Guardian of riches
A collector’s preservation of national treasures is saluted at exhibit
In 744 AD, Li Bai, a poet of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), climbed the Wangwu Mountain in today’s Henan province. He wanted to meet one of his old friends, who lived in Yangtai Palace, a Taoist temple on that mountain. Unfortunately, when he arrived, Li found out that his friend had died. The poet then wrote the 25-character calligraphy piece — Ascending Mount Yangtai (Shang Yangtai Tie) — to convey his feelings for the departed.
Li, considered one of the best ancient Chinese poets, may have left numerous masterpieces behind, but this is the only known surviving calligraphy work inked by him.
Now, thanks to a donation by Zhang Boju (1898-1982), an antique collector, the work is being displayed in public.
Ascending Mount Yangtai and 30 other pieces, highlighting ancient Chinese painting and calligraphy, which were collected by Zhang, are on show at the ongoing exhibition commemorating the 120th anniversary of his birth at the Palace Museum in Beijing, China’s former imperial palace that is also known as the Forbidden City.
Born in a rich family, Zhang once served in an army for warlords, but later became a banker. Other than being an antique collector, he was also known as a Peking Opera artist.
More displayed works at the exhibition are from collections of the Palace Museum, the National Museum of China and the Jilin Provincial Museum, where Zhang worked in the 1960s.
“Zhang’s devotion to the country was unwavering,” Shan Jixiang, director of the Palace Museum, says. “In the years of social upheaval, he even sold his personal property to keep our national treasures at home.”
Ascending Mount Yangtai was consecutively owned by royal courts since the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) until it left the Forbidden City, with the end of monarchy in China.
In 1937, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45), many precious treasures were sold abroad. But Zhang spent a huge sum of money to buy Ascending Mount Yangtai and several other works from another collector. Another exhibit, Palace Entertainers in the Kingdom of Shu, a Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) painting by
Tang Yin depicting court life in a 10th-century kingdom in today’s Sichuan province, was among the works purchased by Zhang at the time.
“It has abundant color, but the painting doesn’t lose its elegance for natural transition and comparison of the colors,” Hao Yanfeng, an associate researcher of ancient calligraphy and painting at the Palace Museum, says while introducing the piece to visitors.
In the late 1940s, Zhang made plans for the Palace Museum to purchase some former royal collections, and helped bargain to get them back at lower prices.
After the founding of New China in 1949, Zhang kept donating his collections to public institutions in the country. In 1956 alone, Zhang donated eight key calligraphy works and paintings to the Palace Museum. He gave Ascending Mount Yangtai to Chairman Mao Zedong’s office, and Mao transferred it to the museum in 1958, bringing the lost treasure back to the Forbidden City’s premises.
According to Shan, nearly 20,000 cultural relics were donated to the Palace Museum by 330 individuals in the 1950s. He says Zhang had set a good example.
Hao recommends several other key masterpieces among Zhang’s donations in the 1950s, which are also on display in Beijing.
Personally Written Poetry is an album by Cai Xiang, one of four most celebrated Northern Song calligraphers. The work, which records his monthslong journey from Fuzhou in today’s Fujian province to the national capital city of Bianliang (today’s Kaifeng, Henan) reflects his career peak.
“It was hailed as Cai’s finest work by Zhang,” Hao says. “It greatly influenced Zhang’s own calligraphy as well.”
Also on show is the scroll, One Hundred Flowers, which is believed to have been painted by a female artist named Yang Jieyu from the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), and portrays blooms, including those of lotuses, orchids and sun- flowers in 17 scenes. It is the only known painting by Yang.
Nevertheless, rules of the Palace Museum demand that a paperwork collection should stay in its warehouse for at least three years before every public exhibition. Consequently, some listed works in the catalog are replaced by replicas if they have been displayed once in recent years.
Visitors are also able to view A Consoling Letter (Pingfu Tie) by Lu Ji of the Western Jin Dynasty (265–316), the oldest extant work of model calligraphy, and Spring Excursion, an early example of Chinese landscape painting attributed to Zhan Ziqian of the Sui Dynasty (581–618), through their replicas.
“This exhibition will remind today’s private collectors of their social duty,” says Lou Kaizhao, Zhang’s grandson, who’s co-curator of the exhibition. “If my grandfather had kept his collection in an attic, the general public would have little idea about such masterpieces.”
Sharing such collections with more people will help Chinese society to build up its cultural confidence, he adds.
“What Zhang Boju represented is also the great characteristics of Chinese scholars,” Shan, the museum director, says. “Keeping the antiques is the way to prolong the life of our literary history.”
Shan says 22 calligraphy works and paintings in the Palace Museum today were once collected by Zhang, which enriched the public institution’s collection.
The ongoing Exhibition Commemorating the 120th Anniversary of Zhang Boju’s Birth also marks the end of 13 years when the Hall of Martial Valor (Wuying Dian) in the western wing of the Forbidden City was used to display calligraphy pieces and paintings. The new venue will be the Hall of Literary Glory (Wenhua Dian) in the museum’s eastern wing.