Best of the best Chinese treasures
‘Emperors’ Treasures’ at Asian Art Museum
The exhibit “Emperors’ Treasures” has brought nearly 150 Chinese artworks from the National Palace Museum in Taipei to the Bay Area.
On view at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum through Sept. 18, these represent just a small fraction of the 700,000-object treasure trove in the Taiwan museum’s collection.
Though founded in 1925 in the Forbidden City of what is now Beijing, the museum treasures were moved from the mainland during the Chinese civil war, which left the Communists in control of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, and the Nationalists in control of Taiwan. The island is located some 110 miles off the coast of the People’s Republic — 1,100 miles from Beijing.
The title of the San Francisco show may suggest a spectacular display of imperial fortune. But instead of a blockbuster, Jay Xu — director of the National Palace Museum and curator of the show at the Asian — gives us an intimate look at choice objects spanning 1,000 years of Chinese cultural history.
“This is the absolute ‘best of the best’ of Chinese imperial art,” Xu said last week at the Asian, pointing out that the exhibit explores the lives of eight rulers — seven emperors and one empress. Their taste, Xu noted, “created standards of beauty and elegance across Chinese culture.”
Tracking the exhibit from dynasty to dynasty through the Asian Art Museum’s four galleries, one finds enough stunning works to satisfy any aficionado of Asian art — paintings on silk scrolls, intricately carved lacquerware and Ming vases, plus jewelry and ornaments of gold, pearls, jade and turquoise.
You can go simply to enjoy the beauty, workmanship, rarity and value of these works. (A porcelain wine cup like one on display recently sold for more than $36 million.)
But those interested in the history will find the museum’s superb labels and wall texts, augmented by large detailed photographs, tremendously helpful.
There’s also a video demonstrating the “slender-gold” style of calligraphy devised by Emperor Huizong in the 12th century as well as an interactive screen with which visitors can explore the Forbidden City, where these treasures were once housed.
The simplicity of some early works makes them look strikingly modern. A cobalt blue cup and saucer from the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368) would be the envy of a 20th century Art Deco collector. A rugged looking ritual bronze bell from the Song dynasty (960-1127) could be a model for contemporary California metal crafters.
Other works are exquisitely detailed and ornately worked on a surprisingly small scale.
A glass vase painted with bold red peony blossoms (from the reign of Emperor Kangxi, 1662-1722) looks massive in the museum’s photographs and catalog, but it’s merely 5 inches tall. A gold and pearl “Buddha of Boundless Life” is a 3-inchtall ornament for Emperor Qianlong (who ruled 1736--
1795). He would have worn it on the front of a court hat at his summer retreat.
Over the centuries, the exhibit points out, Chinese dynasties established their legitimacy through art and culture. Some rulers developed and promoted their own talent.
Emperor Huizong was a calligrapher. Ming dynasty emperor Xuande was an accomplished painter. The Qing dynasty Emperor Qianlong was a comprehensive collector in the 18th century. His holdings make up the core of the imperial collection.
Given the 1,000 years of culture on display, it may be a shock to discover in the final gallery a photograph of the Dowager Empress Cixi, taken inside the Imperial Palace in 1903. On the cultural side, she recruited female artists to work in her Studio of Great Elegance. Politically, she was a powerful figure. It was Cixi who selected the boy who would be China’s last emperor.
From 13th century calligraphy to the novel 19th century stone that resembles a serving of pork belly, the collection prompts questions that transcend artistic merit. How did all this survive China’s tumultuous history, the rebellions and world wars? How did these works get to Taiwan?
The Palace Museum was opened in Beijing to protect and display these artifacts. After Japan invaded China, tens of thousands of items were moved, beginning in 1933, to Shanghai and Nanjing, then southwest to the interior.
After World War II, in the midst of China’s civil war, the Nationalist government moved much of the artwork to Taiwan. International efforts brought it back to life. In 1957, a grant from the San Francisco-based Asia Foundation led to the first public display of the artwork since 1932. A new National Palace Museum opened in Taipei in 1965. Selections from the collection were last seen in San Francisco in 1996.
“Emperors’ Treasures” has its own international and multicultural presence.
A stunning Ming Dynasty porcelain vase is decorated with figures of West Asian — not Chinese — musicians and dancers. Its flask-like shape is based on Islamic metalware. The only similar vase is at the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul, Turkey.
A ritual “dou” vessel on a pedestal combines Western-style enamels with a traditional Chinese bronze shape. A delicate 18th-century pitcher includes Chinese ornamentation and a painting of a European mother and child. It would fit in perfectly on Marie Antoinette’s breakfast table.
“White Falcon,” an 18th century painting on silk, can be admired for its composition and evocative detail, but the story behind it is even more remarkable. It was painted by Giuseppe Castiglione, a Jesuit missionary from Italy who was dispatched to China in 1715 by the Portuguese Evangelical Society.
An accomplished painter in his early 20s, Castiglione became a court artist and teacher under three emperors and took the name “Lang Shining.” In a tribute to international culture, and possibly diplomacy, after his death in 1766 he was buried in the Jesuit cemetery outside Beijing with the posthumous title of “Master to the Regal Manor.”