Art Traditions Beyond Europe · seed 1 · A4, ink-friendly. The answer key prints on its own page for grown-ups.

Art with its own rules

Arts & Music · Visual Art · ages 14-16
Name ______________________   Date ____________

  1. A Han money tree's coin-shaped pieces expressed wishes for wealth in the afterlife.

    Circle one:   True   False

  2. Which features occur in many Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints?

    • Flat colour areas and strong outlines
    • Uncoloured metal surfaces and raised lettering
    • Charcoal smudges and erased pencil outlines

  3. Which features connect Cassatt's The Coiffure with Japanese prints she admired?

    • Bronze branches, coin shapes and a pottery base
    • Colour areas, patterns and strong use of line
    • Lead glaze, hollow clay and moulded sections

  4. Which description of sancai on the Tang tomb camel is accurate?

    • A coin decoration cast separately for bronze branches
    • A multicoloured glaze whose name means three colours
    • A paper design printed from a set of carved woodblocks

  5. A painting shows a small red boat against green water. Which colour-based explanation for the boat drawing attention is supported by this description?

    • The boat has a lighter tone than the water around it.
    • The contrast comes only from a difference in lightness.
    • The boat's red contrasts with the surrounding green.

  6. A visitor describes a Han money tree only as a copy of a living tree. Which interpretation best uses its coin-shaped pieces and tomb placement?

    • Its coins and burial setting express wishes for afterlife wealth.
    • Its coin-shaped leaves record the exact appearance of a local tree species.
    • Its bronze coin shapes show that its main purpose was collecting payments.

  7. A Japanese screen depicts Portuguese visitors and ships. Which approach best avoids assuming that the image is a neutral record of everyone's experience?

    • Take detailed ships as proof that all participants experienced the arrival alike.
    • Take the visitors' position in the scene as proof that they were also its makers.
    • Identify the makers and distinguish their viewpoint from that of the visitors.

  8. A visitor calls a non-European sculpture primitive as though this were a neutral description. What should they reconsider?

    • It identifies the exact sculpting material
    • It makes a value judgement
    • It describes the exact carving technique
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Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

Art with its own rules W1-mt_hg9B9DnGt8-s1

  1. True · The coins symbolized an afterlife wish in the sculpture's burial context.
  2. Flat colour areas and strong outlines · Flat colour areas and strong outlines are common features, though prints vary.
  3. Colour areas, patterns and strong use of line · Cassatt drew on Japanese print design through colour areas, patterns and line.
  4. A multicoloured glaze whose name means three colours · Sancai is multicoloured glaze. Its name does not require every object to have exactly three colours.
  5. The boat's red contrasts with the surrounding green. · The description supplies different hues, red and green. It does not state which area is lighter, so hue contrast is the supported explanation.
  6. Its coins and burial setting express wishes for afterlife wealth. · The coin shapes symbolize wishes for wealth, and the tomb placement connects those wishes with the afterlife. They are not evidence of botanical recording or payment collection.
  7. Identify the makers and distinguish their viewpoint from that of the visitors. · Distinguishing the makers from the people depicted helps examine viewpoint. Detailed ships do not establish a shared experience, and appearing in an image does not establish authorship.
  8. It makes a value judgement · Primitive makes a value judgement rather than naming a material or technique.
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