▲ British Museum - Chinese Museum of Cultural Heritage
Curator Dr. Hartwig Fisher would like to share the following message:
"The British Museum will be temporarily closed. While making this decision was very difficult for us, protecting the health and safety of our staff and visitors is the primary responsibility of the British Museum. At present, we are not sure when to reopen the museum, and the relevant information will be updated in a timely manner. "
We are familiar with the British Museum is the museum with the largest collection of lost cultural relics in China, the current collection of Chinese cultural relics as many as more than 23,000 pieces, long-term display of about 2,000 pieces, the collection of Chinese cultural relics encompasses the entire category of Chinese art, spanning the entire History of China, including engravings, calligraphy and painting, jade, bronze, pottery, jewelry.
In the face of the current form, the closure of the museum is also a helpless move. Then you may wish to come to the online exhibition with Xiaobian!
Yu Chun
▲ Zhejiang Province, Liangzhu culture, about 2500 BC collection size: 49.5 cm high
This piece of jade, dark green, the interior of the vessel is cylindrical hollow, the outside is a decreasing thickness of the square column, horizontally divided into 19 sections, is currently one of the highest known jade. Small circles are carved into the square corners of the utensils to symbolize the eyes, and under each pair of circles there is a short horizontal bar representing the nose, thus forming a simplified face.
This piece of jade is from the Neolithic Liangzhu culture, which was mainly concentrated in the area of today's Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces. The pottery, stoneware and jade produced by the Liangzhu culture are very exquisite.
Jade is a very hard material, so its carving is not an easy task, requiring a lot of manpower and material resources. Archaeologists have found jade in many high tombs. As a ceremonial vessel, the importance of the jade in the society at that time was beyond doubt. Its shape and details reflect the extraordinary level of craftsmanship at that time, but the specific meaning and use of Jade Chun is still inconclusive.
Liangzhu culture is likely to have been abruptly interrupted due to natural disasters, but the patterns and shapes of Liangzhu jade have been passed down to future generations until today.
Ru kiln green glaze cup holder
▲ Baofeng Qingliang Temple, Henan, Northern Song Dynasty, 1086–1125 Collection dimensions: height 7.3 cm, tray diameter 16.2 cm
The tray is a five-petal sunflower-shaped, with overlapping petals, five curved ribs, glazed, and glazed with open pieces. The Court of the Northern Song Dynasty used such trays as tea sets, supporting tea bowls of different materials.
The tray is burned with a full glaze wrapped foot and five oval sesame nail marks. Ru kiln carcass is delicate, mostly fragrant gray, enamel thick, different colors, there are azure, sky blue, blue and gray colors. According to the Southern Song Dynasty Zhou Xuan's "Qingbo Magazine", there is an agate powder glaze in the Ru kiln. Modern scientists have shown that this delicate blue color is actually caused by dissolved iron oxides and small amounts of titanium dioxide.
Ru kiln ware was used by the Northern Song court, and its production was interrupted after the Jin army captured Beijing. In 2000, archaeologists found fifteen kilns near Qingliang Temple in Henan Province, unearthed two workshops and a large number of ru kiln fragments, thus proving that the Ru kiln had a short but intensive production from 1086 to 1125. Today, less than a hundred pieces of Ru kiln porcelain have survived, which makes Ru kiln porcelain even more precious.
By the twelfth century, Goryeo potters were already able to burn such high-quality kiln products into the court. Goryeo celadon and Ruyao celadon are quite similar in chemical composition, thus proving the early international exchange of ceramic technology.
Three-colored arhat statue
▲ Chinese, Jin Dynasty, 1115-1234 collection size: height 103 cm
This life-size statue is covered with a three-colored glaze on a pottery tire and represents one of the Buddha's disciples. Dressed in robes, his hands knotted with meditation seals, he sat quietly on a rocky base. The base and the arhat statue can be separated.
So far, there are ten Arhat statues of the same type that can be found in the world. Nine of them are in public museums in Canada, the United States, Russia, France and the United Kingdom, and one is in private museums in Japan. The heads of the Arhats in Boston, Toronto, and Karuizawa in Nagano Prefecture, Japan, are replicas, while the arms of the Russian Arhats have been lost, and only the head and a small amount of torso have been preserved. It is widely believed that these arhats were found in a cave in Yi County, northern Hebei Province, in 1912.
Porcelain experts and scientists have tested and believe that this group of Luohan statues was fired in the Longquan Wu kiln in Xishan, a suburb of Beijing, and was made near the end of the Jin Dynasty. To make these arhats, the potters first fired the plain tires at temperatures of 980 to 1010 degrees, then applied a three-color glaze, decorated the eyes and lips with black and red glazes, and finally fired at low temperature in the kiln for the second time.
What makes this group of Arhats special is the extremely rare realism reflected in the treatment of their faces, hands, and skin. They seem to be like real people, their expressions are calm and peaceful, and they are majestic and deeply Zen.
Blue and white cloud dragon pattern plum bottle
▲ Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, Yuan Dynasty, 1330-1368 collection size: height 44.5 cm
This blue and white porcelain wine bottle, also known as the "plum bottle", has a cloud dragon pattern as the main ornament on the outer wall, a cloud shoulder pattern on the top, and a lotus petal pattern on the feet. In China, the dragon is a beast, which can rejuvenate the clouds and rain, benefit all things, and make the wind and rain smooth. Therefore, the image of the dragon often appeared between the auspicious clouds or the waves, and gradually evolved into a symbol of imperial power. The tangled pattern painted on the cloud shoulder of this plum bottle also appears on the fabric of the yurt and the silk robe.
The potter shapes the embryo on a rotator, and when it is dry, mixes the water with the ground cobalt to form a pigment, and draws a pattern on the carcass. The blue color produced by china's indigenous cobalt material is more dull. Therefore, high-quality products usually use cobalt imported from the Middle East. After the pattern has dried thoroughly, the potter applies a transparent glaze to the outer surface of the embryo, which is then put into a kiln and fired at a temperature of 1200 degrees Celsius using wood as fuel. The firing time takes a week, after which it takes another week to cool down, and then move out of the box to sell.
Jingdezhen, where this type of blue and whiteware is produced, is located in what is now Jiangxi Province, and is one of the earliest towns in the world to realize industrialization. Porcelain production continued here for about a thousand years. No other kiln has such a long and coherent history. Beginning with the Mongol emperors, Jingdezhen began to receive royal funding, and the porcelain produced was sold in large quantities to domestic and overseas markets. Blue and white porcelain is the first "global commodity", from Tokyo to Timbuktu, it has been hot all the way, and it has been copied in large quantities throughout the road.
Green glazed pottery watchtower
▲ China, Eastern Han Dynasty, 25-220 AD collection size: height 86 cm, width 36 cm, depth 36 cm
Pottery models of figures, houses, and farmhouses prepared for future life are often found in the tombs of the Eastern Han Dynasty between 25 and 220 AD. This three-storey model of the watchtower is likely from the tomb of a powerful landowner or warlord of the time.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, because land could be bought and sold freely, wealthy landlords and warlords were able to acquire a large amount of land and build large estates. These estates will include farmland, pig pens, sheep pens and fish ponds. Many landowners used watchtowers similar to this model to defend the estate.
At that time, Chinese architecture was dominated by wooden structures and tiled roofs. One person on each of the second and third floors of the watchtower looked out, most likely the manor's guards.
These people who work on farms may have been local farmers. However, due to the serious land annexation at that time, a large amount of land was concentrated in the hands of the rich, and many farmers became landless and in debt. Then they had to become tenants or long-term workers in the landlord's house.
When the Eastern Han Dynasty collapsed in the third century AD, some large estates already had thousands of workers and armed forces. Many farmers in the surrounding area also come to these farms to seek work and protection. As assets and employment increased, so did the landlord's power. By the end of the Han Dynasty, some landlords had become warlords who dominated one side.
Sandstone Guanyin Bodhisattva statue
▲ Northern Qi, China, 550-577 AD Collection Size: Height 167.6 cm
This statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva has a beautiful silhouette, rounded face, a serene demeanor, and wears a flower crown on his head, and in the middle of the crown is a seated statue of Amitabha Buddha. The statue's hands may have been originally made of wood, but they are now missing.
Sculpture is not a native Chinese art form. In the first century AD, with the introduction of Buddhism from India, interest in sculpture gradually emerged in China. After the fall of the Han Dynasty, China entered a period of division and division that lasted more than three centuries, and multiple political forces arose, eventually establishing a series of northern and southern regimes. The Xianbei Tuoba ruled northern China for nearly two hundred years, and many of these foreign emperors were devout Buddhists. They revered Buddhism as the state religion and financed the construction of large Buddhist temples. Early Buddha statues mostly used bas-carved techniques, the posture is relatively stiff, and the overall appearance is relatively flat. In Northern Qi, where this Guanyin statue was made, the face of the Buddha statue became more plump and rounded.
Guanyin Bodhisattva originally had no male or female appearance, but after the introduction of Buddhism to China, Guanyin usually appeared in a female form with gorgeous accessories. In this example, the statue of the bodhisattva hangs from both shoulders, wears a collar around the neck, wears an "X" shape, and a string of jewels in front of him hangs below the knee. The clump pattern on the pendant originated in the West and was introduced to China through Central Asia.
Originally painted and decorated with gold leaf, the statue is now only visible on the edges of the robe.
Murals of the Three Bodhisattvas
▲ Qingliang Temple, Hebei Province, painted in 1424 and rebuilt in 1437 and 1468
This mural depicts three standing statues of bodhisattvas, each with a prominent headlight. The bodhisattva in the middle is Guanyin, who wears a crown with the image of Amitabha Buddha. On the left is the Bodhisattva Puxian, who holds a whisk and has the Three Jewels on his head. On the right is Manjushri Bodhisattva, who also has a Buddha statue on his head and holds a ruyi.
Qingliang Temple in Hebei Province was founded in 1183. A 1485 inscription records that the temple's murals were painted by wutaishan monasteries in Shanxi Province in 1424 when monks were sent to Qingliang Temple, and later rebuilt in 1437 and 1468. Qingliang Temple is an important stop for Buddhist devotees on their way to and from the source of their pilgrimage to Mount Wutai.
W.M. Weinberger acquired the mural in 1925. According to his notes, there were three halls in The Qingliang Temple at that time, which were abandoned. Inside the first hall there are large, broken wooden statues of Buddha, surrounded by small statues. The second hall has a large sculpture of a seated Buddha, and at the back there is a horseshoe-shaped back screen that is much taller than the Buddha statue, and the upper part is wider. Behind this back screen is a larger wooden frame that houses the murals of the Three Bodhisattvas. The frescoes are painted on plaster surfaces, with the lowest layer of dry soil attached to wooden shelves. The mural was removed from the original wooden frame and transported back to London in 12 pieces. Collector George Eumerph Parles purchased the fresco and donated it to the British Museum in 1927. Cheongongnji Temple was destroyed in the 1930s and 1940s.
Bronze owl-shaped quartz
▲ Anyang region of Henan Province or nearby, late Shang Dynasty, 1200-1000 BC Collection dimensions: height 16 cm, width 11.2 cm (at the mouth edge)
This four-legged bronze quarry with a lid (a ceremonial vessel used to hold wine) is cast in accordance with the pattern method and looks like two back-to-back owls, with small hooks that flip up on the sides of the lid as if they were their beaks, and the legs are their claws. The ribbeds separate the buttoned lid and the body into four decorative sections. The scaly ornamentation representing the owl wings occupies most of the body, and the remaining space (including the lid) is based on cloud thunder patterns, decorated with small bird and dragon patterns. It is in a straight line with the edge of the body and the middle of the lid, and there are two semi-circular handles under the mouth.
Animal shapes, whether realistic or fictional, were very popular in the late Shang Dynasty. During this period, many bronze ceremonial vessels in the shape of intricately decorated animals appeared, like this bronze vessel. Although the exact meaning of these animal shapes is still inconclusive, it is likely that the intricate animal ornaments on the bronze ceremonial vessels of the Shang Dynasty are not simply decorations, but are related to the spiritual world and beliefs of the time.
Gilded gold and silver bull first car trim
▲ Henan Province or nearby, Eastern Zhou, 400-300 BC Collection size: length 17.5 cm, width 21.5 cm
This bull's head-shaped car is made of bronze, gilded on the surface and detailed with misplaced gold and silver ornaments. The head of the cow has protruding ears and eyes. The eyes were originally embedded with glass, but now they are decayed. There are square pin holes on the square brass behind the head of the ox. This piece of car was most likely installed at the head end of the rut for decoration.
Before the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, horse-drawn carriages originating in the Eurasian steppes had been integrated into Chinese society and had become one of the most important symbols of status and wealth. This gilded bull head trim may have been used to decorate the rudder head end. It is possible that it was unearthed in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty tomb area near present-day Luoyang.
Longshan culture black pottery
▲ Shandong, Neolithic Longshan culture, 2600-2300 BC Collection size: height 14 cm, caliber 7.2 cm, bottom diameter 5.5 cm, maximum diameter 9.5 cm
This delicate, beautifully contoured wheeled pottery comes from the Longshan culture of the lower Yellow River (circa 2600-1900 BC). At that time, the Yellow River and the Yangtze River Basin had already seen complex societies that were far larger than before. Many large settlements have different functional divisions, including residential areas, professional workshops, and places where ceremonies are held. Exquisite jade and pottery were symbols of wealth and power in society at that time. They were made by specialized craftsmen for the ruling class.
Guiding bodhisattva diagram
▲ About 851-900 AD, the Mogao Caves tibetan scripture cave excavated silk color, 80.5 cm in length and 53.8 cm in width
This precious Tang Dynasty silk painting depicts the Bodhisattva leading a woman who often gave birth to the Paradise World, and the palace of the Pure Land can be seen in the red clouds at the top left of the picture. In the upper right box, there are three words "leading the way". The belief in guiding bodhisattvas became popular in the Tang Dynasty, and several paintings of this subject have been found in the Dunhuang Tibetan Scripture Cave, but this is the only example with an inscription indicating the content.
The bodhisattva is depicted as a male figure, with his chest exposed, holding an incense burner with a handle and a lotus branch hanging from a hanging banner. He wears colorful sky coats and ornaments, and his shape is gorgeous. The painter also greatly reduced the proportion of the dead behind the bodhisattva, strengthening the solemnity and greatness of the bodhisattva. The deceased has a graceful and atmospheric appearance, wearing a typical women's costume popular in the Tang Dynasty. Although the identity of the deceased is not known, she undoubtedly represented a female Buddhist devotee of a certain class of society at that time.
This painting is from the Dunhuang Mogao Caves. The British Museum now houses more than 240 paintings on silk and paper, as well as textiles and small prints, dating from the late 7th to the early 11th century. In 1900, the Taoist monk Wang Yuanzhen discovered the Tibetan Scripture Cave, which contains tens of thousands of Buddhist scriptures, paintings, textiles and other cultural relics. In 1907, archaeologist Stein (1862-1943) purchased some of the relics of the Cave from Wang Yuanzhen in Dunhuang and transported them back to Britain. Since Stein's expedition was funded by the British Museum and the Indian government, after returning to England, a batch of the collection was transferred to India and is now in the National Museum of India. The Dunhuang cultural relics left in the UK, in addition to the cultural relics now in the British Museum, manuscripts and scriptures (including the Diamond Sutra of the Tang Dynasty) are now in the British Library. The Victoria and Albert Museum also houses some textiles.
"Female Historiography"
▲ Passed on Gu Kaizhi, about 5-7th century, silk coloring, hand rolling, paneled mounting The size of the collection: 24.37 cm high, 343.75 cm long
The Female History Proverb is the British Museum's most famous collection of Chinese paintings and calligraphy. Based on the Jin Dynasty poet Zhang Hua's 292 CE Female Shi Zhen, the painting uses the stories of the concubines of the past to warn court women to observe women's morality. The content is expanded from right to left, and the center of the painting has a nine-segment single-scene composition, and the original text is titled on the right side of each image. The beginning of the "Female History Zhentu" was supposed to have had three additional sections of graphic text, as well as a fourth inscription, but it no longer existed during the Qianlong period.
The documentary record of Gu Kaizhi's painting "Female History Zhentu" first appeared in the Song Dynasty. Gu Kaizhi (c. 345–406 AD), a native of present-day Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, was a regular attendant of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and his current works are facsimiles of later generations. The British Museum's collection of "Female Historiography" with significant relics of the Six Dynasties, most likely from the 5th-7th centuries, is a rare early silk painting.
There are a large number of inscriptions and seals in the "Female History Zhentu", the authenticity of some seals is still controversial, and the "Painting of Gu Kai" at the bottom left of the painting heart is suspected to be added by posterity. The trailing part has a thin gold body script, which is currently considered by scholars to be the calligraphy of Jin Zhangzong (reigned 1190-1208), and it should be framed with the painting heart in the late Ming Dynasty. There are also Qianlong Imperial Pen Inscriptions and Painting Lantu, as well as inscriptions by the Ming Dynasty collector Xiang Yuanbian.
During the Qianlong period, the "Female History Zhentu" became a collection of the Qing Palace and was stored in the Jing Yi Xuan of the Jianfu Palace of the Forbidden City. In 1900, during the Boxer Rebellion and the Eight-Power Alliance's entry into Beijing, the works were scattered outside the palace. In 1903 the British Museum purchased the painting from Captain Clarence Johnson.
Born in India in 1870, Captain Johnson later joined the British Indian Cavalry Regiment and was sent to China in 1900 to participate in the Battle of the Eight-Power Alliance. He arrived in Beijing in August 1900 and stayed for two months, where his regiment was stationed at the Summer Palace. According to Captain Johnson's family, the Female Scrub was a gift from a noblewoman he had helped. This claim cannot be verified.
The Female Chronicles were already fragile when they entered the British Museum's collection, and there are many traces of repairs. Between 1914 and 1923, in order to allow the works to be exhibited and avoid the wear and tear caused by the opening and closing of the scrolls, the museum restorers transferred the center of the "Female Historiography" to the panels, and then framed the head, the lead and the tail on another panel. In addition, the 18th-century Tiantou and Zou Yigui (1686-1772) smear paintings are also preserved separately.
In 2013, the British Museum invited experts in painting, painting and restoration from China and beyond to discuss the status and conservation of the Female Historiography. According to the discussion at the time, the museum customized a display case for the "Female Historiograph" in 2014, which was stored in Hall 91a for a long time, and was limited to about 6 weeks per year. Please check the exhibition hall closure information before planning a visit.
Blue and white coat of arms and inscription Clark porcelain bowl
▲ Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, Ming Wanli, about 1600-1620 The size of the collection: 17.30 cm high, 34.6 cm in diameter
This blue-and-white "Clark" porcelain bowl, curved wall, deep abdomen, skimmed foot, flower mouth rim. The outer wall is painted with four coats of arms, each of which depicts a strange snake, each with a pair of human heads and five monster heads, scaly wings, one tail, and two toes. On the streamers on either side of the coat of arms is written the Latin proverb "Septenti nihil novum" (no wonder to the wise). The decorations are all in Chinese style. The outer wall is decorated with Buddhist ritual ornaments and lotus patterns. The inner sole of the bowl is decorated with a lotus pond crane heron pattern, and the inner wall is surrounded by ten groups of paintings with flower and stone patterns.
The same coat of arms and Latin motto as this bowl is now housed in the Palazzo Santos in Lisbon, Portugal, and it is inlaid on a pyramid-like roof along with other bright blue flowers. In the collection of King Manuel I and his descendants, this is the only piece of Chinese porcelain with European ornamentation as well as writing, so we can infer that this type of porcelain should have been specially customized for the Portuguese market.
This porcelain bowl belongs to the blue and white porcelain produced in the late Ming Dynasty mainly for export, known in the West as "Clark porcelain". The name derives from the Portuguese merchant ship Carraca, the first time this type of porcelain was shipped to Europe. Clark porcelain, which has a thin carcass and is decorated with open-light paintings, was once mass-produced in Jingdezhen.
Bronze cast real martial arts statue
▲ Ming Dynasty, China, circa 1416-1439 Collection size: 133 cm high
This statue of Zhenwu is one of the largest surviving bronze statues of Zhenwu. Zhenwu is also known as Xuantian God, Yuansheng Renwei Xuantian God. Emperor Zhenwu, with long beards and hair, wore an armored battle robe decorated with a dragon pattern on the front of the robe, and his left hand cast the Zhenwu seal, that is, the ring finger and the middle finger protruding forward. The whole is made of copper, and the original is decorated with gilded and painted lacquer.
In the Ming Dynasty, Zhenwu was considered to be the god of protecting the country and the state. In the early days of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, stabilizing the internal political situation and stabilizing the frontier externally were the top priorities of the Ming government. The Yongle Emperor attributed his victory in the Jing Dynasty to the blessing of Emperor Zhenwu. During the Yongle years, The Wudang Mountains of Hubei Province, the dojo of Emperor Xuanwu, appeared in Ruiying. These Ruiying scenes were either recorded by painters or included in Taoist texts and used to prove the legitimacy of the Yongle Emperor's ascension to the throne. During this period, the worship of true martial arts was not only prevalent in the court, but also reached its peak in the folk.
From 1412 onwards, the Yongle Emperor ordered the large-scale construction of a gongguan temple on the peak of Wudang Mountain to enshrine the Zhenwu Emperor, while also praying for the blessing of his father, the Hongwu Emperor, and his mother. At the top of the main peak of Wudang Mountain, the Yongle Emperor built the Forbidden City, which not only has the same name as the Beijing Palace Castle, but also built at the same time.
In 1416, the Yongle Emperor erected a statue of Zhenwu in the Golden Hall of Taihe Palace in Wudang Mountain. This statue of Zhenwu is very similar to the one on display in front of you in terms of size and external features. Legend has it that the Zhenwu statues of the early Ming Dynasty were modeled after the Yongle Emperor.
The lock brocade ceremony with armor
▲ Hangzhou or Suzhou, Qing Dynasty, 1780-1820 Collection size: armor length (top shoulders to hem of the hem) 124 cm Armor full length (helmet top to hem) 172 cm
This ritual use of lock brocade consists of a tunic, a lower garment, and a helmet (gizzard). The top includes left and right shoulder pads, left and right armpits, front and left shades. The tops are all yellow-based herringbone brocade, with brown velvet edges and regular copper gilded nails. Gilded dragon-patterned copper plates are adorned at the cuffs and shoulder pads. There was originally a heart guard hanging from the chest of the top.
The helmet (gizzard) is silver, inlaid with coral beads, lapis lazuli and turquoise, and the original helmet tassel with silk neck guard, ear protector and top has been missing. The Sanskrit on the edge of the helmet serves as a blessing of peace.
The qing dynasty's soldiers and bodyguards had a complex ethnic composition, including Manchu, Han, Mongol, Korean, Hui, Tibetan, and Russian ethnic groups, which were under the administration of the Eight Banners. The weaving bureaus of the Qing Dynasty, Suzhou and Hangzhou were responsible for supplying the armor needed by the court and the government, and the armor worn by the different ranks of guards had a clear distinction.
The tapered helmet (胄) was introduced to China in the thirteenth century under Mongol rule. The script on the edge of the helmet is a Chinese variant of lanza, which was used by Tibetan Buddhism to write Sanskrit and is often used to decorate Tibetan weapons.
Lacquer sheath iron blade Han sword
▲ China, Eastern Zhou to Han Dynasty, 300-100 BC Collection size: length (with sheath) 85 cm
The sword consists of a lacquered wood carved sword head, a sword grid and an iron blade, and a lacquered wooden sheath. There are still traces of gold jewelry on the head of the sword. Also on the sheath are lacquered wooden sword and sword, carved into intertwined hollow dragon or snake patterns, which match the design of the sword head and sword grid.
The delicate lacquered wood sword ornament indicates that the long sword should not have been used in actual combat, but was part of the aristocratic male at that time. Lacquer is a unique craft, especially in southern China; however, the hollow design of lacquered wood sword ornaments may also have been influenced by the decorative style of metalware from the Eurasian steppe, as was jade from the same period.
Hidden within the scabbard is an iron blade. China began to use iron before 300 BC and gradually replaced bronze with iron as the main material for weapons. The production of iron and salt began to be nationalized during the han wudi generation. This move further increased the wealth of the central government while weakening local power.