Abstract
When analyzing make-up trends of figures shown in portraits of different eras in Chinese painting history, you can see that red color was used much. This can be because the red color is the most outstanding among all the colors and was most preferred by ancient people, as the color of the sun, the blood, and the sacredness. The women in the Tang Dynasty was especially using the red color much. Though Seongrihak (Neo-Confucianism) in Song Dynasty was the governing ideology, it had an influence even upon its aesthetics. Thus, during Song Dynasty, the beauty of logos appeared too. This phenomenon showed a conservative tendency even in make-up as well as in costume, thereby the concept of clear and elegant beauty was emphasized. The real figure in the Ming and Ching Dynasty, was so young and weak as a sample of a delicate woman that a woman who had feminine beauty was regarded as an ideal type. The feminine image had been gradually generalized from the literary works in the latter half of Ming Dynasty. However, the painters in the era still preferred the beauty of a healthy woman. That tendency probably had an influence even upon make-up culture that was shown in portrait. As an analysis result of make-up culture in Chinese portrait paintings, it reveals that ancient make-up trends much reflected the social and cultural phenomena of the periods.
