On a ceramic wall tile 171.3 cm long and 79.5 cm wide, the top depicts the figures of Guanyin and Sun Wukong in "Journey to the West", and the picture is down, and the images of Chinese warrior warriors are interspersed with three dark-skinned Native American figures. In the upper left corner of the wall tiles, there are several lines of small characters that look like Chinese paintings, but if you look closely, you will find that there is no such Chinese character at all - the finale exhibit of "East-West Convergence - Special Exhibition of Chinese and European Ceramics and Cultural Exchanges" on the first floor of the Shanghai Museum, recording the trade exchanges between China and the West and the collision of cultures. Each exhibit in this exhibition hides the details of such a fusion of Chinese and Western exchanges, telling the story of how China and the West viewed each other in history.
The exhibition, which brings together 206 pieces (groups) of Chinese and foreign ceramics and oil paintings, is cooperated by the Shanghai Museum and the Asian Art Museum of Kyrgyzstan, France, and unites the collections of 11 well-known museums and collection institutions from all over the world and the collection images of 4 museums and collection institutions, presenting the trade exchanges and cultural interaction between China and the West in the Ming and Qing dynasties with porcelain as the carrier of porcelain as a commodity with Chinese characteristics.
"The theme of the exhibition is the convergence of things in early globalization, and the exhibition itself is the convergence of global museum forces." Yang Zhigang, director of the Shanghai Museum, said that this is an exhibition with the widest participation area and high participation standards in the international museum industry since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic.
A piece of porcelain was twice used as a diplomatic gift
Entering the exhibition hall, a blue-and-white porcelain vase with a slender mouth and curved handles attracts the attention of visitors. This piece of blue and white tangled peony pattern pot during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty is a typical Yongle official kiln product.
During the Yongle and Xuande dynasties of the Ming Dynasty, these blue and white porcelains accompanied Zheng He's fleet to the ocean and were given as diplomatic gifts to foreign countries. The Topkapi Palace in Turkey houses several similar pots, as does the Adbir Monastery in Iran. The pot on display was brought to France in 1547 by Baron François de Fimeler. At that time, he was ordered by King Henry II of France to go to Constantinople as a temporary envoy to meet Suleiman I of the Ottoman Empire, and brought the pot with him.
Chen Jie, deputy research librarian of the Ceramic Research Department of the Shanghai Museum, said that before the maturity of Sino-European trade, only a very small number of Chinese porcelain could reach Europe, and some of them were transferred from the Middle East. Many pieces of Chinese porcelain in history have been used as diplomatic gifts to witness the history of world exchanges.
How precious was Chinese porcelain at that time? Another exhibit, the blue and white tangled peony bowl, is evident. This porcelain of the Hongzhi-Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty has folded branches and tangled branches on the inside, and the outer walls are decorated with cloud patterns, tangled peonies and deformed lotus petals. In the 1514 oil painting "Feast of the Gods" painted by the Italian painter Giovanni Bellini, the goddess in the center of the picture actually holds a "same" blue and white porcelain bowl. Chen Jie said: "Blue and white porcelain appeared in the works of the Venetian school, especially mythological themes, indicating the precious value of Chinese porcelain at that time. ”
Because Chinese porcelain was so precious overseas at the time, many of its uses seem ridiculous today. A multicolored dark flower eight treasure pattern bowl, after entering the Ottoman Empire, was skillfully "recreated" by court craftsmen, and the gorgeous pattern of the Ottoman style was inlaid with gold wire and rubies. A pair of peacock-green glazed statues of Maitreya, originally a common ornament in China, were decorated with golden bronze leaves and atop in 18th-century Germany and turned into a pair of candlesticks. The smiling Maitreya porcelain became a popular set element in Europe at that time. Another pair of blue-glazed bowls, which is likely to be used for everyday food in China, was decorated in 18th-century France with gilded curly grass patterns, buckled upside down, and became the gorgeous and fashionable rococo aromatherapy of the time.
Chinese craftsmen "paint" letters, and foreign painters "paint" Chinese characters
Further inside, a square blue-and-white porcelain vase catches the eye: the traditional Chinese porcelain brushstrokes and colors actually draw a conspicuous "cross" shape on the bottle. In addition, the crown of thorns, ladders, leather whips and other objects that appear on the porcelain bottle are also related to religion. This blue and white Daoming Society Crucifixion square vase produced by Jingdezhen during the Ming Dynasty Apocalypse-Chongzhen period is likely to be a customized product of foreign religious groups. In this exhibition area, you can see many Chinese porcelain paintings with Western religions, family emblems and other patterns. A blue-and-white Portuguese royal coat of arms pattern bowl with a circle of Western alphabet inscriptions at the mouth, but some of the letters are clearly wrongly written, and the researchers have speculated that it should be a religious slogan based on the whole. According to reports, these letters are likely to be "painted" by Chinese craftsmen who do not know Western languages according to customized requirements.
Not only were Chinese craftsmen "painting" outside the Chinese, but there were also many foreign painters who "painted" Chinese characters during this period. In the 17th century, the French still life painter Jacques Linard painted a painting of "Five Senses and Four Elements", which included a blue and white porcelain bowl, and the "Chinese characters" on the bowl accounted for most of the total, but almost no one could understand what these "Chinese characters" were, and could only speculate that it was the blue and white Chibi bowl at that time based on the picture composition on the other side of the bowl. The actual bowl in the painting is exhibited in this exhibition.
In the exhibition, many Chinese and foreign porcelains of the same period can be viewed accordingly, and a glimpse of how China and the West imagined each other on both sides of the ocean at that time.
A dehua white porcelain Dutch figure from about 1700, with a high nose and deep eyes, long curly hair, a long row of buttons in the middle of the clothes, but the rounded face of the figure is quite Chinese "Fu Xiang", and the pedestal is decorated with typical Chinese flowers and birds; and another pair of Chinese musicians from Meissen, Germany, male and female musicians wear trumpet fancy hats, holding instruments such as guitars and drums, especially the revealing dress and deep facial features, which are far from the Chinese.
Because Chinese porcelain is popular in the West, it has also driven and influenced the exploration of porcelain in neighboring countries such as Japan, Vietnam, and Germany and the Netherlands in Europe. These clusters of porcelain from various countries silently demonstrate the great contribution of Chinese skills to world civilization. The images painted on ceramics also show the exotic imagination of various countries using porcelain as a medium.
In 1734, the Dutch East India Company hired the painter Cornelius Planck to design four patterns to customize porcelain, of which the "Parasol Lady" and "Doctor Figure" drawings survive to this day. The exhibition showcases Chinese and Japanese porcelain based on the "Lady Parasol", and both the "Parasol" and the "Lady" have distinct national characteristics.
The ceramic dome reflects the cultural exchanges and cooperation between China and the West
In front of several booths, the reporter saw a special note: "Because of the transportation and escort restrictions brought about by the epidemic, some of the original oil paintings cannot arrive in Shanghai to participate in the exhibition, and we make up for the shortcomings with replicas. ”
Yang Zhigang used "boiling" to describe the process of holding this exhibition. As early as April 2015, when he led a delegation to visit, he learned that the Asian Art Museum in Kyrgyzstan was holding an exhibition of Chinese porcelain, copying the ceramic dome of the Palais Santos, where the French Embassy in Portugal is now located, and began to plan such an exhibition in Shanghai to showcase the export of porcelain in Chinese history. At the end of 2019, the Shanghai Museum released a new year's exhibition plan, there was a temporary name "Porcelain Sky" between Chinese and Western ceramics exchange exhibition - this name is to describe the reproduction of the Santos Palace ceramic dome.
The sudden outbreak of the epidemic disrupted the original plan - the planning was repeatedly adjusted, the exhibition period was delayed many times, and the two sides negotiated and adjusted many times: "This is not simply the introduction of an exhibition, but the re-planning and re-creation of the original exhibition, the context structure and overall style presented are very different, and at least 70% of the exhibits are newly added." ”
In cooperation with the Asian Art Museum in Kyrgyzstan, France, the Shanghai Museum has also expanded the "circle of friends" for this exhibition: it coordinates the lending of exhibits to the Guangdong Provincial Museum in China and museums and collection institutions in the United States, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Portugal and other countries.
However, due to the impact of the epidemic, 4 of the 15 museums and collection institutions that had originally contacted the lending exhibition withdrew and instead authorized the use of copies of the collection in this exhibition.
A replica of the ceramic dome of the Santos Palace also came. Looking up, the porcelain above your head lit up like a flower. "The theme of the exhibition is the convergence of things in early globalization, and the exhibition itself is the convergence of global museum forces." Yang Zhigang said that as a collection and display institution for the witnesses of human civilization, museums should become the forefront of cultural exchanges and promote exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations.
It is reported that the "Convergence of East and West - Special Exhibition of Ceramics and Cultural Exchange between China and Europe" will last until January 16, 2022.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Shi Chenlu Text Editor: Jian Gongbo Title Image Source: Xinhua News Agency Photo Editor: Su Wei
Source: Author: Jian Gongbo