Chinese Art

After a really wonderful gallery exhibition last month, lauching this year’s catalogue Sanjiao, we are pleased that finally various events can take place in the coming months. We will kick off in April with Art Affair Amsterdam (7-10 April). It runs simultaneously with the online fair The DAAF. TEFAF Maastricht will now finally take place 25-30 June (preview 24 June). 

The Three Teachings, or Three Teachings in Harmony (三敎合一 Sānjiào Héyī), refer to the three main beliefs in China: Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism. To this day they co-exist in harmony, often practised simultaneously, even overlapping in certain areas. Together they reflect the long history, mutual influence and even complementary teaching of these belief systems. Each practice has dominated or risen to favour during certain periods of time. Chinese emperors sometimes preferred one of the teachings and the others would temporarily fall out of favour, but re-emerge again at a later date. One of the earliest references to this Trinitarian idea is attributed to Li Shiqian, a 6th century scholar, who wrote that “Buddhism is the sun, Daoism the moon, and Confucianism the five planets.” – meaning they are separate entities but coexist in harmony.