Taiwan Today

-Introducing the American Exhibition. 1961-1962

On April 16, 1960, a group of Chinese and American scholars sat down in the museum warehouse near Taichung in Central Taiwan, and began looking at a scroll of Chinese painting which was carefully unrolled before them. They discussed its style and merit, studied the condition of the silk painting which had turned a brownish yellow after nearly 1,200 years, and made notes on their observa­tions.

There were thirteen Chinese and three Americans in the group. Among the former were the curators of the National Palace Museum and the National Central Museum, who in the last decade or so had travelled thousands of miles from Peiping to Chungking and from Shanghai to Taichung, looking after the world’s large and greatest collection of 243,639 pieces Chinese art objects. The three latter had just flown in from the United States: Dr. John A. Pope of the Freer Gallery of Washington, Dr. Aschwin Lippe of the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York, and Mr. Tseng Hsien-chi of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Together, they worked quietly and earnestly for four weeks. Then it was announced that 253 pieces of painting, calligraphy, tapestry and embroidery, bronze, jade, porcelain, enamel, carved lacquer and miscellaneous carvings had been chosen for exhibition in the United States in 1961-1962.

The work of these experts on Chinese art followed an agreement initiated in Washington on February 12 between the Joint Board of Directors of the National Palace and Central Museums and five American museums; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C., the Metropol­itan Museum of Art, New York, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, and the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco. It had come after original suggestion and almost ten years of advocacy by lover of Chinese art on both sides of the Pacific.

The agreement was formally approved by the Joint Board of Directors of the National Palace and Central Museums. Later the three American experts flew in and started active preparations for the first exhibit of Chinese art of such scope and magnitude on the American continent. While it may take the average viewer only a few hours to go through the exhibit of 253 pieces, these sinologues spent a month and were still saying that they did not have enough time for the job.

In a sense this was true. What lay before them was the concentrated wealth of China’s art heritage, accumulated not by a single person in a lifetime, but by the emperors of the Ming and Ching dynasties over a period of more than 400 years. They recalled the Chinese art exhibition of 1935-36 in London, which attracted over 400,000 spectators and was one of the im­portant art events before World War II. They realized that counting the London exhibition and a small-scale exhibition in Moscow held in 1940, this would be the third time in history that the priceless collections of the best of Chinese art were shown outside of the country. The success or failure of the exhibition therefore would depend largely upon their choice.

Both sides approached the task seriously. The Government of the Republic of China specially set up, under the Ex­ecutive Yuan, an Executive Committee for the Chinese Art Exhibition in the United States, headed by Vice Premier Wang Yun-wu, Dr. Wang Shih-chieh and Dr. Mei Yi-chi. The Executive Committee named a panel of experts who prepared a list of possible items for the American exhibition. The American museums sent three representatives to Taiwan for the selection. They too were armed with a draft list of art objects which would be of interest to the American viewer.

The two lists were compared, and all the items brought before the Chinese and American scholars for scrutiny. Some pieces, which were in bad condition and could not withstand damage from long exposure and handling, were crossed off first. A long process of elimination by ballot then followed. In several instances, half a dozen ballots had to be taken to reach a decision. The Chinese experts argued in vain for the inclusion of “en­graved seals” and the calligrapher’s tools. The American representatives found their hope of exhibiting a portion of the Anyang bronze and stone pieces in the custody of the Academia Sinica dashed. In general, however, the selection of articles for the American exhibition proceeded harmo­niously. The joint panel of experts agreed to avoid duplication of the London exhibition as much as possible except those of extraordinary merit, the exclusion of which would mar the total effect of the undertaking. They also tried to avoid duplication in those categories of which a fair collection exists already in American museums, such as bronzes, porcelains and jades.

The selected items were photographed and catalogued, and packed in specially made trunks. The dimensions of every piece were carefully measured, all notes and seals recorded, and a written description made. In January this year, a special train with armed guards carried the treasures northward from Taichung, where the treasures had reposed for the last 12 years. A preview was held at the Pro­vincial Museum in Taipei from February 2 to 8 (a second public display will be held in Taipei after the return of the American exhibition). On February 14, carefully loaded, they were on an American navy vessel under the watchful eyes of accompanying Chinese personnel, and started on the journey across the Pacific. Safe arrival has already been announced.

In May, the Chinese Art Exhibition will open at Washington’s National Gal­lery of Art, with President and Madame Chiang Kai-shek and President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy as patrons. In 185 years of friendly relations between the Chinese and American peoples, this will be the first significant art and cultural exchange undertaken on a national level.

Painting

For the Chinese, painting is the greatest form of artistic expression. Judged by any standard, the 112 paintings selected for the American exhibition represent the best of China’s national collection. While the exhibit could not possibly include all the masterpieces from over 30,000 scrolls in the possession of the National Palace Museum and the National Central Museum, the paintings selected nevertheless present a kind of visual history of Chinese painting from the Tang dynasty to early Ching. The development of the three types of painting—landscape, figures and life—can be traced clearly. All the major schools of art with their masters are there. In selectivity and comprehensiveness, these pieces form the best of Chinese painting ever shown anywhere outside China, easily overshadowing the London exhibition of 1935, not in number, but in quality.

Chinese literature recorded the art of painting at least several centuries before Christ, chiefly in the form of portraiture. While no tangible evidence exists today, there are the decorative patterns on pottery and lacquer spanning the 30 centuries before Christianity. The Yang-Shao painted pottery clearly preceded the ad­vent of the written word, while a number of painted lacquerware specimens exca­vated in Hunan province in the late 1930’s were dated in the Warring States period (403-221 B.C.), at the end of which painting probably matured in China.

Figure Painting dominated the period from Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 219) to Tang dynasty (A. D. 618-906). Legend has it that during the reign of Emperor Wen Ti of Han (179-157 B.C.), a court painter named Mao Yen-shou was so good at portraying the beauties of the imperial harem that the maidens would bribe him to paint them in order to be noticed by the emperor. One who did not have the money for him was sent as a gift to the invading Mongolian chieftain. She was Wang Chao-chun, one of the four greatest beauties in Chinese history. The emperor was so incensed when he discovered the mistake, that he ordered Mao beheaded. Whether the story is true or not, the style and subject matter of Han paintings could be seen from the incised stone friezes of that period in Shantung province. A number from the Han and later dynasties were also known to have survived.

But the Chin and Han dynasties, in another sense, saw the beginning of real Chinese painting with the invention of the brush-pen and paper. Had the ancient Chinese developed their writing with some other tool than the brush fashioned from goat hair, Chinese art history would have to be rewritten. But as it was, painting and calligraphy grew up hand-in­-hand in China, supplementing each other and setting the Course of their Own development, to the extent that painting has always been considered an art prac­ticed by the literati rather than the artisan, with vitality and poetic expres­sion as its major criteria.

The basis of Chinese painting is brush work, the mastery in manipulating the brush and modulating its stroke. All the principles of calligraphy are applicable to painting and many types of strokes have been evolved. While pigments of color have been in use since prehistoric times, the favorite medium of the Chinese painter is ink, which is capable of an immense range and an extraordinary beauty of tone. The development of waterink as a transparent medium is a unique contribution of Chinese painting to the world. Murals, associated with Taoist and Buddhist art, were in vogue from Han to Tang dynasties, after which they gave way almost completely to the scroll, which can be either horizontal or vertical. In fact, the work of the Chi­nese artist is not intended to be displayed continuously in the home or in a public place. The scroll is meant to be progres­sively unrolled bit by bit, so that the viewer feels as if he is travelling through the country depicted.

Most of the early paintings were done on fine silk, which yielded later to a kind of absorbent paper that made Hsuan­cheng, in Anhwei province, famous. Either material permits no correction. The artist closely observes and stores his impressions in his memory. He conceives his design before starting his first brush strokes, and when he completes the mental image of the picture, he transfers it swiftly and surely to the silk or paper. A painting is completed in a matter of minutes or hours, never in weeks or months. The communication, through the sensitive and powerful strokes of the brush, of something personal and unique, must figure largely in the appreciation of the spectator:

The Chinese artist relies on suggestion more than any thing else. No other art has understood, like the Chinese, how to make empty space a potent factor in the design. The sky is hardly visible if ever painted, and hills are often broken by cloud or mist. To some Westerners Chinese painting at first sight seems lacking in perspective. But to the Chinese, a painting should be seen with the mind or the inner eye. Landscape painters think of their viewers as standing at a height and looking down on the scenery, with magnified details at the central point of interest. A sense of distance is created by the use of colors and by the judicious placement of cloud or mist as empty space.

But the essential difference between Chinese painting and that of the West is the subject matter. While figure painting dominated the early stage of the develop­ment, landscape appeared in China 1,500 years earlier than in Europe, and has remained the favorite theme ever since. This is because Chinese artists have been primarily concerned not with man and his work but with Nature. Man does not play the central and heroic part that he plays in the art of Greece and Rome. In fact, the nude human form has never had any place in Chinese painting. On the contrary, it is nature—animals, birds, plants and above all, landscape—that counts. The greatest achievement of any Chinese painter is to identify himself with nature and to blend with it into one. The aim is to evocate a mood or atmosphere, which the Chinese call chi yun, similar to that expressed in a poem. The painter is at the same time a calligrapher and a poet as most indeed were.

The earliest piece of painting select­ed for the American exhibition is Foreign Envoy Arriving With Tribute by Yen Li-pen (born A. D. 600). Himself one of Em­peror Kao-tsung’s prime ministers, Yen was better known for his figure painting than his political or architectural achievements. This work reflects more than anything else the influence of the great Tang empire, the suzerainty of which extended as far as the Caspian Sea. Envoys and tribute-bearers were constantly coming and going, and there was a great interest in foreign ways, dress and customs, as shown in Yen’s work.

Han Kan, who lived about a century after Yen, was the greatest painter of horses in Chinese history. His Two Horses and A Groom shows a Tartar groom herding two horses, one black and one white. Famous for his reply to Emperor Ming Huang that “All the horses in Your Majesty’s stable are my masters,” Han was the hero of other stories which glorified his paintings. It was said that one day a veterinarian was asked to see what he could do with a lame horse. He found a beautiful colt that was different from any horse he had ever seen before, and jokingly remark­ed to the owner that it could only “come straight from Han Kan’s painting.” The next day he saw Han and told him of the incident, describing the steed at great length. Han was equally surprised because the description fitted every detail of a painting he had done at home. He rushed back to examine the scroll again, and to his own consternation found a black dot of ink which he accidentally left on the leg corresponding to that of the sick horse.

Two other authentic Tang paintings by Hu Huai, who came from the Khitan Tartars, also deal with horses and their riders. His Hunters Starting on a Trip and Hunters Homeward Bound are probably two of a series of studies, throwing interesting light on the customs of the day.

Landscape used to serve only as background in figure painting before Tang, but naturalists of that dynasty pushed it to the fore. It was during this period that the two schools of landscape painting were established. The two Li Ssu-hsun and his son Li Chao-tao, used metallic blue and green with gold-outline in painting mountains, and were considered the forerunners of the Northern School. Wang Wei, poet and painter, developed the waterink technique which is more subjective and more impression­istic in approach, and thus the Southern School was born. While none of their original works exist, the Emperor Ming Huang’s Flight to Szechuan attributed to an anonymous Tang artist gave an inkling of the style of the Northern School, while Lu Hung’s Ten Scenes of a Thatched Hall foretold the rise of the Southern School in subsequent dynasties.

The turbulent Five Dynasties lasted only half a century, but the art of painting flourished during this time under the royal patronage of the rulers of Southern Tang dynasty, who were themselves accomplished poets. Leading land­scape artists of this period were Tung Yuan, Kuan Tung, Chu Jan and Chao Kan, all of them represented in the American exhibition. Their work began to set the style of Chinese landscape painting, with its passion for romantic solitudes, for soaring peaks and plunging torrents, as a means of escape from the vulgar world.

However, figure painting was not discarded at all, as evidenced by Su Wu and Li Ling at Their Painting by Chou Wen-chu and Palace Musicians by an unknown artist. The latter is of interest not only to artists, but also to students of ancient Chinese music, costumes and furniture.

A third theme after figures and land­scapes gradually gained popularity in the Five Dynasties: life, which includes animals, birds and plants. Pheasant and Thorny Shrubs by Huang Chu-tsai, and Bleating Deer Among Red Maples and Herd of Deer in an Autumnal Grove by an unknown painter were examples of this new topic. The latter two were probably parts of one larger piece, and they stood out among early Chinese paintings for complete lack of white space in their composition. All their background was painted full, which was very rare among Chinese paintings of all time. The anonymous artist could be a foreigner, influenced by foreign paint­ings of his day.

The Sung dynasty was the golden age of Chinese painting, and 52 of the selections, almost one half of the total, belong to that period. In the Northern Sung, Fan Kuan (Travelers on a Mountain Path) and Kuo Hsi (Early Spring) were recognized masters in landscape. Emperor Hui-tsung was himself a painter and a great collector. In his reign, the Academy of Painting attracted many top artists to the court, from whom the monarch benefited. He once said: “For my spare time, I have no hobby other than painting.” His Autumn Hills and Rivulet and A Meeting of men of Letters were representative of his landscape and figure work, although he was particularly fond of painting birds.

Another famous father and son team in Chinese art history was Mi Fei and Mi Yu-jen, who innovated the unique style of painting mountains and trees by tiny dots. The elder Mi is represented by Mountains and Pines in Spring and the younger Mi by Inspiration From Clouds and Hills.

The genius of Southern Sung dynasty is seen in Li Tang, a member of Hui­tsung’s Academy of Painting who fled to Hangchow after the emperor was captured by the invading Chin forces, and in his pupils Hsia Kuei and Ma Yuan. Their work showed the difference in landscape style between Northern and South­ern Sung.

Fifteen figure paintings were selected from the Sung dynasty. Notable among those were General Kuo Tsu-i Meeting the Uigurs by Li Kung-lin, Cowherds Fleeing a Storm by Li Ti, and Ink Portrait of an Immortal by Liang Kai. An extraordinary religious painting of the period is Buddhist Images by Chang Shen-wen, who was from the Kingdom of Ta Li, now the province of Yunnan bordering Burma, Thailand and Vietnam.

The Mongol emperors of Yuan dynas­ty, following the tradition of a people who won their empire on horseback, looked down upon scholars who were thus driven to use their talent in drama and painting. The four landscape masters of the era were Huang Kung-wang, Wang Meng, Ni Tsan and Wu Chen. They had in common a “dry” technique in wielding the brush. Ni was especially famous for his reticent and delicate style which leaves much to suggestion. Chao Meng-fu, though a scion of the royal house of Sung, held official posts at the Yuan court and thus incurred the censure of historians. His paintings were rich and beautiful. The Ming critic Tung Chi-chang once said, “Chao Meng-fu had the grace of the Tang artists without their meticulosity, and the strength of the Sung masters without their coarseness.”

Wang Cheng-peng, another Yuan artist, specialised in architectural paint­ing, combining perspective with detail. His Regatta on the Dragon Lake gave view­ers a glance of the resplendent court life, so vividly described by Marco Polo.

As in ceramics and other arts, the Ming and Ching dynasties saw mere improve­ment in the techniques of painting, char­acterized at the same time by a gradual fading out of the originality and the in­terior glow which marked the earlier dy­nasties. Conservatism reigned supreme. It was also during the Ming dynasty that the firm tradition of wen-jen-hua, meaning “learned man’s painting” won its battle against the professional painters of the revived Academy of Painting at the Ming court.

Among the “learned” painters of Ming were Shen Chou, Tang Ying, Wen Cheng-ming and Tung Chi-chang. Classed as professionals were Chiu Ying and Tai Chin. In late Ming and early Ching, the four Wang’s were celebrated masters:

Wang Shih-min, Wang Chien, Wang Hui and Wang Yuan-chi. The most famous flower painter of China’s last imperial dynasty, Yuan Shou-ping, was represented by a 12-leaf album which he did in cooperation with Wang Hui:

Calligraphy

Chinese art in a narrow sense falls into two categories: the calligraphic arts and the craft arts. Calligraphic arts, a term used here for the first time, covers calligraphy, painting and “seal engraving.” They are regarded as branches of the same art, since expertness in the use of the brush-pen is basic to all. The Chinese used to say shu hua tung yuan, meaning that calligraphy and painting come from the same origin or source. Indeed, some maintain that the former is a purer form of art since the beauty of the strokes is not obscured or modified by the necessity of portraying objects.

An unique branch of art deriving from the ideographic language, calligraphy symbolically represents China’s culture. The earliest writings on tortoise shells and oracle bones, excavated at Anyang, Honan province at the turn of the century and dated from the later Shang or Yin dynasty (1398-1111 B. C.), are not only subject of archeological study but also samples for calligraphic students who see in them the fundamental structure of the Chinese characters.

Since the invention of the brush-pen in Chin or Han dynasty, calligraphy has flourished in China where the written character has always been revered. As an art it has been more honored than the other branches. Works of noted calligra­phers have been treasured as carefully as are great paintings. They have been copied and copied again, and reproduced by block printing or by stone rubbing. Inscriptions were and are to be found everywhere in China—in palaces and tem­ples, government offices and private gardens, as shop signs or decorations, on ceremonial arches or memorial tablets. Single scrolls or couplets, the latter hung pairs with inscriptions which match each other, adorn the wall of every home. They are customary gifts and may be purchased or written by the donor. The famous, or the powerful, honor their friends by presenting the latter with calligraphic work executed by, or attributed to, their own hands.

Great calligraphers have occupied a place as important as any other in Chinese history. Perhaps the greatest of all was Wang Hsi-chih (A. D. 321-379) of Tsin dynasty, whose Ting Wu Lan Ting (Orchard Pavillion of Lan Ting) cannot be surpassed in grace and elegance. Critics described his work as lung fei feng wu (flying as dragon and dancing as phoenix), and tieh hua yin kou (iron lines and silver hooks). However, none of his original calligraphy exists today except copies or stone rubbings.

Wang was the master of hsing shu, the “flowing” style of writing. While there are probably ten styles of calligraphy including the earliest forms, four are most frequently seen. They are:

(1) Cheng (proper) or kai (model or pattern)—the “model” style.
(2) Tsao (grass)—the “manuscript” style
(3) Li (office)—the “official” style
(4) Chuan (seal)—the “seal” style

The flowing style comes halfway between the model style and the manuscript style, and the three of them make up those currently in use. Chronologically, however, the seal style was the earliest of the four with two variations, the “major” and the “minor.” The former began with the Chou dynasty (1122-256 B. C.), while the latter was prescribed by Emperor Shih-huang of Chin dynasty (255-207 B. C.). The official style was innovated during Chin dynasty and came into vogue in Han dynasty (B. C. 205-A. D. 220). A little later, some impatient calligraphers broke with tradition, and the manuscript style was born. The model style was evolved in later Han dynasty. A variation of it came into being with the invention of movable type printing in Sung dynasty (A. D. 960-1278), thus the principal group of type face today is called Sung style.

Ten pieces of calligraphy are included in the art objects selected for the American exhibition. The earliest of these is a hand scroll by Emperor Ming Huang of Tang dynasty (reign: A. D. 713-741), one of the great patrons of art and culture in Chinese history, whose immor­tality was due in part to his love for Yang Kuei Fei, subject of poet Pai Chu-I’s Song of the Everlasting Sorrow. The other Tang piece, Autobiography by Monk Huai-su (A. D. 725-785), would appear to western spectators as some kind of Chinese in short hand. The development of the manuscript style owed much to this Buddhist monk born of a poor family. Incidentally, this style is particularly admired by the Japanese who, along with the Koreans and the Vietnamese, absorbed all phases of Chinese culture, including the art of calligraphy.

Five Sung calligraphers are repre­sented in the exhibition. All but the last of the four leading brush artists of the day, “Su, Huang, Mi, Tsai,” are there. Su Shih or Su Tung-po (A. D. 1036-1101), was a great genius with brilliant achievements in poetry and prose, calligraphy and painting. A native of Meishan, Szechuan province, he was known, along with his father and his younger brother, to the literary world as the “three Su’s.” Even his younger sister had a name as a writer. Among Su Shih’s literary works, the most famous was his prose-poem, The Red Cliff, seen in the collection in the author’s own hand-writing Almost every Chinese school boy can recite this work depicting Su’s enjoyment of a moonlight boating in the Yangtze River by the Red Cliff, which happened to be an ancient battleground.

Huang Ting-chien (A. D. 1045-1105), a contemporary of Su, was as great a poet and calligrapher as his friend. The Pine Wind Tower appeared in his collection of poems. Mi Fei (A. D. 1051-1107), on the other hand, was more famous for his creation of the style of “landscape of the Master Mi,” which may be described as Chinese pointillism of the 11th century. The main features of this style of painting are misty trees and clouded mountains, all made up of horizontal dots. He was also one of the pioneer artists working mostly on paper instead of silk. In calligraphy, he ranked third among the four great masters of the Sung dynasty, not because his work was any inferior but because he was younger than either Su or Huang.

The two remaining Sung calligraphers selected were both emperors. Hui Tsung, who reigned between A. D. 1100 and 1125, was captured when the imperial capital of Kaifeng fell before the invading Chin forces. He had the distinction of being the only monarch in Chinese history who invented his own style of writing, shou chin shu, which is lean, forceful yet elegant. He later died in captivity. Kao Tsung, whose reign of A. D. 1127-1162 began the Southern Sung dynasty with capital at Hangchow, wrote this imperial ordinance to Yueh Fei (A. D. 1103-1141), one of China’s greatest generals who was then guarding the Yangtze River against Chin aggression.

The Yuan dynasty is represented by Chao Meng-fu (A. D. 1254-1322), renowned painter and calligrapher whose Autumn Tinted Mountains is also included in the exhibition. His calligraphic sample is a copy of Su Shih’s The Red Cliff, done in a freer and equally graceful style.

All the four key styles of Chinese calligraphy can be seen in Wen Cheng­-ming’s (A. D. 1470-1559) Thousand Character Essay. The famous Ming dynasty painter and calligrapher copied this popular theme in four leaves, using one style of writing in each. The original essay was attributed to Chou Hsing-ssu of Liang dynasty (A. D. 502-557), who arranged the 1,000 characters four in a line in complete, rhymed sentences without repeating a single one of them. Wen also had two paintings in the American ex­hibition. The other Ming calligrapher is Tung Chi-chang, represented by a huge wall scroll with a quotation from Tung Shu by Chou Tun-i of Sung dynasty.

Tapestry & Embroidery

The Chinese people have used silk for several thousand years. It is quite natural that they have developed marked skill in the manufacture of silk tapestry and embroidery. They have interwoven silk with gold threads and incorporated beautiful designs of flowers, birds, elaborate geometrical patterns, and even landscapes and scenes from life or from myth­ology and religion into their textiles. Throughout the centuries, many attractive garments have been made. Official robes for state occasions were especially ornate, and a formal court gathering was usually resplendent in dress. In addition, these lovely materials also serve for screens, hangings, portraits, congratulatory inscriptions and other purposes.

The history of silk is probably as old as that of China itself. According to the legends, the discovery of the silkworm and the invention of silk-weaving were attributed to Queen Si-ling or Lei-tsu (the Ancestress of Silk), one of the wives of Huang-ti or the Yellow Emperor (2697­-2598 B.C.), the first ruler of the Chinese people.

In silk-weaving, tapestry and em­broidery are probably the two main branches that survive the vicissitudes’ of time. Tapestry was originally known as ke-ssu, literally latitude-weaving. Tapestry is largely done by shuttle-weaving, some­times with embroidery, sometimes with painting and sometimes with both. Embroidery, on the other hand, is almost exclusively needlework.

Neither tapestry nor embroidery came of age until the Sung dynasty. The design and craftsmanship before Sung were comparatively simple, while those of Sung were mature and elaborate. It was enriched by the high attainment in painting of that period. The center of tapestry in Sung was Tingchow, Hopei province. The leading Sung artists were Chu Keh-jo and Shen Tsu-fan. (Two out of the three tapestry pieces to displayed in the American exhibition, Peach Blossom and Two Birds and Landscape, were done by Shen. The third one, Fairy Hills With Towers and Pavilions was done by an anonymous artist. All were exquisitely done.)

During the Yuan dynasty, tapestry items were chiefly made for religious purposes, such as robes and ornaments for Lamas, Buddhist images, scriptures, flags, canopies, etc. Some of these can still be found in the Lama temples of Mongolia and Tibet.

The craft of tapestry was at a low ebb during the Ming dynasty. Ming authorities, believing that it was too expensive to weave tapestries, ordered the industry to be suspended.

The reigns of Kang-hsi and Chien-lung of Ching dynasty, saw the revival of this art. But its style was no longer the same. The taste of the Manchu emperors was in general baroque. As a result, tapestry lost the elegance and simplicity of the Sung works.

Embroidery was traditionally the handicraft of unmarried girls. But no remarkable embroidery pieces survived from dynasties before Sung. The characteristics of Sung embroidery are delicate needlework, subtle colors and good taste. Like tapestry, it was directly inspired by painting.

The short-lived Yuan dynasty did not contribute to embroidery.

The most distinguished embroidery in Ming dynasty was that of Ku Ming-shih’s family of Shanghai. It was widely known as “the Ku embroidery”. The family was one renowned for art and scholarship, calligraphy and painting. All women of the household knew how to embroider. Han Hsi-meng, Ku’s daughter-in-law, whose works were known as “Maiden Han’s embroidery”, and Chang Lai’s wife, Ku’s grand-daughter, were the most tal­ented among them. With these two ladies, the Ku embroidery became nationally famous. They taught pupils. During the reigns of Chien-lung and Chia-ching, with the Ku family taking the lead, China enjoyed a revival of embroidery. The most flourishing embroidery centers at that time were Suchow, Nanking, Peking, Changsha, Canton and Chengtu.

The single embroidery piece chosen for the exhibition, “White Eagle,” was done by an anonymous artist of Sung. It is included to show how delicate and mature the ancient Chinese embroidery was.

Bronze

Top are some shapes and decoration motifs of bronze food vessels of the early dynasties, with ting, either the three-legged or four-legged variety, predominating. Bottom are wine vessels.

The Age of Bronze followed closely recorded history in China. While the use of bronze was common in every early civilization of the world, nowhere else did it take on such significance as a means of artistic expression and also as the symbol of rites through its use as sacrificial vessels.

The Chinese must have started making bronze utensils at a very early stage, though the earliest piece that could be established by its inscription was placed by scholars in the 14th century B. C. By then the elaborate design and the great variety of shapes and uses indicated that bronze had· already come of age in the Middle Kingdom.

In the Shang and Chou dynasties, when bronze was the metal most commonly in use, it naturally loomed large as an art material. Many thousands of pieces sur­vived. Classified according to their uses or functions, there were cooking and food vessels, wine vessels, musical instruments, arms or weapons, and other objects. Each could be made for one of three occasions: ritual, funeral or daily use.

The most important of these were of course the ones for sacrificial purposes. The ting, usually translated as tripod though it could have four legs instead of three, was the symbol of authority in ancient China. Only a virtuous ’king could own such a vessel, and it was guarded jealously against aspirants to the throne. Even today, the phrase wen ting, to ask for the sacrificial tripod, means challenging the authority or usurping the empire in Chinese.

The people of China regarded li (rites) as the most important part of life, for it embodied the social order as well as moral values. Li ranked first among the six know ledges, and Li Chi (The Book of Rites) was the first of the Five Classics compiled by Confucius. Bronze vessels, since they served as sacrificial vessels, were revered from the very beginning. Even in Han dynasty, the exhumation by chance of an antique bronze vessel was considered a notable event. One emperor changed his nien hao, the style by which the years of his reign were numbered, and another declared a general amnesty simply because an ancient ting was unearthed.

Books on ancient bronzes were written in China as early as the sixth century. In still earlier works on ritual, the names and dimensions of many bronze vessels were carefully noted. The bronzes are prized by the Chinese not only for their age and their beauty but also for the inscriptions, composed and executed by the best scholars of their time.

Thus the Mao-kung ting, the tripod of the Duke of Mao, has been considered the most valuable bronze vessel extant since its excavation in Chishan hsien, Shensi province, sometime between 1851 and 1861. This 20-inch high, 77 lb. funeral piece is not noted for any extraordinary shape or design, but for its 500-word inscription inside the belly, the longest among all surviving bronze objects.

The Duke of Mao was the prime minister of Hsuan-wang (827-782 B.C.) of the Western Chou dynasty. He was loyal and faithful to the sovereign, who gave him ceremonial vessels for use in wars and sacrificial rites. In order to express his gratitude, the Duke caused the tripod to be made as a monument of the emperor’s grace and for the remembrance of his descendants.

Only five bronze pieces were included in the items selected for exhibition in the United States. However, three of them were probably worth the value of all the remaining 4,509 bronze pieces in Tai­wan, and none had been exhibited outside of China before. In addition to Mao-kung ting, they were San pan, the shallow basin of San kingdom, and Tsung Chou chung, the bell of the court of Chou.

During the reign of Emperor Li-wang (878-828 B.C.), in the area close to the capital of the Chou empire, there were two neighboring kingdoms, San and Tsi. The stronger Tsi invaded San and occupied her cities. Somehow, for it was not known whether due to intervention of the emperor or some other reason, Tsi was obliged to compensate San with lands. The 357-word inscription in the basin was written by Chung Nung, the imperial historian who witnessed the turning over of the lands in accordance with an agreement between the two kingdoms. The San pan, as it came to be known, was believed buried not long after 827 B. C. and did not see daylight again until about A. D. 1770.

The bell of Chou also has an inscription totalling 122 words, describing the circumstances under which it was made. Like the other bronze pieces, it was selected for its vigorous, massive, dignified and graceful lines which reveal the skill and taste of the time.

Jade

Jade and bronze are the two items that first attracted the attention of archeolo­gists. Academically, greater emphasis is laid on bronze because archeologists, find that the inscriptions on various bronze objects are very helpful to their research. Yet, for people in general, jade is much more loved and respected.

The Chinese value jade above all precious stones. They compare all merits of a gentleman to those of jade; “Thinking of a gentleman, we remember his quality which is like that of jade,” the Book of Poetry thus decreed.

Not only the qualities but also the colors are emphasized in playing up jade as versatile symbolism. Heaven is worshipped with green jade, earth with yellow, east with blue, south with red, west with white and north with black.

In China, jade has been used for several purposes. Many of the most important vessels of a regime were made of jade, such as ritual or political jades. Digni­taries wore jade as part of their dress and decoration. Jade was used as funeral or mortuary pieces. Chinese people believed that the newly deceased was to be immortal if all the apertures of his body were closed with either jade, gold or other precious stones, and his upper and lower garments were decorated with loose pearls and jade garments.

Credential tokens or symbols of auth­ority were also made of jade of various colors representing different ranks and classes. Jade tallies and seals were en­graved. Jade hairpins, earrings, bracelets, necklaces, belthooks and rings were common in everyday life.

Besides, arms and weapons, sticks and staffs, musical instruments and stationery and seals were inlaid ’with jade.

The ten jade pieces for the US exhibition were selected chiefly for their art­istic beauty. The first one selected is Yu Pi Hsieh (see cover) of the Han dynasty. Pi Hsieh (to ward off evils) and Tien Lu (to bring about blessings of the gods) are two legendary animals of the old. Before the Han dynasty, the image of these animals were engraved on bronze and placed in front of the main entrance of a hall. After the East Han dynasty, they were engraved on stone and put in front of a grave. Yu Pi Hsieh is therefore a beauti­fully carved jade piece for warding off evils.

The jade lotus-leaf-shaped, writing­ brush washer of the Han dynasty and the white jade sea-turtle-shaped flower recep­tacle of the Sung dynasty best represent the skill of Chinese jade-carving. The former looks like a lotus leaf and the latter is a piece of white jade carved into the shape of a carp, trying to “jump across the dragon gate”. Legend has it that when a carp jumps across “the dragon gate,” it becomes a dragon. From this jade piece, one can see that feelers have grown from the carp’s mouth, a sign of transformation from carp into dragon.

The white jade goblet and the white jade dragon-and-phoenix writing-brush washer, both of Sung, are also exquisitely carved. The former has a wooden base on which two seals were engraved. The seals show that this art object was later owned by Hsiang Yuan-pien, a great con­noisseur and Wen Cheng-ming, a noted calligrapher, both of the Ming dynasty. The latter has one seal attached to it. The seal, bearing the Chinese characters of “Hsuan Ho”, suggests that it is a Sung jade.

The other five objects all belong to the Ching dynasty. The white jade rock­-pigeon staff head is patterned after the design of an ancient bronze. It is said that during the Chou dynasty, officials used to present rock-pigeons to the aged as a token of respect. During the Han dynasty, the rock-pigeon staff head was used as a gift to the aged. The red cliff seal on Changhua precious stone is only a little over three inches high. Yet aside from the carved red cliff, a skiff with human figures on it and a 58-word ode are carved on the stone. The yellow jade dragon-and-phoenix twin wine-vessels (see cover) are carved out of one single jade piece. The green jade belt-hook has a dragon design. And the white jade four-columned square box is also patterned after the shape of an ancient bronze.

Porcelain

The world knows that porcelain is syn­onymous with China. While the earl­iest extant pottery in China belonged to the Yang-shao period, which could not be later than 3000 B.C., true porcelain was not developed until sometime between Han and Tang dynasties. The height of the art and craft of porcelain was reached in Sung dynasty (A. D. 960-1279), whose best products were, in the opinion of some experts, never excelled anywhere else in the world.

Many factors made China the world’s leader in the art of porcelain-making. For one thing, China is also the motherland of tea, and no Chinese likes tea made in a metal pot. Porcelain and tea have glo­rified each other for many centuries. The presence of kaolinic earth in large quan­tities in Kiangsi and other provinces supplied the raw material needed. Indeed, it was not until the 18th century when a French Jesuit missionary, Pere d’Entrecolles, sent examples of the so-called china­ clay and china-stone to Europe, that the West first learned the secret of porcelain. Before that, Chinese porcelain had dom­inated the world market since Tang dynasty, for fragments of Tang wares were discovered in Western Asia along the famous silk route. No upper class family in Europe before the 19th century was complete without some pieces of im­ported china, and “Old Nanking” and famille rose were household names.

Porcelain art matured in the Tang dynasty (A.D. 618-906) at a time when the Chinese empire reached its widest expansion. China was then without doubt the greatest and most civilized power in the world. It was an age of splendor for all the arts, and the potter’s art was in no way behind the rest. Lead glazes were in vogue among the potters. Marked development was also registered in the harder glazes whose firing requires higher temperatures. Much more color was employed, as the famous Tang san tsai (the three-colored enamel of the Tang dynasty). The san tsai horses as well as other mortuary figures are now the symbols of the Tang empire represented in international collections.

The two main streams of porcelain were also begun in Tang: the white or northern ware and the green or southern ware. In the half century of turmoil which intervened between the Tang and Sung dynasties, known in history as the period of the Five Dynasties (A. D. 907-959), Chi­nese literature recorded the manufacture of two interesting wares. One was the celebrated Chai ware which were reputedly “thin as paper, resonant as a musical stone and blue as the sky seen between the clouds after rain.” It was made for a few years only near Kaifeng, Honan province. The other was of a “secret color” turned out in Chekiang for the princely house of Chien.

The Sung porcelain are the classic wares of China. Collectors have treasured them with loving care, so that not a few have survived above ground. They are outstanding in their purity of color, simplicity and subtlety of form, and delicacy in texture and design. Volume after volume have been published on Sung wares, discussing the characteristics of one particular kiln or another. Many state-directed and private potteries existed during the Sung dynasty. Each important center of manufacture produced a distinct type, although not all the differences are discernible to the layman. The five big centers of the Sung porcelain industry were: Ju, Ting, Kuan, Ko and Chun kilns. Minor ones of the same period included Lung-chuan, Chi-chou, Chien, Kuang and Tzu­ chou (see list of representative kilns).

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Representative Kilns

The history of Chinese porcelain centered around individual yao or kilns. In order not to be confusing, the representative kilns are listed as follows:

The Six dynasties (A. D. 220-588)—

Tsin dynasty (A. D. 265-419): the Tung-ou Kiln

Northern Wei dynasty (A. D. 386-534):
the Kuan-chung Kiln
the Lo-ching Kiln
the Chang-nan Kiln (Ching-teh Chen)

Tang dynasty (A. D. 618-906): the Hsing Kiln

The Five dynasties (A. D. 907-959):
the Chai Kiln
the Yueh Kiln (pi se: secret color)

Sung dynasty (A. D. 960-1279)—

Northern Period (A. D. 960-1126):
the Ting Kiln
the Chun Kiln
the Ju Kiln
the Kuan (Imperial) Kiln
the Lung-chuan Kiln
the Ko Kiln (elder of Chang brothers)
the Ti Kiln (younger of Chang brothers)
the Ching-teh-chen Kiln
the Tzu-chou Kiln

Southern Period (A. D. 1127-1279):
the Hsin Kuan (New Imperial) Kiln
the Chi-chou Kiln

In the Ming and Ching dynasties, the imperial kilns were named after the reigns of the emperors:

Ming dynasty (A. D. 1368-1643):
the Hung-wu Kiln (A. D. 1368-1398)
the Yung-lo Kiln (A. D. 1403-1424)
the Hsuan-teh Kiln (A. D. 1426-1435)
the Cheng-hua Kiln (A. D. 1465-1487)
the Hung-chih Kiln (A. D. 1488-1505)
the Cheng-teh Kiln (A. D. 1506-1521)
the Chia-ching Kiln (A. D. 1522-1566)
the Lung-ching Kiln (A. D. 1567-1572)
the Wan-li Kiln (A. D. 1573-1619)

Ching dynasty (A. D. 1644-1911):
the Kang-hsi Kiln (A. D. 1662-1722)
the Yung-cheng Kiln (A. D. 1723-1732)
the Chien-lung Kiln (A. D. 1736-1795)
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Not all the major kilns are represent­ed in the American exhibition. The American and Chinese specialists who selected the pieces for shipment tried to avoid those wares of which a fair col­lection exist already in museums in the United States. There is nothing from the Ting, Ko and Lung-chuan kilns, and only one lotus-shaped, powder-blue bowl from the Chun kiln, highly admired during the London exhibition of 1935, is included. Ju and Kuan kilns, however, were each represented by five pieces.

The word Ju referred to Ju-chou, near Kaifeng, capital of the Sung dynasty. A number of kilns could have existed in the vicinity, but the best wares were doubtlessly turned out by the imperial pottery, which engaged in production for a brief period at the beginning of the 12th century, and whose products alone were identified as Ju wares. Probably less than 40 Ju pieces are extant today, most of them in the collection of the National Palace Museum.

Genuine Ju wares are of the ying ching type, for they are white in color with a tint of blue or green, thin and translucent and of a delicately soft and melting quality. They are skillfully potted and of elegant shape, and the decorations are carved in low relief, incised with a fine point or pressed out in moulds. The word ching in Chinese connotes both blue and green, and ying means translucent.

The existence of Kuan kiln as such was questioned by experts because the word Kuan, which means imperial, could refer to just any ware made specially for the emperor’s household. However, Chi­nese literature definitely affirmed its op­eration in the neighborhood of Kaifeng for a short time before A.D. 1127. Its original site was not found despite archeological efforts. The five Kuan pieces in­cluded in the American exhibition, it must be admitted, are not of the same style and glaze. After the Sung capital was moved to Hangchow, two Kuan kilns were run at Hsiu-nei-ssu and Chiao-tan-hsia, which were established by excavation. Three pieces in the collection of the Na­tional Central Museum belonged to this group of Southern Sung Kuan ware, the most beautiful of which is a gourd-shaped, ash-blue vase.

Among the kilns not represented in the selection, the Ting ware is noted for its ivory-white color and exquisite design. The Lung-chuan wares are better known to the western world as ce1adon, a porcelain or semi-porcelain of greyish white body with a thick translucent glaze varying from greyish and bluish green to sea-green and grass-green. The fragments of celadon were found in the ruins of ancient cities all over the Near East even in Egypt, Morocco and Zanzibar. The Ko ware gained its name from the elder of two potter brothers, Chang Sheng-i, who lived in Lungchuan of Chekiang province. Later on, it passed into general use denoting wares made from a dark-colored clay with crackled glaze. While the cracks were probably at first accidental, the Sung potters eventually learned how to produce and control them, chiefly by modifying the components of the glaze and by meth­ods of applying it.

The Chun ware was characterized by rich and varied colors brought about by changes wrought by the fire of the kilns in the copper oxide and in the trace of iron which entered into the composition. Its splashing colors—purple, red, blue and grey—departed sharply from the standard Sung porcelain. For the artisans of that great dynasty tended to simplicity but refinement in color and decoration. Often only one color of glaze was used. The shapes of the vessels were graceful or sometimes sturdy without being elaborate. The decorations were usually far from being complex or multi-colored. In this they formed a striking contrast to por­celain of the Ming and Ching dynasties.

The short-lived Yuan dynasty (A. D. 1280-1367) claimed little contribution to the art of ceramics. With the advent of the Ming dynasty, the monochrome wares which was such a trade mark of Sung went gradually out of fashion. All the various centers of porcelain making gave way to one place whose name shined through Chinese history until present day—Ching-teh Chen.

A small town by the Poyang Lake in Kiangsi province, Ching-teh Chen began making pottery as early as the sixth cen­tury. Originally konwn as Chang-nan, it got its present name from the reign of Ching-teh (A. D. 1004-1007) of Emperor Chen-tsung of Sung dynasty. Kaolinic earth derived its name from the hills surrounding this town, which were called Kaolin, meaning high ridges. Also in abundant supply were petuntse (china-stone) and a cobalt-bearing manganese ore which provided the blues in Ming wares. From this inexhaustible supply of raw materials came the white porcelain which, together with silk and tea, made China famous. And as this type of ware lent itself peculiarly well to painted decoration, the vogue for painted porcelain fastly replaced the old Sung taste for monochromes.

The Ming dynasty began with Nan­king as its capital, though it was later moved to Peiping. The first Ming emperor made Ching-teh Chen the location of his imperial kiln, and the number of private potteries multiplied to some 3,000 at the 18th century. Their products found their way via the Yangtze River and China’s vast network of waterways to every part of the country and then abroad.

Monochromes were still made in considerable quantities in both Ming and Ching dynasties. Among the Ming wares selected for the American exhibition, the two Hung-wu pieces are of red under­-glaze, and three others dating to Yung-lo are imitations of the Ting ivory-white. Among the 12 masterpieces representing the Hsuan-teh period, the colors vary from ruby red to sacrificial red to sky-afterrain blue. However, the Ming potters de­lighted in cobalt blue, a color which would withstand the high temperatures needed to melt the porcelain glaze. The remaining samples of Hsuan-teh kiln and all but one of the famed Cheng-hua kiln belong to the blue and white category. The freshness and freedom of the painted design easily distinguished the Ming wares from the elaborate but somewhat stiff style of the Ching products.

The Ching dynasty of the Manchus replaced Ming in 1644. A succession of three vigorous emperors—Kang-hsi, Yung­ cheng and Chien-lung—brought new heights to the ceramic art. Officials were ap­pointed to manage the imperial kilns at Ching-teh Chen, among whom was the famous Tang Ying who left several learned treatises on porcelain. In fine finish and perfect command of material and tech­nique, the Ching ware was unsurpassed. Where it lacked in originality, it made up with complicated design and superb crafts­manship. Many of the painted pieces were done by renowned painters of the day. The 38 pieces selected for the American exhibition include imitations of earlier monochromes but most are enamel colored wares. Some have western designs and were apparently destined for European trade. They round up the selection of 85 items which, if they do not form a representative collection of all important phases of Chinese porcelain history, they at least show the best in imperial kilns of the various dynasties.

Enamel

Enamelware was first introduced into China from the Near East during the late 14th century. It came with the Arabi­ans or Persians and was once called Ceramics from the Land of Gargantuans (Persia). It was also known as Ta Shih Yao, Arabian ware, or Kuei Kuo Yao, ware of the devil’s country.

The Ming Chinese were greatly im­pressed by the Persian blue which was probably imported into China before or during the reign of Emperor Ching-tai of Ming (1450-1456). The Persian blue was so widely applied to vases and other objects during this period that the name of Ching-tai lan (Ching-tai blue) began to replace that of “Persian Ceramics.”

From a technical point of view, Chinese enamels fall into three categories­-overlay, inlay and handpainted enamel.

The overlay enamel is also known as cloisonne in which the outlines of prac­tically every detail of the design are de­fined with wire threads of metal—copper, silver or gold—soldered edgewise to the base. The outlines of the design are so defined as to cover the whole surface with shallow cells sometimes called cloisons. These are then filled with the appropriate color of enamel, ground to a fine powder, moistened and. tightly packed into the cells.

In the inlay enamel or champleve, cloisons are not used; the hollows to be filled with color are carved out of the metal with engraving tools. Otherwise the process is similar to that already de­scribed.

The above two categories are often called Ching-tai lan.

The Chinese handpainted enamels, generally known from the source of their manufacture as Canton enamel, are iden­tical in technique with most painted ena­mels of Europe. Hence they are known as yang tzu, literally “foreign porcelain.” The earliest dated examples of Canton enamel consists of a set of objects inscribed Yung-cheng yu chih (A. D. 1723-1735) made to imperial order. Although imitations have continued to be made, nothing of high quality in this style was produced after the termination of the reign of Chien-lung in A. D. 1795.

Eleven objects of enamelware are to be displayed in the United States. Of these, four were made during the reign of Kang-hsi of the Ching dynasty. All four are handpainted enamelware—three vases and one teapot with handle.

The other seven are Chien-lung ware, also of Ching. Of these, three are overlay enamelware, a covered pot and a set of goblet and saucer; four are handpainted enamel ware: a vase and a set of cup, saucer and pot.

Lacquer Carving

The use of lacquer in China can be traced back to legendary times. Evidences obtained from the unearthed lost city of the modern county of Anyang, Honan province, show that there are remains of lacquer wares of the Shang dynasty. During the Chou dynasty, lacquer served for the decorations of carriages, harness, bows and arrows, etc. and was the subject of official regulations.

During the Period of Warring States, lacquer ware became so popular that it partially replaced bronze as a craft or industry. Buildings were decorated with lauercq and musical instruments were similarly described. The lacquer wares made in this period were exquisite. Examples may be found in the “toilet box” and the “table top” in the collection of the National Central Museum now on Taiwan, the Cranes and Serpents now in the Cleveland Museum of Art in the United States and the wine vase now in the Hakkaku Art Museum in Japan. During the Han dynasty, further devel­opment took place and lacquer wares were exported to various neighboring lands.

The craft of lacquer-carving is said to have begun with the Sung dynasty. But no lacquer-carvings of Sung survived. Even Yuan carved lacquer pieces are rare. The technique of lacquer-carving during the Sung dynasty was, however, highly developed and skilful and it was further refined and introduced into Japan during the Yuan dynasty.

The early years of Ming saw the temporary decline of lacquer-carving as a result of years of internal strife.