1153—1260年左右）的高度达到136.57米。相比之下，建于1056年的应县佛宫寺释迦塔只有67.31米，与比萨斜塔高度相仿。比萨斜塔始建于1173年，于1360年左右竣工，高56.67米。中国建筑并不追求高度，而是讲求空间搭配。由于找不到现存的宋代宫殿，紫禁城可算是目前现存的规模最大、最完整的古代宫殿建筑群。

在欧洲，许多收藏家和艺术家重新发掘了古希腊和古罗马雕塑艺术，而宋代的文物收集者也展现出对中国古代青铜器物的兴趣，然而这种兴趣并没有像文艺复兴一样，直接引发古代工艺的复兴。许多古文物被收入目录且进行了仿制，但采用的工艺却是“失蜡法”而非古代的“分铸法”，因而缺乏古代模具所特有的美学优点。在雕塑艺术上也可以进行类似的比较。中国的雕刻家并没有获得文艺复兴时期艺术家米开朗基罗那样声望，也没有像他一样执着于人物形体的塑造。尽管唐代已经流行石雕艺术，但宋代艺术家更青睐木材或黏土等材质。在中国的艺术品中，人物的身份往往通过服饰进行定义，裸体向来不受欢迎。但半裸的菩萨像却从未招致反对，这主要是受到印度佛教遗产的影响。需要指出的一点是，宋金时期的雕塑不论是在美感、规模、逼真程度还是绚烂程度上，都远远超过“前文艺复兴时代”欧洲各国的雕塑作品。纳尔逊艾特金斯艺术博物馆陈列的南海观音像虽然出自一位匿名匠人之手，但足可与米开朗基罗的《大卫》相媲美。大卫像虽然高达17英尺，且体积远远大于观音像，但与71米高的乐山大佛（建于唐代713—803年间）或独乐寺的黏土观音像（高16米，建于辽代）相比，委实要渺小许多。

下面，我将举两例说明宋代的艺术媒介具有无可否认的现代性以及远远超出同时代欧洲艺术的先进性。第一，瓷器。至少从唐代起，中国瓷器便因其先进的工艺和杰出的美感获得亚洲以及其他地区的青睐，但直到宋代，釉瓷才得到宫廷的追捧，如定窑白瓷、汝窑青瓷、龙泉青瓷等。这些瓷器的出众之处在于将釉质和外形放在首位，而将图案纹饰放在次要地位。几乎在所有“前现代”文化中，价值都是通过图案与纹饰来传达，图案纹饰越多，艺术品的价值便越高。然而在釉瓷器中，图案纹饰的数量往往被降至最低，甚至完全缺失。与唐三彩釉陶器不同，宋代的高火釉体现出明显的庄重与内敛。许多学者指出，宋代的釉色白中显青绿，应该是加入了银或玉等其他物质，只有从极富现代性的审美视角才能欣赏如此细腻的美感，这与20世纪上半叶兴起于欧洲的“鲍豪斯运动”具有诸多共同点。

然而在绘画领域，宋代取得的成就是最为显著且意义深远的。唐代的绘画注重人物表现，而宋代则将焦点转移至风景。正如历史学家西蒙·沙玛所说，“这是人类历史上首次以山水画来定义人类文明的壮举”。以现实主义笔法呈现风景，远比人物画更具挑战性。如何描绘远景？如何在版式相对受限的中国画中呈现出自然的渺远？此类问题在10世纪的中国已然得到了解答。这一时期最具代表性的山水画家要数李成（919—967），其作“峰峦重叠，间露祠墅，此为最佳。至于林木稠薄泉流深浅，如就真景”“近观李成笔锋，如在千里之外。”郭若虚则用“夫气象萧疏，烟林清旷，毫锋颖脱，墨法精微者，营丘之制也”来评价。

不论是当时的画作还是画论，都明显地表现出对“再现”这一命题的极大兴趣。例如，卓越而博学的沈括（1031—1095）曾对李成山水画及建筑画中的透视技法进行过批判与探讨。

“又李成（919—967）画山上亭馆及楼塔之类，皆仰画飞檐，其说以谓自下望上，如人平地望塔檐间，见其榱桷。此论非也。大都山水之法，盖以大观小，如人观假山耳。若同真山之法，以下望上，只合见一重山，岂可重重悉见，兼不应见其溪谷间事。又如屋舍，亦不应见中庭及后巷中事。若人在东立，则山西便合是远境；人在西立，则山东却合是远境。似此如何成画？李君盖不知以大观小之法，其间折高远，自有妙理，岂在掀屋角也。”

此番评论值得关注之处在于，沈括明确地指出了单点透视（消失点）的不恰当之处——在15世纪的欧洲绘画中，这种视角的使用极为频繁。从本质上讲，沈括的评论凸显出这样一种问题意识：使用单点透视无法呈现山峦的“纵深感”。或许，试图捕捉山峦影像的摄影师大多都会赞同这一观点。

李成的绘画技法在现存的几幅真迹中得到了完美的诠释。以《晴峦萧寺图》为例：前景中描绘的似乎是两家饭馆，一家档次较高，一家较为简陋，大概类似于麦当劳或饺子店。然而对两栋建筑的描绘手法却显得十分高明，巧妙地展现了沈括所谓“中庭中事”，以水墨营造雾气、通过精确缩小比例、远山的重叠等技法，惟妙惟肖地营造出距离感与纵深效果。

空间透视法在南宋夏圭的《山水十二景图》中得到了完美诠释。在这幅画作中，绢面大片留白，只有山水风景在雾气中若隐若现。王诜《烟江叠嶂图》（现存于上海博物馆）则更显极端，近半绢面大幅留白。

若观者徐徐展开画卷，所见者只有一片空白，并且会将这片空白解读为氤氲的雾气。这种迫使观者解读空白、参与想象的技法，从本质上讲，具有极强的现代性，类似的抽象作品直到20世纪早期才在卡西米尔·马列维奇（1878—1935）等极简主义画家的作品中出现。夏圭、王诜等人的作品与欧洲同时代画家的作品形成了有趣的对比。成书于1150年左右的《温彻斯特手抄本圣经》中绘有大量极富艺术价值的插图，然而不论是这部圣经还是同期的画作，都没有表现丝毫的空间意识和距离意识，直至15世纪早期，菲利波·布鲁内列斯基（1377—1466）才发明出单消失点的几何透视法。从15世纪的一副匿名画作中能够看出欧洲画家在单点透视法上取得的突破，与《烟江叠嶂图》相比，这幅画作的技法或许“科学性”更强，但在营造“烟雾弥漫、浩渺空旷”的意境方面，则要逊色许多。

中国画凸显出的幻觉现实主义风格似乎在11世纪遭到批判，或许是因为士大夫阶层将技艺精湛的画家视作威胁（在当时的画作批评中，画家的社会身份以及道德人格往往与艺术技巧同等重要），这场批判风潮大体可以用“写意”二字来概括。最先倡导这一理念且影响最为深远的人要数苏轼——宋代杰出诗人、政治家、书画家。苏轼有关画作最著名的论断莫过于“论画以形似，见与儿童邻”。

这番论断有时会被误解为“逼真”并不重要，但实际上，苏轼想要表达的是，仅凭“逼真”来衡量美学价值是不够全面的。苏轼的作品大多已经失传，但从仅存的少量作品来看，苏轼笔法可谓灵动与神韵兼备。笔法是中国书法艺术中最基本的元素，而中国书法与绘画间又存在着紧密联系，这种联系已经持续了几个世纪之久。苏轼的画作大多构图简单，不过在北宋（960—1127）的画作中，他所倡导的风格渐渐体现出更为复杂的表现形式，最佳的例证便是乔仲常的《后赤壁赋图》。当然，乔氏并非纤毫毕现地展示《后赤壁赋》这首诗的图景，而是通过笔锋来捕捉该诗的神韵。可以说，《后赤壁赋图》是世界上第一幅印象主义画作，在苏轼“登树”俯视滔滔江水的场景中，这种印象主义风格体现得尤为明显。此外，以诗提画更能体现苏轼“书画本一体”的理念。

然而在北宋后期，在社会及文化的其他领域，特别是在科技领域，革新的态势并没有持续下去。在绘画领域，宋代为后世绘画技法的创新奠定了基础，例如，笔墨技法的表现潜力在元代的绘画大师倪瓒（1301—1374）、黃公望（1269—1354）等人的作品中得到了充分的发挥，并被明末清初的画家所传承。董其昌（1555—1636）的山水画构图复杂且形式抽象，空间表现体现出刻意的模糊性，有时令人联想到毕加索的立体主义表现手法。龚贤（1618—1689）山水画的“点墨”技法远远早于乔治·修拉等点画派艺术作家的创作技法。当然，必须承认的是，在形式与内容的突破上，龚贤的作品比修拉的画作更为大胆。若是没有宋代这些革命性的突破，中国画坛则不会掀起一波又一波的新风潮。总之，无可否认的是，宋代是视觉艺术的革命期，在某些方面甚至超越了欧洲的文艺复兴，远比之前的罗马艺术及哥特艺术更为进步。

Song Civilization:the World's First Renaissance

Colin Christopher Mackenzie/United States of America

Senior Curator of East Asian Art,the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art,Kansas City

The Renaissance is rightly celebrated as a crucial turning point in world history and as a bridge between the Middle Ages and the Modern Era.Beginning in the late 14thcentury in Italy,but eventually spreading to the rest of Europe by 1600,it is defined as a period of revolutions in intellectual pursuits,including a flowering of vernacular literature,a revival of interest in classical art and architecture and their use as a basis for further development forms,new developments in scientific method and new technological innovations such as the invention of the movable type.Although the revival of interest in the classical past was undoubtedly a spur to scientific thinking,more recently,the contribution of Arab mathematicians has been increasingly recognized.Although the concept of the renaissance has been questioned,it undoubtedly represents a revolutionary era in the history of mankind,particularly in art.

The artistic and architectural importance ascribed to the Renaissance is reflected in the number of pages devoted to it in the standard text book on the history of world art,Marilyn Stokstad's Art History.140 pages,covering the years 1430-1600.The Song Dynasty(960-1279),a period of some 300 years,by contrast,occupies only seven pages.

Even within China,the Song is less well known than the Tang which preceded it or the Ming which eventually followed it after the intervening Yuan.Compared with the Tang,it was militarily weaker and geographically smaller.Its demise at the hands of non-Han peoples has also contributed to its relatively lackluster reputation.Histories of the Tang dynasty,for instance,often describe it as Golden Age and cosmopolitan age of the Silk Road,while the Ming Dynasty is lauded for its imperial power that is still reflected in the Forbidden City.

Yet,in many respects,it was at least as significant as these two eras.And although historical cross cultural comparisons are always inaccurate and imprecise,there are many commonalities and parallels with the European Renaissance(although many differences also).But if we see the Renaissance as a bridge between the medieval and modern worlds,I think it is appropriate to consider in what ways Song dynasty China was modern.In the following brief discussion,I have to make some admissions.I am not a scholar of Chinese history or literature,but rather a curator and an art historian.Moreover I know that I am really preaching to the converted as far as the sinologist community is concerned—experts on Song history are well aware of its many achievements.My agenda is really one of boosting the reputation of the Song dynasty,not so much among sinologists,but in the international scholarly community.You might ask why this is important,but as a curator of Chinese art in a Western museum,I encounter a Eurocentric view of history and art history on a daily basis.My argument is that in many ways Song is as modern as the Renaissance and certainly far in advance of the contemporaneous European world of the 10thto 13thcenturies.

Before focusing on material culture,it is worth outlining an overview of Song achievements,both in terms of the revival of knowledge and innovation:these include a revival of interest and scholarship in the Confucian classics;the expansion of the imperial examination system and the entrenchment of the idea of officials chosen on the basis of merit and the consequent development of a professional bureaucratic administration for the empire;in technology,the dramatic expansion of printing for a wide range of books;advances in agriculture which increased productivity by orders of magnitude;crucial advances in maritime technology including the invention of the compass,the rudder and bulkheads;a scholarly interest in the artifacts of antiquity and the compilation of catalogues of painting and bronzes.

In comparing the cultures of Europe of China,it is important to point out some very striking differences between the material culture of Europe and China:Chinese architecture was wood,and no intact palace structures have survived from before the Ming dynasty.Temple architecture does survive,but it is less impressive than the great Gothic cathedrals—Notre Dame at Chartres(ca 1153-1260)rises to a height of69 metres(226 ft),while dome of the Basilica of Saint Peters reaches a height of 136.57 metres(448.1 ft)By contrast,the wooden pagoda of Yingxian Fogong pagoda,completed in 1056,reaches a total height of 67.31 m(220.83 ft)tall,about the same height as the Leaning Tower of Pisa,begun in 1173 and completed around 1360,is(56.67 metres(185.93 feet tall).Height was,in any case,not the ultimate aim of Chinese architecture;it was encompassing space.In this respect although we don't have an Song palaces extant,the Forbidden City exceeds all other architectural complexes.

Just as collectors and artists rediscovered Classical,Hellenistic and Roman sculpture,so Chinese antiquarians became interested in ancient Chinese bronzes.Unlike Renaissance,however,this did not inspire a direct revival of the ancient craft.Ancient bronzes were illustrated in catalogues and reproductions were made using the lost-wax method rather than the section mold technique,and consequently lacked the aesthetic merit of their ancient models.In terms of sculpture,however,there is a closer comparison.Chinese sculptors never achieved the fame of Renaissance artists such as Michelangelo nor did they explore the human figure with the same passion.Although stone had been in fashion during Tang,by Song wood and clay were the preferred materials.In Chinese art,the human figure was defined by drapery and nudity generally disliked.However,certain semi-nude such as bodhisattvas were accepted,the legacy of Indian Buddhist influence.The point is that these Song-Jin sculptures surpassed in beauty and realism and magnificence anything that was being produced in pre-Renaissance Europe,both in terms of scale and realism.The Guanyin of the Southern Sea in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art,although an anonymous work,stands comparison with Michelangelo's David.And although the latter at 17 ft,is much larger,it is dwarfed by some of the great Chinese Buddhist sculptures such as the71-metre(233 ft)tall stone statue of Buddha at Leshan,built between 713 and 803(during the Tang Dynasty),or the clay sculpture of Guanyin at Dulesi some sixteen meters in height,created during the Liao Dynasty(907-1125).

I am going to explore briefiy two examples of artistic media that,in my opinion,are undeniably modern and indisputably more advanced than their equivalents in Europe at the time.First,ceramics:Chinese ceramics have been prized throughout Asia and beyond for their technical and aesthetic excellence since at least the Tang dynasty.But it was during the Song dynasty that glazed stonewares and porcelains became sought after by the imperial court,first the white Ding ware porcelains,then the blue-green celadons of Ru,Guan,and Longquan.What is so remarkable about these stonewares and porcelains is the subservience of decoration to form and glaze.In virtually all pre-modern cultures,decoration conferred value—the more decoration,the more valuable the work of art.But in the glazed stonewares,decoration is on the whole minimal or often totally absent.And unlike the bright three color glazes of Tang,the highfired glazes of Song are distinguished by their demure understated tones.It has been pointed out by a number of scholars that the colors of the glazes,white,green,and bluish,evoked other materials,such as silver and jade.It took a very modern sensibility to appreciate this subtle aesthetic,which has much in common with the European Bauhaus movement of the first half of the twentieth century.

It is in the field of painting,however,that the Song made the most dramatic and significant advances.Painting of the Tang dynasty focused on the figure,but by the Song Dynasty,it had shifted to landscape.As the historian Simon Schama has pointed out,“for the first time in history,civilization was defined by landscape painting.”[1]Realistic depiction of landscape was a much more challenging venture than figure painting.How was one to depict objects further away? And how to encompass the huge distances and vast scale of nature within the relatively confined format of Chinese painting?During the course of the 10thcentury this challenge was overcome.The primary exponent was Li Cheng(919-967),whose style was described as“within the piled-up peaks and mountains of his paintings,temples and villas appear;this is the best thing of his art.The dense or sparse trees and the deep and shallow streams are depicted as the real scenery.”[2]“Li Cheng's brushwork,when seen from nearby,seems a thousand miles away.”[3]Another critic,Guo Ruoxu郭若虚，emphasized Li's ability to create atmospheric effects:“In the productions of [Li of] Yingqiu,the atmospheric effects have a sublime openness,the misty woods a pure spaciousness;his brush-point is distinguished,and his use of ink exquisitely subtle.”[4]

What is very clear both from paintings of the time,but also the critics,is that the question of representation was one of great interest.The great polymath Shen Kuo 沈括（1031—1095）,for instance,discusses the perspective involved in Li Cheng's buildings and landscape paintings in a somewhat critical tone.

“Further,when Li Cheng(919-967)painted such buildings as pavilions or towers on a mountain,he always did the flying eaves as if one were looking up at them.The explanation is given that one is viewing what is above from below,just like a man on level ground looking up at house eaves sees their supporting rafters.This theory is wrong.Generally,the method of landscape painting is taking the larger view of the small,just as a man looks at an artificial mountain.If it were the same as the method of [viewing] actual scenery,then looking up from below,one would only see a single layer of the mountain.How could one see its whole,layer upon layer? Similarly,one would not see its valleys and other details.Again,in such things as buildings one would not see inner courtyards or events happening in the rear lanes…”[5]

What is so interesting about Shen Kuo's commentary is that he explains very clearly why a single vanishing point perspective such as emerged in Europe in the 15thcentury would not have been appropriate.Essentially,he realized that if one took a single-point perspective one would be unable to represent the depth of mountain ranges,a point with which any photographer who has tried to photograph mountain ranges would probably agree.Li Cheng's approach is best exemplified by one of the few surviving paintings that may actually have been painted by his hand,Solitary Temple Amid Clearing Peaks.In the foreground is depicted what seem to be two restaurants,a higher class version and a humbler one,perhaps the equivalent of McDonalds or a Jiaozidian(饺子店).The way the buildings are drawn cleverly opens up the interior space,just as Shen Kuo described the technique.Likewise the use of wash to create mists,the careful diminution of scale,and the overlapping of distant mountains are all cleverly marshalled to create an effect of depth and distance.

A fine example of the use of atmospheric perspective is the painting Twelve Views of Landscape by the Southern Song painter Xia Gui.In this painting much of the silk is left blank,with only elements of the landscape emerging from the mist.Even more extreme is the famous Serried Hills Over a Misty River by Wang Shen in the Shanghai Museum,which for over half the length of the scroll is blank.A viewer unrolling the scroll would see only blank silk that he would interpret as mist filled void.The sophistication of an artist who challenges the viewer to engage with essentially blankness is strikingly modern and can be anticipates the abstract works of early twentieth century European minimalist artists such as Kazimir Malevich(1878-May 15,1935).It is interesting compare the Xia Gui and Wang Shen paintings with art of the same period in Europe.The manuscript leaf from the Winchester bible,created about 1150 is wondrous work of art,but there is no hint in this or other works of the time of any understanding of how to represent space or distance.It is only during the early 15thcentury that Filippo Brunelleschi(1377-1446)developed geometrical perspective with a single vanishing point.An anonymous 15thcentury painting shows the breakthrough in single-view point perspective.Compared with Solitary Temple,it may be more scientific,but in terms of conveying the illusion of monumental scene,it is no more successful.

During the 11thcentury,there seems to be a reaction against the illusionistic realism that had been achieved in Chinese painting.It originated among the literati(士大夫shidafu)class,who perhaps felt threatened by the virtuoso technique of professional painters(in contemporaneouscritiques of painters,their social status and moral character is often as important as their artistry).This movement is encapsulated in the idea of xieyi(写意)“writing the idea”.One of the first and most influential proponents of this idea was the celebrated poet,politician,calligrapher and painter Su Shi苏轼.His most famous statement concerning painting is:“anyone judging painting on the criterion of likeness is the next thing to a child.”(论画以形似，见与儿童邻)[6]This has sometimes been misinterpreted to mean that likeness was not important,but in reality Su was arguing that likeness was not a sufficient criterion for judging aesthetic value.Very few of Su Shi's paintings survive and those that do suggest that vitality of brushwork was crucial.Brushwork,of course,was the fundamental quality of calligraphy,and the close relationship between calligraphy and Chinese painting had already existed for centuries.Su Shi's paintings are relatively simple compositions,but other paintings from the end of Northern Song(960-1127)show a much more sophisticated expression of the new literati style.Foremost among these is the Illustration to the Second Prose Poem on the Red Cliff后赤壁赋图by Qiao Zhongchang侨中常.In this handscroll,the artist does not merely illustrate the poem,he captures its poetic essence through brushwork.The Red Cliff has been claimed with some justification as the world's first expressionist painting.This is particularly true of the scene in which Su Shi climbs up the tree to look down on the boiling waters.Moreover,the integration of the poem itself into the painting exemplifies Su Shi's comment that poetry and painting are two sides of the same coin.

Whereas in other areas of society and culture,especially science and technology the innovations of Song did not see continued development in the later periods,in painting,the Song period set the groundwork for further innovations.It was in the following dynasties that the expressive potential of brush and ink was fully realized in the works of Yuan dynasty masters such as Ni Zan(倪瓒，1301-1374)and Huang Gongwang(黃公望，1269-1354).Their successors of the late Ming and Qing dynasties carried this brush and ink play further.Dong Qichang's(董其昌，15551636)landscapes are complex semi-abstract constructions of forms with deliberate spatial ambiguities that sometimes anticipate the cubist forms of Picasso's paintings.Gong Xian's(龚贤，1618-1689)landscapes constructed of dots anticipate the pointillism of artists such as George Seurat.Indeed,it could be argued that Gong Xian's painting is much more daring in terms of its manipulation of form and texture than Seurat's.None of these later movements in Chinese painting could have occurred without the revolutionary breakthrough of Song.In conclusion,there can be no doubt that in the visual arts,the Song was as revolutionary and in some respects more so than the European Renaissance,as well as being far in advance of art of the preceding Romanesque and Gothic periods.