The Paper's reporter Chen Ruoxi reported comprehensively
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The surging news learned that the last special exhibition of the Shanghai Museum of the year, "Thousands of Ritual Images - Special Exhibition of Colorful Glazed Ceramic Figurines of the Ming Dynasty", was officially exhibited to the public today. In addition to exhibiting a set of Pottery from the Ming Dynasty Colored Glazed Ceremony Guard Team in the Museum collection, the exhibition also debuted two repatriated cultural relics donated by overseas friends, this group of Ming Dynasty pottery figurines from San Francisco, USA, the two groups of cultural relics jointly witnessed a good story spanning China and the United States and nearly a century.
Shangbo Museum collection of Ming Dynasty color glazed ceremonial warriors pottery in the Russian Kremlin exhibition site map
In 1983, to celebrate the sistership between Shanghai and San Francisco, the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco hosted the "Shanghai Museum Collection – 6,000 Years of Chinese Art Exhibition", which impressed local audience members Suzanne Fratus with a set of honor guards. Her grandfather, Dr. John Herbert Waite, who practiced medicine in China in the early 20th century, gave him two clay figurines as a token of gratitude after a patient was cured, and then her grandfather returned to the United States with this object, and the whole story became an unforgettable mark of her childhood. Suzanne did not expect that many years later, she would see similar clay figurines in an exhibition of ancient Chinese art in San Francisco, and she could not help but feel a lot of emotions.
Pottery figurines donated by overseas friends
Nearly 40 years later, Suzanne contacted the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco and said she would donate the two figurines to the Shanghai Museum to return them to her hometown and Chinese hands. "In the 100 years that have separated The two figurines from Chinese land, they have witnessed two world wars, countless epidemics, floods and famines," she said. If they could speak, I know they want to tell the world a lot of things: be kind to people, respect each other, help each other. They return home, not because of money or politics, but because of the power of love and respect for Chinese people. ”
In 2021, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage designated the Shanghai Museum to accept donations. Recently, with the support and care of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Cultural Heritage, the Shanghai Museum has gladly completed the donation process of these two repatriated cultural relics and restored them, and will hold an online donation ceremony through overseas connections in the near future.
Ming Dynasty color glazed ceremonial warriors pottery
In response, the collection of Ming Dynasty colored glazed ceremonial warriors on display this time is a total of 66 pieces, including character figurines, horseback riding figurines and various people needed by the honor guard, as well as some ceremonial and daily necessities, which are lined up and spectacular.
Bright-colored glazed pottery riding figurines
Bright-colored glazed pottery with colored back crown text riding figurines
There are two kinds of pottery figurines, glazing and painting, in the made ceramic figurines or other items, applied lead glaze, after the completion of low temperature firing at 600-900 degrees, some also have to paint important parts. This line of honor guards was arranged more strictly, with armored samurai on horseback in front of them, followed by drummers. Behind the riding scribe figurines, followed by a large number of figurines and musical figurines, followed by the large car carried by the sedan, which is the core area of the entire honor guard, and the eight-person sedan is used by the tomb owner. There are also many clay figurines behind them, surrounded by small palanquins and chairs.
Bright-colored glazed pottery figurines
Bright-colored glazed mirror figurines
Finally, there are some living utensils, such as large beds, palanquins, cages, screens, candlesticks, etc.
Experts deduce that this set of pottery ceremonial guards should be fired before the late fifteenth century, which is an important set of physical materials for studying the ancient Chinese burial system and pottery history, and is also a batch of ceramic sculptures with artistic value. This magnificent and lifelike honor guard team has been exhibited in the United States, Spain and Russia many times, and has been widely welcomed by the audience.
Bright-colored glazed pottery car model
Model of a bright-colored glazed ceramic bed
The custom of accompanying the burial of the character honor guard team began in the pre-Qin Dynasty, and there were pottery figurines and wooden figurines in the Warring States period, and the most familiar ones were the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shi Huang and the Tang Sancai Figurines. In the Ming Dynasty, a scaled-down version of the funeral honor guard was more popular, and archaeological excavations often saw a combination of colorful glazed pottery figurines, mostly unearthed in the tombs of the kings and high-ranking officials, that is, the so-called "ritual of seeing life", so that the deceased people continued to enjoy the life of the high-ranking official Houlu.
Yang Zhigang, director of the Shanghai Museum, said that in the past year when the epidemic experienced various obstacles, the exhibition of the Shanghai Museum began with "Zhuo Jie Welcome" and ended with "Thousands of Images", which is of special significance to welcome the return of these two pottery figurines on the occasion of retiring the old and welcoming the new. I hope that this period of fate with cultural relics as a link and art as a bridge will once again shorten the vast Pacific Ocean into a stream that can be crossed, and will surely bring good wishes for the new year.
Exhibition posters
Editor-in-Charge: Weihua Gu