Western Han blue string pattern glass. Courtesy of Tsinghua University Art Museum
Northern Wei glass bottle. Courtesy of Tsinghua University Art Museum
Mysterious and magnificent eye-patterned glass beads, colorful mosaic glass ornaments, three-dimensional and vivid polished glass bottles... Walking into the special exhibition site of Tsinghua University Art Museum's "Colorful: Glass Art in the Exchange of Ancient Eastern and Western Civilizations", a variety of exhibits bring people a shock of beauty, allowing people to fully appreciate the charm of ancient glass art.
Glass is one of the most important man-made materials in ancient times, made of quartz sand combined with fluxes and colorants, known as the art of "fire and sand", its value was once comparable to gold, and had a profound impact on the lives of ancients.
In 2022, the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan, the Art Museum of Tsinghua University and the Silk Road Art Museum of Hirayama Ikuo in Japan jointly held a special exhibition "Colorful: Glass Art in the Exchange of Ancient Eastern and Western Civilizations" to provide a cultural feast for the public. The exhibition is divided into four units: "Pregnancy and Birth", "Dissemination and Integration", "Bloom and Glory" and "West and East" on a time axis, reflecting the development of ancient science and technology, art and trade through about 360 pieces (sets) of ancient glass artworks, outlining the picture of exchanges and mutual learning between Eastern and Western civilizations, reflecting the broad inclusiveness and great creativity of Chinese civilization.
Du Pengfei, executive deputy director of the Art Museum of Tsinghua University, introduced that this exhibition is a rare systematic display of ancient glass, and the time and geographical span of the exhibits are wide, in addition to the more than 300 pieces of ancient glass artworks collected by the Pingshan Yufu Silk Road Art Museum, it also brings together the treasures of many domestic cultural institutions.
The earliest archaeologically found glasswork was unearthed at the Site of Therje Udius in the Amq Plain of Syria, dating from the early 3,000 BC period. Since the Bronze Age, the exchange of eastern and western civilizations has shone with the brilliance of glass, and a large number of glass remains from various periods have been found in Eurasia and North Africa, from which we can glimpse the dissemination, evolution, exchange and integration of science and technology, material technology, ideology and culture, artistic aesthetics and other elements between civilizations.
Glass in ancient China has the titles of "glass", "pear", "medicine jade" and so on. From the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, glassware and glass crafts were introduced to the Central Plains by land and sea. After digesting and absorbing and integrating into the oriental aesthetics and needs, ancient Chinese glass craftsmen created a series of indigenous glass products, forming a unique oriental glass craft system and artistic taste, which in turn affected the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
In the middle of the Warring States period in the 4th century BC, China's native glass developed in a spurt, especially the eye-grained glass beads made of lead barium glass formula, often embedded in bronze mirrors, hooks, car ornaments, bronzes and other utensils. This type of eye-patterned glass bead (commonly known as "dragonfly eye") is the pinnacle of Warring States glass art, which can be seen in high-grade tombs in Hunan, Hubei, Henan and other places.
In the exhibition hall, the most eye-catching thing is a set of gold group ornaments excavated from the Majiayuan Tomb in Zhangjiachuan, Tianshui City, Gansu Province. It is composed of animal-faced gold buckles, gold belt ornaments, red agate and a variety of glass ornaments, etc., which are exquisitely made and colorful, and are one of the most luxurious gold ornaments seen in the Warring States period. This exhibition is the first time it has been publicly exhibited. This group of jewelry combines glass elements such as Western eye pattern glass beads, hexagonal beads, Chinese native lead barium eye pattern glass beads, Feons pottery cup and Han Lan Han purple bead ornament, which is a vivid embodiment of the exchange and collision of Eastern and Western civilizations.
Lustrous and smooth glass sword head, sword grid, atmospheric and elegant dark green moiré glass bi, glass plate similar to the texture of natural stone... A group of Chinese windglasses from the Warring States and Western Han Dynasties attracted many viewers to stop and appreciate. Chinese craftsmen creatively integrate oriental aesthetics into glass, and the lead barium glass produced imitates a large number of jade products, such as jade bi, jade sword tools, jade cicadas, jade pig grips, etc., showing a very different artistic style from Western glass.
A blue stringed glass excavated from the Western Han Tomb in Guigang, Guangxi, after more than 2,000 years of vicissitudes, still exudes a beautiful luster. Different from Western soda-lime glass and lead barium glass in northern China, many potassium glass products have been unearthed in Guangxi, Guangdong and other places in southern China, reflecting the prosperity of trade between the southern coastal areas and Southeast Asia and South Asia through the Maritime Silk Road.
According to historical records, Western glass craftsmanship was introduced from Central Asia to Datong, Shanxi at the beginning of the Northern Wei Dynasty, but was once lost at the end of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and was revived in the Sui Dynasty. The soda-calcium and lead glassware excavated from the tomb of Li Jingxun in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, can be exemplified. In the exhibition hall, there is a Sui Dynasty glass bottle from Li Jingxun's tomb, which is green throughout, with a smooth shape and high transparency. Li Jingxun is a member of the royal family, and a total of 24 glass utensils have been excavated from his tomb, of which 7 are glassware, which are well preserved. These glass products confirm the sui book's record of the success of He Chou's re-firing of local glass.
This exhibition is not only highly ornamental, but also has a strong academic nature, through a large number of texts and illustrations to introduce the glassmaking process in different regions and different periods, so that the audience can gain an in-depth understanding of the knowledge of glass. It is reported that the exhibition will last until May 5.