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Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria www-link

 

In the past, many ancient tombs throughout China were raided or looted for their artifacts and sold to Chinese scholars, foreign collectors and museums. Art historians have come to admire the great beauty and exquisite workmanship of these tomb artifacts, which offer unrivalled material for the study of daily life and ancient technologies, while revealing the different classes of people found in China and how each prepared for the afterlife. The items come from the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria’s extensive Chinese archaeological collections and will be enhanced by a large intended gift of early gold, silver and bronze treasures from Joey and Toby Tanenbaum of Toronto.
(from the website of the museum)

Matsuyama

Archaeological Museum at Matsuyama City www-link

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TŌKYŌ

Tōkyō National Museum www-link

The Koshin region, which is now Yamanashi and Nagano prefectures, was one of the areas where the Jomon culture fully developed. The Middle Jomon period (ca. 3000-2000 BC), when pottery vessels were highly decorated, was marked by common vessel shapes and decorative designs that have been found over vast geographical areas. This has lead archaeologists to consider that information on pottery was widely distributed during this period. Influences of Daigi type pottery, which was developed in the Southern Tohoku region and feature whirl design motifs, can be found in the Kanto and Koshin regions. In the Kanto and Koshin regions during the Middle Jomon period, Otamadai type, Kasori E type, Katsuzaka type and Sori type pottery, each with common designs, are known to have distributed in wide areas. These types influenced each other, giving rise to various blends of pottery styles.

The exhibition is held as part of the Tokyo National Museum's archaeological objects exchange loan program and features objects borrowed from the Nagano Prefectural Museum of History and Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Archaeology, together with pottery from the Tama Region of Tokyo for comparison, to present an example of regional exchange during the Middle Jomon period.
(from the Website of the museum)

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ŌSAKA

Ōsaka Osaka Prefectural Sayamaike Museum www-link

 

 

 

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Paris, France

Musée Guimetwww-link

Les dix années 1996 – 2006 ont été particulièrement riches dans le domaine des nouvelles acquisitions. L’exposition parcours organisée au sein des collections permanentes du musée Guimet met l’accent sur l’exceptionnel enrichissement, tant qualitatif que quantitatif, dont a bénéficié le musée pendant cette période.

Une sélection de plus de deux cents œuvres de l’Inde au Japon, est proposée dans un parcours original mis en exergue par une signalétique spécifique dédiée à l’évènement. Une manifestation culturelle à grande échelle qui rend hommage aux donateurs et à leur très grande générosité.

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Austria

 Kunsthistorisches Museum Wienwww-link

The collections of the National Palace Museum in Taipei, renowned as the world’s largest and most exquisite collection of Chinese art, derive from a tradition of imperial collecting that spanned a millennium. Begun and first catalogued during the Song dynasty (960-1279), the collection survived numerous changes of dynasties, foreign rulers and wars as the preservation of the country’s cultural heritage was regarded as one of the foremost duties of a Chinese emperor in order to fulfill his “heavenly mandate”.

The Qing dynasty (1644-1911) marked the high-point of this thousand-year-old history of collecting; its most dedicated collector was the Emperor Qianlong (reigned 1736-1795), celebrated by some as the greatest collector of all time. This sumptuous treasury eventually became part of the National Palace Museum Taipei which was founded in 1925 and now houses over 650.000 objects, making it one of the largest museums in the world.

Around 120 of these spectacular artworks – about a third of which have never before been exhibited abroad – will be on show at the KHM in Vienna from February 2008. Archaic ritual jades and bronze vessels, highlights from the museum’s world-famous collection of ceramics and porcelain, precious lacquer- and enamelwork, gold objects, ivory- and bamboo carvings as well artworks by some of the most famous Chinese masters of calligraphy and painting will be on show together with selected objects from the museum’s collection of precious books and documents. Together they will offer a fascinating introduction into the art of one of the world’s oldest civilisations.

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Bonn

KUNST UND AUSSTELLUNGSHALLE DER BUNDESREPUBLIK DEUTSCHLANDwww-link

On display in Germany for the first time is the magnificent temple treasure from one of the most ancient monasteries in Japan: Daigoji. The exhibition shows 160 outstanding works, including large sculptures, valuable paintings and scrolls, exquisite ritual objects, artistic calligraphy, sutras – the sacred writings of Buddhism – and historical documents, of which an hitherto unseen contingent of national treasures and important cultural property. The exhibition offers viewers an introduction to the esoteric Buddhism of Japan and showcases the mountain monastery Daigoji as a first-class culture bearer, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994. The Daigoji monastery south of Kyoto with a history reaching back more than 1100 years was founded in 874 B.C. The monastery has been preserved up to our day as one of the most influential religious centres and pilgrimage site.
(from the website of the museum)

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BERLIN

BERLINER FESTSPIELE,  MARTIN-GROPIUS-BAUwww-link

 

Sensational finds of recent years from Xinjiang, China’s westernmost province, are to be seen in this exhibition. The oldest object dates from 4000 years ago. The focus is on the people who have inhabited the area along the silk routes around the Tarim Basin and the Taklamakan desert since the Bronze Age. The Taklamakan, the world’s second largest sandy desert, has a distinct continental climate characterized by extreme aridity. This aridity, with which those who live along the silk routes have had to struggle for millennia, is the reason for the unique state of preservation of the archaeological finds.
[...] The exhibition consists of about 180 archaeological finds from the Tarim Basin. They include ceramic and metal objects as well as wood, textiles and other organic finds, which despite their age – ranging from the Bronze Age to the Han dynasty in the second century A.D. – impress visitors to the exhibition with their extraordinarily good state of preservation. Such well-preserved finds from Xinjiang have never been seen in Europe before. The exhibition conveys an idea of what life was like and the climatic and cultural factors that shaped it along the southern and northern courses of the Silk Road around the Tarim Basin and illustrates the wide variety of cultures and cultural influences that existed in eastern Central Asia up until 2000 years ago.
(from the website of the museum)

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HAMBURG

Museum für Völkerkunde Hamburgwww-link

Als 1974 Bauern in Xian in der chinesischen Provinz Shannxi beim Brunnenbau auf das Grab des ersten Kaisers und Reichseinigers, Qin Shihuangdi stießen, stieß die Nachricht von einer riesigen, lebensgroßen Armee von naturalistisch gestalteten Terrakottakriegern zunächst auf Unglauben. Mittlerweile ist dieser 1987 zum UNESCO-Welterbe erklärte Schatz aber weltweit berühmt. Kopien der Figuren in den unterschiedlichsten Stücke sind beliebte Touristensouvenirs geworden. Nur selten aber bekommt man Gelegenheit, die faszinierenden Stücke aus den Grabanlagen im Original zu sehen.

210  v. Chr. starb der Kaiser Shi Huangdi. Schon zu Lebzeiten hatte er sein prunkvolles Grab in Auftrag gegeben. Da er aber der erste und gleichzeitig der letzte Angehörige seiner auf 10.000 Jahre angelegten kaiserlichen Dynastie war, geriet seine Grabstätte rasch in Vergessenheit.

Wir zeigen, neben einer eindrucksvollen 1:1-Rekonstruktion eines Teils der Grabanlage mit einer Licht- und Tonshow und einem 250 m² großen Diorama mit 120 lebensgroßen Kriegern und 4 Pferden auch mehr als 70 authentische Exponate aus den Ausgrabungen: Gold, Jade, Bronze und Ton. Darunter befinden sich acht restaurierte Terrakotta-Figuren, die Persönlichkeiten in Hofstaat und Armee des Kaisers darstellen, sowie 2 Pferde.
(from the website of the museum)

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HAMBURG

MUSEUM FÜR KUNST UND GEWERBE HAMBURG (MGK)www-link

In his book “His ories”, Herodotus, a Greek historian, tells of the „Land of the Gold-Guarding Griffins“, said to lie somewhere in southern Siberia. In 2000-2003, the German Archaeological Institute and the State Hermitage, Saint Petersburg, carried out joint excavations in this very region. A burial mound was excavated in Arzan, in the “Valley of the Kings”, close to the border between Russia and Mongolia. The rich contents, including thousands of golden objects, are rated as one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of recent years. The find may actually be compared in importance with the tomb of Tutankhamun.
The permanently frozen ground of the high Altai Mountains yielded further spectacular finds: Above all, it is the tattooed mummies unearthed here which capture the imagination of the observer. The well-preserved clothing, the magnificently decorated horse furniture, and other artefacts of wood, textile and leather all add to the fascination. As these objects are made from perishable materials, it has never before been possible to put them on public exhibit to such an extent.
In addition to presenting the archaeological remains of the Scythians, the exhibition also takes a close look at modern excavating techniques, and at recent findings of natural sciences and anthropology. These fields increasingly contribute sensational insights, reconstructing the fascinating architecture of the tombs, the natural surroundings of the steppe nomads, or researching questions of nutrition, kinship and disease among the Scythians.
(from the website of the museum)

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MUNICH

KUNSTHALLE DER HYPO-KULTURSTIFTUNGwww-link

In his book “Histories”, Herodotus, a Greek historian, tells of the „Land of the Gold-Guarding Griffins“, said to lie somewhere in southern Siberia. In 2000-2003, the German Archaeological Institute and the State Hermitage, Saint Petersburg, carried out joint excavations in this very region. A burial mound was excavated in Arzan, in the “Valley of the Kings”, close to the border between Russia and Mongolia. The rich contents, including thousands of golden objects, are rated as one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of recent years. The find may actually be compared in importance with the tomb of Tutankhamun.
The permanently frozen ground of the high Altai Mountains yielded further spectacular finds: Above all, it is the tattooed mummies unearthed here which capture the imagination of the observer. The well-preserved clothing, the magnificently decorated horse furniture, and other artefacts of wood, textile and leather all add to the fascination. As these objects are made from perishable materials, it has never before been possible to put them on public exhibit to such an extent.
In addition to presenting the archaeological remains of the Scythians, the exhibition also takes a close look at modern excavating techniques, and at recent findings of natural sciences and anthropology. These fields increasingly contribute sensational insights, reconstructing the fascinating architecture of the tombs, the natural surroundings of the steppe nomads, or researching questions of nutrition, kinship and disease among the Scythians.
(from the website of the museum)

 

 

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Firenze

Palazzo Strozzi www-link

China: At the ourt of The Emperors is a spectacular celebration of China’s Golden Age bringing to Europe over 100 masterpieces dating from the Tang dynasty. Splendid frescoes, spectacular stone sculptures, exquisite gold and silver objects, precious ceramics, vivacious terracotta statues, exotic glass, refined jewels, precious lacquers will be on show, many of which have never been seen before in the West. The Tang era was a renaissance for the arts, crafts and literature, a time of great social, economical and cultural development for China. The Silk Road, linking the Far East to Asia and the Mediterranean, opened China to foreign influences resulting in a remarkable cosmopolitanism which was reflected in the art of the time.

One of the highlights of the exhibition will be the marvellous frescoes that reveal different aspects of Chinese society at that time, the importance of foreigners in the political world, various aspects of costume, women’s fashion, the extremely intricate hairstyles, etc. These examples, when compared to a very rare fresco from the previous Han dynasty (only three have been discovered), not only illustrate the delicate and sentimental language of Tang portraiture but also underline the importance of tolerance in a cosmopolitan society.
(from the website of the museum)

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St Petersburg

State Hermitage Museumwww-link

 

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Geneva

Collections Baur, Musee des Arts D'Extreme-Orient

Bronzes and ceramics
Over the years, the Baur Collection, Museum of Far Eastern Art has committed itself to showing to the public various facets of Asian cultures, and is now pleased to present an exhibition on the arts of ancient Vietnam. For the first time in decades, an emblematic collection of Vietnamese bronze and ceramic ware, originally assembled by the Swedish archaeologist Olov Janse (1892-1985), and later divided among the collections of the Cernuschi Museum and the Guimet Museum in Paris, has once again been brought together. This ensemble is completed by a number of prestigious Dông Son bronzes from the Barbier-Mueller Museum in Geneva, as well as important loans from major Swiss private collections. The bronze vessels and objects on show present a panorama of the production in northern Vietnam and the surrounding region during the Bronze Age, from the 5th to 3rd centuries BC, while the pieces dating from the Giao Chi period reveal the intense artistic activity which developed under Chinese occupation, from the 1st to the 3rd centuries AD. A wide choice of ceramic ware reflects the growth of this art over a millennium and a half and illustrates the cultural refinement reached under the Ly (1009-1225), Trân (1226-1400) and Lê (1428-1527) dynasties.
(from the website of the museum)

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London

THE BRITISH MUSEUMwww-link

This once-in-a-lifetime exhibition will explore one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century and provide an insight into China's First Emperor, Qin Shihuangdi, and his legacy.
Objects featured in the exhibition will include a number of the world-famous terracotta warriors from Xi'an, China, which were buried alongside the First Emperor in readiness for the afterlife, as well as some of the most striking recent discoveries made on the site.
In introducing the idea of a unified state and effectively creating China in 221 BC, the First Emperor of Qin created what is today the oldest surviving political entity in the world. How that state has survived, developed and is viewed today will be explored through events, lectures and debates around the exhibition.
(from the website of the museum)

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Oxford

THE ASHMOLEAN - Museum of Art and Archaeologywww-link

For the first time, over two hundred of the most significant objects in the Ashmolean's world-renowned collections of Archaeology, Eastern Art, Coins and Casts will be displayed side by side in an exhibition lasting throughout the Museum's major redevelopment.
(from the website of the museum)

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Victoria, British Columbia

Art Gallery of Greater Victoriawww-link

In the past, many ancient tombs throughout China were raided or looted for their artifacts and sold to Chinese scholars, foreign collectors and museums. Art historians have come to admire the great beauty and exquisite workmanship of these tomb artifacts, which offer unrivalled material for the study of daily life and ancient technologies, while revealing the different classes of people found in China and how each prepared for the afterlife. The items come from the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria’s extensive Chinese archaeological collections and will be enhanced by a large intended gift of early gold, silver and bronze treasures from Joey and Toby Tanenbaum of Toronto.
 (from the website of the museum)

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Berkeley, CA

Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archivewww-link

 

“Asian art” is not one but many diverse expressions of culture, religion, and aesthetics. The broad geographical range of Asia, from the subcontinent of India to the islands of Japan, captures enormous diversity in people as well as artistic production. Understanding elements of this vast territory through its arts is one of the goals of the current installation in Gallery 4, which is divided into five sections exploring specific avenues of artistic endeavor in South and East Asia: The Literati Tradition: Scholarly Pursuits in China and Japan; Art for the Afterlife: Chinese Tomb Culture; Ideals of Beauty in India; Tibetan and Buddhist Ritual Arts: The Bernard-Murray Tibetan Collection; and Buddhist Imagery of India and Tibet.
Chinese paintings, the backbone of the collection, are on view alongside a selection of Japanese paintings and woodblock prints. The installation places traditional arts of the scholar gentleman in juxtaposition with newer works by the avant-garde artist Xu Bing, challenging the viewer to see what is new in the old and what is old in the new.
The exhibition also showcases the museum’s astounding collection of early Chinese tomb material, ranging from beautifully crafted storage pots of the Neolithic period (10,000–2100 BCE), with their swirling abstract designs, to guardian figures of the Tang (618–907 CE). A group of bronze vessels highlights the significant role of ancestor worship in early Chinese history.
A noteworthy addition to the new installation is a selection of Tibetan material from the Bernard-Murray Tibetan Collection that was recently gifted to UC Berkeley. This will be the first major presentation of thangkas (religious paintings), ritual objects, and film clips from this extensive collection, which is held jointly by BAM/PFA, the Bancroft Library, and the Hearst Museum. The adventurer Theos Bernard collected the material on a 1939 journey to Tibet, where he participated in festivals and studied Tantric Buddhism. His journals, films, photographs, and art collection are considered an important record of pre-Communist Tibet. An anonymous private collector has also loaned complementary Tibetan material, allowing for an expanded view of Buddhist arts.
(from the website of the museum)

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Houston

Museum of Fine Arts, Houstonwww-link

The long-term agreement between the MFAH and the National Museum of Korea includes the loan of Korean National Treasures and serves as the foundation of the Korean Art and Culture Initiative, at the heart of which is the establishment of a larger, permanent MFAH gallery for Korean art of the highest aesthetic and cultural significance. This gallery has been established with support from the Korea Foundation. The Korean Art and Culture Initiative also calls for the introduction of a comprehensive interpretive program for visitors and will involve the local Korean community.

Scheduled to open in December 2007, the Arts of Korea gallery will be located in the Caroline Wiess Law Building and will be the only museum gallery in the Southwest dedicated to Korean art. Ancient and contemporary works spanning 5,000 years will include extraordinary objects on loan from the National Museum of Korea as well as artworks from the MFAH collection. Additionally, a strong component of educational activities and public programs will contribute toward cultural understanding among visitors of diverse backgrounds.

The opening of the Arts of Korea gallery marks the first step toward the goal of full representation of Asian art at the MFAH. By 2008, approximately triple the current exhibition space will be devoted to the display and interpretation of Asian art. Other Asian cultures represented in the MFAH collection are China, Japan, India, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia. Each will have new gallery space, with the Chinese and Indian galleries scheduled to open in January 2008, and the Japanese gallery in the fall of 2008.
(from the website of the museum)

On exclusive loan from the National Museum of Korea are two national treasures from the 5th century Silla Kingdom, a crown with pendants (National Treasure no. 87) and a girdle with pendants (National Treasure no. 88). The two rare gold pieces are making their first appearance outside Korea, and can be viewed at the MFAH through January 2008.

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Kansas

NELSON-ATKINS MUSEUM OF ARTSwww-link

Reaching across the rich heritage of China’s ancient dynasties, this exhibition features never before seen new acquisitions from the Nelson-Atkins extraordinary Chinese collection. Each object tells a story of the culture, the people and their beliefs that have endured for centuries. Among the finest surviving examples, from nearly seven centuries of China’s past, these works exhibit master craftsmanship in bronze, stoneware, jade and more. A royal palace dragon stands guard, just as it did nearly five hundred years ago, beckoning visitors to discover the treasures of ancient China.
(from the website of the museum)
 

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Santa Ana, CA

THE BOWERS MUSEUMwww-link

 

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ŌSAKA

Ōsaka Prefectural Chikatsu Asuka Museum www-link

みなさんは古代の女性に対してどのようなイメージをお持ちでしょうか。近年の女性史研究の進展によって、我が国の歴史における女性の実像も少しずつ明らかになり、私たちの男女観もさまざまに変化を遂げつつあるのではないでしょうか。
　さて考古資料から読み取ることのできる女性像とはどのようなものでしょう。このたびの展示では、発掘された出土品から古代の女性像をイメージしていただきたいと思います。女性にまつわる造形物は、古代の女性がどのような存在とみなされていたのかを知る手がかりとなるでしょう。また古墳における埋葬位置やその副葬品から、女性がどのような役割を担っていたのかを考え、当時の王権の実態に迫りたいと思います。さらに女性の人物埴輪の表現している世界や意味についても探ってみたいと思います。

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Seoul

NATIONAL MUSEUMwww-link

ㅇItems exhibited: 75 items, including a Qingbai porcelain pillow from the Sinan seabed Relics Site

A themed exhibition entitled “Jingdezhen Qingbai Porcelain: The Beauty of Pure White Blooming in Blue,” will be held in the Sinan Seabed Relics Room in the Asian Arts Gallery of the National Museum of Korea under the direction of Kim Hong-nam. This exhibition, on display from Tuesday, October 16th to Sunday, April 13th, 2008, will showcase 75 items, including a Qingbai porcelain pillow recovered from the Sinan seabed.
Qingbai porcelain, also known as shady-blue porcelain, was one of the most favored types of pottery in China during the Song and Yuan Dynasties. Its distinctive pattern of blue shadows against a white background was meant to imitate the hue and texture of Qingbai jade and, its refined aura marks it as a crowning achievement of Asian art.
Qingbai porcelain was first produced at the Jingdezhen kiln in Jiangxi Province at the height of the Northern Song Dynasty. During the war between the Song and Liao Dynasties, a number of northern potters fled south and, settled in Jingdezhen. By combining the merits of southern celadon and northern porcelain they created the world-renowned Qingbai porcelain.
Qingbai porcelain was highly appreciated in China during the Song and Yuan periods. The purity and elegance of the porcelain produced at the Jingdezhen kiln well-suited the Yuan fondness for the color white. It attracted the interest of the court, establishing a pattern of imperial patronage which would extend well into the Qing Dynasty.
Qingbai porcelain was highly appreciated in China during the Song and Yuan dynasty. Eventually its fame spread abroad and large quantities also began to be exported, including the cache discovered on the Sinan seabed.
This exhibition highlights several key aspects of Jingdezhen Qingbai porcelain, all of which are displayed in the completely renovated Sinan Seabed Relics Exhibition Room. The exhibition space is divided into distinct sections which discuss the use of food vessels, the spatial decoration of ceramics, decoration techniques, the origin of the vessels’ names, and the refined sense of aesthetic appreciation associated with ceramics.
The section dedicated to aesthetic appreciation, in particular, deals with several dramatic scenes conveyed through ceramics. Among these, there is a dish with a poem which the great Tang poet, Du Fu, composed about the transience of life intersecting nature as he passed by the grotto at Mt. Maiji. The surface of the dish is lovingly decorated in accordance with the poem, including images of a parrot pecking at a golden peach and sleeping musk deer. Museum guests may also appreciate a thin dish designed like a red leaf detailing the love story between a court lady and a gentleman of the Tang Dynasty. The exhibition also features a Qingbai porcelain pillow decorated to reference a poem by the great Southern Song female poet, Li Qingzhao, in which, laying her head on her jade pillow behind a silk curtain, she laments the loneliness of life in the inner chambers and longs for her husband’s return.
(from the website of the museum)

Seoul

NATIONAL MUSEUMwww-link

The National Museum of Korea (rep. by Kim Hong-nam) presents a special exhibition of Goguryeo's four guardian deities under the tile, "Four Deities, Protectors of Tombs". Held at the Goguryeo Room in the Hall of Archaeology as the fourth event under the theme, the exhibition guides visitors to the world of baekho (white tiger). The exhibition shows various images of baekho collected from Ssangyeongchong (Tomb of Double Columns), Suryeopchong (Tomb of Hunting Scene), the Jinpari Tomb No. 1 and the Great Gangseo Tomb.
Ancient Goguryeo tombs are famous for their mural paintings depicting the guardian deities protecting the four cardinal directions. One of the four guardians, baekho as the guardian deity of the west is conceived from the animal which has been so intimate with Korean people via various mythologies, legends and folk tales. The early images of baekho are characterized by the head of a tiger and the reptilian body comparable to that of the cheongnyong (blue dragon) which is marked by a long neck, waist and tail. The image of the 6th century, however, exhibits a more powerful supernatural figure with exaggerated mouth, protruded eyes, sharp teeth and front legs raised in front of the body in a sinister manner. The new figure is often confused with that of cheongnyong, the guardian deity of the east, but the shape of the head and the wavy stripes covering the body reveals that it is the tiger protecting the west of the universe.
The early images of baekho show no distinctive difference from those of the cheongnyong, but its increased importance in the mural paintings led to the organic harmony in its physical form oozing mystical energy of an imaginary animal.
(from the website of the museum)

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Mokpo

NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUMwww-link

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Singapore

ASIAN CIVILISATIONS MUSEUM (ACM)

 

This exhibition will focus on one of Asia’s fastest growing economies – Vietnam. Visitors will be able to explore Vietnam's unique cultural identity, as seen in the diverse material cultures that developed over the past 2,500 years. This rich legacy is the result of different cultural influences, which were absorbed and adapted. The advanced bronze technology of the Dong Son culture of northern Vietnam some 2,500 years ago, shared similarities with Chinese traditions and was also exported to other parts of Southeast Asia. The Viet culture of the northern Red River region, was heavily influenced by China during the first 1,000 years of the common era, when the region was under Chinese rule. In central Vietnam, the Hindu Buddhist kingdom of Champa left an important legacy of temples and sculpture, inspired by Indian traditions. In the highlands and other remote areas, tribal communities involved in cross-border trade also engaged in the process of cross-cultural adaptation.
Important pieces from national museums around Vietnam, will be exhibited in this exhibition, including archaeological materials, sculpture, textiles and ethnographic objects. Some exhibits will come from private collections and the ACM’s own collection.


(from the website of the museum)

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney www-link

 

The discovery in 1996 of an enormous cache of hundreds of stone Buddhist sculptures dating from as early as the sixth century is considered one of the most significant archaeological finds of the 20th century in China, on a par with the First Emperor's terracotta soldiers. The sculptures were found buried in a pit on the site of the long-destroyed Longxing (Dragon Rise) Temple in Qingzhou, Shandong province in eastern China when construction workers were levelling a sports field. Mostly created during a period straddling the Northern Wei to the Tang dynasties (6th-9th centuries), the sculptures were interred during the 12th century for reasons that are still unclear. The refined and sensual sculptures illustrate the dramatic stylistic changes that occurred during a time when Buddhist art in China reached its apogee.

The lost Buddhas: Chinese Buddhist sculpture from Qingzhou displays 35 of the best preserved and most exquisite sculptures from the Qingzhou discoveries centring on those from the sixth century. A distinctive feature of the works is the painted and gilded detail that remains. Some sculptures in the exhibition are monumental in size, many are stelae with one central Buddha and two attendant bodhisattvas. The largest stele is over three metres high and weighs over a ton. Perhaps the most impressive are free-standing figures of Buddha or bodhisattvas, which are life-size and naturalistic in expression.
(from the website of the museum)

 

 

 

 

 

Exhibitons 2007

Exhibitons 2006

Last modified: 10.01.2009

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