Rising Clouds at Water's Edge: Clouds and Mist in the Chinese Imagination

In China, cloud subjects can be found on artworks from as early as the Eastern Zhou 東周 dynasty (770-256 BCE). The scope of this thesis will primarily be centered around the association of clouds from early Chinese art, the culmination of their depiction within the Chinese landscape painting tradition during the Northern Song 北宋 dynasty (960-1127), and the expansion into new subjects and mediums in the dynasties thereafter.