Retrospective: Women beauty ideals in Art
part II
China
Women in China have traditionally been associated with the pursuit of beauty. The Chinese word ‘beautiful’ originally meant ‘pleasant to sight’ and is one of the earliest characters inscribed on oracle bones from 16 to 11 BC. However, standards of beauty have changed significantly throughout Chinese history. From slender to plump and frail to graceful, shifting ideals of feminine aestheticism in Imperial China can be traced through paintings, sculptures and contemporary accounts of women famous for their beauty. Although such women appeared as leading politicians and warriors, it was nevertheless from within a predominantly male centered society that expectations of femininity were constructed.
Han dynasty (206 BC — 220 AD)
This figure vividly captures the moment when, with one long sleeve thrown back and the other trailing down, a dancer gently stoops and flexes her knees as she lifts one heel to advance her step, performing a dance described in Western Han dynasty poetry:
“Their long sleeves, twirling and twisting, fill the hall;
Gauze-stocking feet…taking mincing steps,
Move with slow and easy gait
They hover about long and continuous, as if
Stopped in mid-air;
Dazed, one thinks they are about to fall…”
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Chinese culture favored slim women with long black hair, white teeth and red lips. Historically, the Chinese people have favored women with ultra feminity. Small feet is one aspect of Chinese beauty that has continued for hundreds of years.
Many stories maintain that external physical beauty is merely a manifestation of internal beauty in the form of virtue. Women lacking such virtue, on the other hand, are described as scheming to entrap men in sensual pleasures in order to distract them and fulfill their own selfish plans. These women are attributed with causing disruption and breakdown in families and the state. It appears therefore that, whilst not regarded as necessarily dangerous, beauty at this time was strongly linked to female virtue. As such, beauty could be displayed primarily through strength of character and moral disposition.
T’ang dynasty (AD 618–907)
The T’ang dynasty is renowned for the artistic and personal freedom it afforded women. Artwork from the period shows energetic, full-bodied women engaged in outdoor athletic sporting pursuits such as polo on horseback. Delicate features and plump faces in sculptures of aristocratic ladies of the T’ang dynasty convey the ideal image of feminine beauty. Ceramic figures of elegant female courtiers that were used as tomb furnishings in the period are known today as ‘Fat Ladies’ for their fleshy faces.
The origin of this standard of beauty can be attributed to the T’ang emperors’ preference for plump women as a sign of wealth and privilege. An example of such a woman is Yang Kuei-fei, a heavy and robust concubine with whom the Emperor Ming Huang became infatuated. Known as the ‘Jade Beauty’, she is celebrated as one of the most beautiful women in Chinese history. Chroniclers at the time described her white skin and delicate features, comparing them to fine carvings in the jade with which she surrounded herself.
Song dynasty (AD 960–1279)
The Song dynasty was marked by a return to Confucianism and a desire to live a simpler life than in the former T’ang dynasty. Peace and economic security encouraged a flourishing of such educational and intellectual activity.
In contrast to the T’ang dynasty, women were now encouraged to remain indoors and to be seen by none but their husbands. It was socially expected that women should display their virtue physically. This expectation was instrumental in establishing the practice of foot binding during the Song dynasty. The physical limitations of bound feet were intended to emphasize female delicacy and vulnerability in comparison with superior male strength. Attention to physical appearance was therefore crucial to women in attracting the interest of both powerful men for marriage, and husbands in competition with their other wives and concubines. Paintings commissioned by emperors during the Song dynasty portray women according to these presiding standards of graceful and plaintive beauty.
Ming dynasty (AD 1368–1644)
Foot-binding became more widespread and severe during the Ming dynasty as the “symbol for feminine beauty, hierarchy and morality”. The author Wang Ping comments on poetry from the period, writing that “The women presented in these poems and literary works all have the same qualities: they are floating and weightless like unreachable treasure. Men cannot help feeling pity for them and falling in love with them”. The ideal of beauty portrayed in such poetry emphasizes sickness, fragility and suffering as much as it does delicacy, elegance and grace.
However, the meaning of bound feet in the Ming dynasty was essentially grounded in eroticism. Bound feet were central to a woman’s identity as an aspect of her beauty that she could control. An outpouring of novels, plays and poetry by female writers at this time highlights the erotic associations of bound feet. The ‘Three Inch Golden Lotus’ standard of perfection in foot length was therefore closely associated with an expression of sexuality. As such, foot-binding formed part of a larger valorization of passion, or qing, that is characteristic of the Ming dynasty. A high point of Chinese erotic culture, the cult of qing helped to bring explicit sensual and passionate significance to ideals of beauty in women.
Conclusion
China has been home to a myriad of beautiful women throughout the ages, and differing standards of beauty account for its wide aesthetic scope. Some women were lauded for their dancing or singing skills, others for their virtuous nature, and still others for their involvement in political intrigue.
During the centuries in and before the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.- A.D.220), slenderness was considered ideal feminine beauty. Books of that period often described waists “as delicate as a sheaf of white silk.” Chinese aesthetic conceptions changed drastically in the Tang Dynasty, when the country was powerful, and people were affluent. It was plump women with wide foreheads and round faces that were deemed most graceful.
It is difficult to ascertain exactly what these ancient beauties looked like. Literati of old times described them as having “eyebrows the shape of silkworms and eyes similar to those of a phoenix,” but according to folk standards of feminine beauty eyebrows resembled willow leaves, eyes were almond-shaped and lips in the form of a cherry.
Different periods of history had their own ideals regarding feminine beauty, but this specific characteristics are consistent throughout. Black lustrous hair and temples “as thin as cicada wings.” During the Tang Dynasty, many women shaved their eyebrows, and drew them in with pigment. Large, bright expressive eyes. Red lips and white teeth. Besides beauty, this is thought to indicate good health. Graceful fingers and arms. A pretty woman was expected to have well-shaped hands with slim and soft fingers as well as fair and fleshy arms. Slender waist and fair skin. For most part the willowy figure has been deemed the best throughout history. Tiny feet and a light elegant gait. Dressing according to complexion, figure and disposition. Fragrant body.
India
The culture of a nation is revealed through its tradition of art and literature. The culture partakes the look of a mosaic and is found composed of social manners and customs, religious beliefs and practices, parts and pastimes of every section of a society including the culture of the elites and of the common folk. This holds good with particular reference to India. Indian poets glorified every aspect of love and delved deep into ecstasies over the beauties of human body. The feelings for beauty and love guided the courses of Indian art throughout the ages.
The Upanisadic thinking believed that the ecstatic state of realization is only possible when a peaceful harmony between atma and paramatma is fully realized and in this state, one experiences the rasa or delight which is the same as Brahma-svada.
The period between fourth and first century BC witnessed certain significant developments in the realization of art. A kind of atmosphere was created in which Formless Being was attributed a form (Icon). The period laid bare an evolution in which the deities were reflected initially in symbolic forms.
Devotion is essentially a kind of love — a love which is not merely the physical attraction. This is not an intellectual appreciation either. The abode of love is neither in the shape of a body or in the brain. It is to be found in the heart. Thus the nature of love cannot be understood by intellectual analysis or even by logical reasoning.
Ancient Indian art had been a hand-maid of religion. The art of this phase is found to be intimately associated with Indian religion and philosophy. An icon did not only represent the form of a divine being but it also included subtle human moods and sentiments.
Ajanta murals (200 BC — 700 AD)
The Ajanta murals tell the Jataka stories of the lives of the Buddha in images of supreme elegance and grace.
These women conform closely to the ideas of feminine beauty propagated by the great 5th Century playwright Kalidasa straining to find the correct metaphors to describe them:
“I recognize your body in liana; your expression in the eyes of a frightened gazelle; the beauty of your face in that of the moon, your tresses in the plumage of peacocks… alas! Timid friend- no one object compares to you.”
The monasteries of Ajanta were filled with images of beautiful women — because in the eyes of the monks this was completely appropriate decoration.
India’s Gupta Age (315–551 CE)
In general, women of the Gupta Empire were viewed as inferior to the men. However, they were still respected and were viewed as equals to the female gods such as Saraswati. Women could be educated in the arts (primarily in music and poetry). They were not, however, allowed to be educated in religious practices or read any sacred texts.
Over the duration of the Gupta Empire, there was a decline of the status of women, primarily because of the rise of a new, non-agricultural middle class. Women were not allowed to own property, and anything that she did own could be considered the property of her husband and father.
At any given point in her life, a woman was always subject to the will of a man.Women were married at 6 or 7 years old to ensure virginity and chastity. Since she lived with her husband, he could raise her to be the kind of wife he wanted. Lined eyes, hair in a bun or braid, rouge lips and bindis for married Hindu women. There were exceptions to this social system. Some women were even a part of government.
Parvati (1000–1100 AD)
From ancient sculptures on the sides of temples to modern calendar art depicting Hindu goddesses, we find trends that inform us on what characteristics, through the ages, have been considered “most beautiful” in South Asia. Ancient poets wrote of women with flowers strung in their hair, whose feet were small and delicate as the lotus, who enticed their lovers with their generous breasts, small waists, and almond eyes.
Consort of Shiva, Parvati is typically endowed with wide hips, ample breasts, and full lips. But, though hers is a more overt sensuality than the Western Venus, it is also not leisurely; her physique is not padded. She is active, essentially a dancer, with condign grace and strength.
Conclusion
Lets try to summarize summon of the common characteristics of “traditional Indian beauty” objectively from the above examples. Large dreamy, almond shaped are placed two-thirds of the way up the face (an interesting position, because it is unnatural and shows that the artists were not working from life models, but from an ideal). Sharp, almost aquiline noses, full/thick lips. Neatly shaped eyebrows and long, elongated earlobes. Shapely tapered arms with flower with exquisitely flower-like hands. Narrow waists and rotund hips. Rounder faces in Ajanta paintings, comparatively narrow faces in the Chola idols. Darker skin tones and thick jet-black hair. The common recurring posture we see is called the tribangha or ‘pose of the three bends’. bent at the hips, waist, and breasts to provide an S like shape.
Many of the descriptions were simply “ideals” which were not meant to be unattainable by any mortal human woman. They were something akin to our modern comic book characters.
Palestine
Salome (100 AD)
Salome is a famous dancer in history and is often portrayed as dancing. Salome was the daughter of Herod II and Herodias. According to the New Testament, the daughter of Herodias demanded and received the head of John the Baptist. According to Josephus, Salome was first married to Philip the Tetrarch of Ituraea and Trakonitis. After Philip’s death in 34 AD she married Aristobulus of Chalcis and became queen of Chalcis and Armenia Minor. Salome has become a symbol of dangerous female seductiveness.
In history, she is famous for Dance of the Seven Veils and also known from the Bible stories for bearing the head of John the Baptist back from his execution. She was beautiful dancer known as Dance of the Seven Veils. She appears in the Bible at Mark 6:21–29 and Matt 14:6–11. Today, she is depicted in many forms of media arts like paintings, televisions, films and literature. History provides evidence about her existence in the form of coins with Salome’s face. She may not be the most beautiful in history, but her enchanting dance was enough to catch the attention from history.
This is the finest of several versions of this composition painted by the Milanese artist and may have been painted for a noble patron in France, where Solario worked from about 1507–9. Carried out with incredible attention to detail, the artist achieved a striking effect by contrasting Salome’s idealized beauty and jewels with the horrific view of the Baptist’s head held by the cropped arm of the executioner. The descriptive naturalism of reflections and surface textures is indebted to both Leonardo, who worked for decades in Milan, and Netherlandish painting.
Japan
The desire to be beautiful is as old as history. In Japan, beauty has long been associated with a light skin tone. During the Nara Period (710–94), women painted their face with a white powder called oshiroi, and in the Heian Period (794–1185), a white facial color continued to stand as a symbol of beauty. References to the beauty of light skin tone are found in the Diary of Lady Murasaki and Tale of Genji. More than a thousand years ago, cosmetics for whitening the skin had already become a status symbol among the aristocracy.
Heian Japan was the high point of Japanese aristocratic culture, a golden age of peace and harmony. Upper class women, as well as men, were expected to become experts in music, writing, and the art of dressing well, including what colors to wear when and the proper drape of a sleeve. Images from scrolls show ladies and men languidly lounging, eating, drinking and writing. Their clothes seem loose and comfortable, their moon shaped faces surrounded by long, luxurious hair.
Heian Period (AD 794–1185)
The most important writers in the Heian period were women. Much of what we know today about upper class life in those long ago times is from the detailed accounts found in their diaries, novels, poems, and letters. Women wrote in Japanese because they were forbidden to use Chinese. Men wrote in formal Chinese, the language considered to be of higher status because it was used in official and religious documents. This left Japanese, the “everyday” language, to women. Thus the often chatty writings of women using the “people’s” language became popular and were widely circulated. The Heian was a good period for aristocratic women in other ways as well. In keeping with their rank they enjoyed considerable freedoms. Women could own property, be educated, and were allowed to take lovers.
The women of the imperial court in Heian Japan grew their hair as long as possible. They wore it straight down their backs, a shining sheet of black tresses (called kurokami). This fashion began as a reaction against imported Chinese fashions, which were much shorter and included ponytails or buns. The record-holder among Heian hair-growers, according to tradition, was a woman with hair 7 meters long.
The typical Heian beauty was required to have a pouty mouth, narrow eyes, a thin nose, and round apple-cheeks. Women used a heavy rice powder to paint their faces and necks white. They also drew bright red rose-bud lips on over their natural lip-lines. Japanese aristocratic women of this era shaved off their eyebrows. Then, they painted on misty new eyebrows high on their foreheads, almost at the hair-line. This is known as “butterfly” eyebrows. Another feature that seems unattractive now was the fashion for blackened teeth. Because they used to whiten their skin, natural teeth ended up looking yellow in comparison. The final aspect of a Heian-era beauty’s preparations consisted of piling on the silk robes. This style of dress is called ni-hito, or “twelve layers,” but some upper-class women wore as many as forty layers of unlined silk.
Conclusion
In medieval Japan, long hair was prized, so court women grew their hair as long as possible, and wore it straight down their backs in a loose ponytail. Their hair would often reach the floor! They also shaved off their eyebrows and drew on smudgy new ones high up on the forehead, almost near the hairline. Heian beauty included pale skin, round and rosy cheeks, and little bow lips. But because they painted their faces white, their teeth looked yellow in comparison. So they used to paint their teeth black.
Englang
Lady Godiva (1000–1100 AD)
Lady Godiva was certainly a real person who lived and breathed. Godiva — or Godgifu, in Old English, was one of the most prominent women in Anglo-Saxon England. She was a wealthy woman of high status in her own right, and was also married to one of the three most powerful earls in the kingdom — Leofric.
After Godiva asked Leofric to lower the taxes repeatedly, Leofric agreed to her demands only if she rode naked through the town on a horse. Enthusiastic to help the people of Coventry, she stripped naked and rode on the horse with only her long flowing hair to cover herself. Before leaving, she ordered the town people to stay indoors and not to peek. But, one man named Tom couldn’t resist himself and peeked to get an eyeful of her beauty. Upon doing so, Tom was struck blind. After the nude ride was over, she demanded the promise set by her husband. True to his words, Earl of Mercia agreed to lower the taxes. While most of the historians feel that Lady Godiva riding on a horse naked was a fiction, but Godiva was a real person in the 11th century world. Godiva along with her husband is known to have set up the Benedictine monastery in Coventry.
Lady Godiva was the noble and beautiful wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia. She was known for her generous donations to churches and charities. According to a 11th century story, Godiva was annoyed by the heavy taxes Leofric had levied on the citizens of Coventry.
After the death of her husband in 1057, Godiva lived on until sometime between the Norman conquest in 1066 and 1086. Her name can be found in the Domesday Book in 1086 and she was the only woman to still own land after the conquest.
Considering what a prominent and important figure of status Godiva was, it is surprising that there is no contemporary reference at all to her famous naked ride, which she is known for today. If we consider that Anglo-Saxon chroniclers were avidly recording every morsel of news that came their way, it is highly suspicious that not a single one wrote about the naked ride of one of the most important women in England.
Conclusion
The ancient world had many notable women who were beautiful, intelligent and brave. History is evident for the existence of beautiful ladies in the form of books and literature. Many of these ladies are still mentioned in the popular culture. Today, they are still portrayed as an inspiration to the world. Who are the top desirable, beautiful and desirable women in the history of human civilization? The modern era began approximately in the 16th Century; hence we would consider beautiful women before the modern era (i.e. from the ancient civilization). These ladies are not just beautiful but they were famous throughout history. The idea of beauty may differ from person to person, but this list is consolidated list of famous beauties from the ancient times. We give credits to all the beautiful ladies from the past even if they are not in the list. Let’s check out the list of ten gorgeous women from the ancient world.
A variety of perspectives have been offered to explain the nature of female beauty ideals. For example, female beauty ideals may provide information about fertility, reflect the distribution of economic and political power in society, and/or negotiate gender role identity. Consistent with a sociocultural approach, the common element among these various perspectives is the idea that beauty ideals contain information about more than mere external appearance. However, where individual perspectives may be limited in their capacity to explain the unrealistic nature of beauty ideals and their negative consequences for individuals, groups, and societies, applying a sociocultural framework offers a more comprehensive account for the systematic and significant reductions in the physical, mental, and social well-being of girls and women.
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