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Treasures of Chinese Art from the Shanghai Museum The exhibition which opened in the Picket Hall of the Winter Palace is the contribution of the PRC to the Year of China in Russia. For the first time in many years, the Hermitage is displaying around 100 major monuments of Chinese culture and art which are kept in the museum of Shanghai. Great attention has been given in this exhibition to the art of cast bronze vessels. Bronze was a sacral material in the culture of Ancient China. The development and flowering of bronze production can be dated to the second and first millennia B.C. (Shan and Chou dynasties). Already in the 16th - 13th centuries B.C., vessels for ritual sacrifices were made of bronze. One specific feature of ancient Chinese bronze is the noble patina on the surface which formed as a result of long storage in the earth: this ranges from dark black-brown to bright green, blue and red hues. The semiprecious stone "yu" or "jade" was another sacral material like bronze. Basically this term refers to nephrite, however the concept of "yu" can also include other stones such as chalcedony, agate and jadeite. Moreover, nephrite was a ritual material and symbol of state power. At the exhibition one can see ritual objects from the 4th - 3rd millennia B.C. made of carved nephrite: a holy object of the "tsun" type which is linked with making sacrifices to the Earth; a "bi" disk - the symbol of heaven; a ritual dagger; and figurines of birds. In the 15th - 19th centuries nephrite was used more for decorative purposes, to produce jewelry and objects for the desk and study. There are works made of gold by Chinese jewelers dating back to the 10th - 12th centuries. In the Ancient period of Chinese history gold was little used. The objects found by archeologists are mainly flat and were made from gold leaf, serving as a facing for bronze and other objects. Golden ornaments were stamped, while three dimensional objects and decorations were small in size. Beginning with Chou dynasty, gold was used in greater quantities to make clasps with depictions of animals, sometimes inlaid, attesting to the influence of the culture of nomadic tribes: the Scythians, Sarmatians, Huns. During the Han dynasty, the artisans began to repeat the forms and ornaments of traditional bronze objects using gold and silver. The Shanghai Museum's collection of ceramics and porcelain is one of the more important both inside China and beyond its borders. The exhibition shows off objects from the most ancient times until the end of the 18th century. The earliest monument is a vessel with cover from the Suntsze culture (6,000 years B.C.) which was spread across the southern regions of China, near modern day Shanghai. Visitors will see ceramics form the Tang (618-907) and Sung (960-1279) dynasties: sculptures, vessels coated with a colored glaze; masterpieces of porcelain by the artisans of Tsin Dechzhen, painted in cobalt with underglaze and overglaze paintings of symbolic and traditional Chinese subjects from the Ming (1368-1644) è Qing (1644-1911) periods. The exhibition displays two pieces of traditional Chinese furniture. The Shanghai Museum's furniture collection is recognized to be one of the best in the world. During the Ming and Qing periods, furniture was made of expensive and hard varieties of wood. Both the desk for work at painting and calligraphy and the armchair with a back shaped like a horseshoe were carved from "tsitan" wood (red sandalwood, polisander), which was especially esteemed in China. They are characteristic examples of traditional furniture from the 17th - 18th centuries. Staff of the Shanghai Museum and senior researcher of the State Hermitage's Oriental Department M.L. Menshikova, who is curator of the exhibition, have prepared a scholarly illustrated catalogue. This publication carries introductory comments by Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage, and Chen Xiejun, Director of the Shanghai. In addition two illustrated booklets have been published by the State Hermitage Publishing House in time for the exhibition: Porcelain and Ceramics of China, by T.B. Arapova, curator of Chinese porcelain and leading researcher of the State Hermitage's Oriental Department; and Treasures of Ancient Chinese Art by M.L. Menshikova, curator of the exhibition and senior researcher of the State Hermitage's Oriental Department. |
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