58 China in World History
fi rst of many strokes in 660, she began to dominate all the decisions of
his court.
Empress Wu recruited a group of scholars to act as her personal
advisors, and in 666 she and her palace ladies helped preside over spe-
cial imperial sacrifi ces to Heaven, an unprecedented degree of female
involvement in court sacrifi ces. In 674, the emperor and empress adopted
new titles—Heavenly Sovereign and Heavenly Empress—implying their
coequal positions in ruling the empire. When opposition to these movesIn this modern copy of an eighth-century painting, a Tang court lady with
painted “moth eyebrows” and fl owered headdress plays with her pet dog.
Court paintings from the middle to late Tang portray women as full-bodied
and physically active, in contrast to thinner, more frail and sedentary models
of feminine beauty from the Song and later periods. Bildarchiv Preussischer
Kulturbesitz / Art Resource, NY