Ming Dynasty cast in a different light

Updated: 2014-09-23 07:14

By Xinhua(China Daily USA)

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A new exhibition shows how globally connected the courts were and dispels popular myths about the era. Xinhua reports in London.

The British Museum opened an exhibition on Thursday that examines the cultural splendor, diplomatic reach and openness of China during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

The exhibition Ming - 50 Years That Changed China has taken three years to assemble, bringing together 280 objects, with one-third of its exhibits on loan from major museums and institutions in China.

Ming Dynasty cast in a different light 

A gilded bronze sculpture of Avalokitesvara, one of the Buddha's many forms that is widely worshipped in China, is seen at the ongoing exhibition Ming - 50 Years That Changed China at the British Museum. Photos by Lefteris Pitarakis / Associated Press

 Ming Dynasty cast in a different light

A metal jar covered with enamel is showcased at the exhibition in the museum.

Exhibition curator Jessica Harrison-Hall tells Xinhua that the show highlights the twin themes of Ming courts and their global connections, and focuses on the Ming era at its beginning.

"We have taken as our timeframe from the Yongle emperor winning the civil war from 1392-1402 and setting up his dynasty in 1403, running right through to the Zhengtong emperor being captured by the Mongols in 1449," she says. "It is a slice of Ming history, and we are looking at how globally connected those courts were at that time."

Through the lens of courts and their global connections a quite different view of Chinese history appears in contrast to the one many Westerners know.

"People tend to think of China as being quite monolithic - but in fact it had a bustling translation bureau in Beijing. It had the treasure ships under the auspices of (Admiral) Zheng He going to Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and even the east coast of Africa. This is something the Chinese audiences are very familiar with, but which Europeans are less familiar with," Harrison-Hall says.

"Part of the purpose of this exhibition is to expel the popular narrative that Europe discovers China and China waits to become a globally engaged society. In fact, that is total rubbish, because China was completely engaged at a much earlier period."

She adds: "What this period shows is that it's not just land trade or sea trade - it is both. China was completely plugged in in the early 15th century."

The Yongle emperor established his 24 living sons in principalities across China, of which the British Museum has chosen three - Shandong, Hubei, and Sichuan - to demonstrate their reach across the country where they also acted as walls protecting China, says Harrison-Hall.

Symbols of China's commercial and diplomatic reach, and its interest in other cultures, are shown through a display of porcelain vessels used at court.

These are in the iconic blue-and-white porcelain style, but they are not characteristic Chinese shapes. Instead the Chinese master craftsmen used the shapes and styles of Middle Eastern items - like ewers, paintbrush boxes and incense burners - to create pieces that take inspiration from Assyria, Egypt and Central Asia and combine them with Chinese culture.

"These inspired the form of the Chinese pieces," says Harrison-Hall, as she points to a Chinese incense burner displayed next to a similar Middle Eastern candlestick to illustrate the connection of cultures.

These fusions came about in two ways - first by commission from the emperor and second to meet the high fashion of the elite at the time.

"There was a fashion for foreign forms inspired by the Zheng He naval expeditions," says Harrison-Hall.

"Lots and lots of these vessels have wave borders, alluding perhaps to these ocean voyages."

The martial prowess of court life - necessary because China had only just thrown off the rule of the Mongols and was often engaged in war with them - is illustrated in a 6-meter-long scroll painting.

Harrison-Hall says these scenes show that sports courtiers kept themselves fit for military service through many activities, including archery, polo and the sports of soccer and golf, which predate the more familiar Western versions of the games by several hundred years.

Visitors will have the unusual opportunity to see a beautiful masterpiece scroll painting by Xia Chang (1399-1470), Spring Rain on the Xiang River, which is unrolled and displayed to its full 11-meter length.

Such exquisite bamboo scrolls are rarely if ever displayed in full. Usually they are rolled out to display one scene at a time. "They would rarely if ever be fully rolled out. To see all 11 meters of it is quite remarkable," says Harrison-Hall.

The exhibition runs through Jan 15.

(China Daily USA 09/23/2014 page9)

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