̽��ֱ��search for immortality: tomb treasures of Han China

sjr81 — Sat, 05 May 2012 00:21:31 +0000

̽��ֱ��Search for Immortality: Tomb Treasures of Han China (5 May-11 November) will feature over 350 treasures in jade, gold, silver, bronze and ceramics in the largest and most important exhibition of ancient royal treasures ever to travel outside China.

̽��ֱ��Han Dynasty established the basis for unified rule of China up to the present day. To maintain this hard-won empire the Han emperors had to engage in a constant struggle for power and legitimacy, with contests that took place on symbolic battlefields as much as on real ones. While written accounts provide an outline of these events, it is through the stunning archaeological discoveries of recent decades that the full drama and spectacle of this critical episode in Chinese history has been brought to life.

Dr Timothy Potts, Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, commented: “It is impossible to overstate the importance of the Han Dynasty in the formation of a Chinese national culture and identity. At the time of the ancient Romans, the Han emperors were the first to unify a large part of the regions we now know as China under a sustained empire, which they ruled virtually unchallenged for 400 years.

" ̽��ֱ��Han Dynasty gave its name to the Chinese language, its script and the vast majority of the Chinese people. It was arguably the defining period of China’s history and the point of genesis for the China of today.

" ̽��ֱ��spectacular objects in this exhibition bring to Cambridge the finest treasures from the tombs of the Han royal family, the superb goldwork, jades and other exquisitely crafted offerings the kings chose to be buried with on their journey to the afterlife. For their artistry, refinement and pure beauty they rival anything from the ancient world.”

This pioneering exhibition will compare the spectacular tombs of two rival power factions: the Han imperial family in the northern ‘cradle’ of Chinese history, and the Kingdom of Nanyue in the south, whose capital in modern-day Guangzhou formed the gateway to the rich trade routes of the China Sea and Indian Ocean.

Objects from these tombs have never before been displayed together as a single exhibition. Through the exhibition it is revealed how, in both life and in death, Empire and Kingdom played a diplomatic game of cat and mouse, one to assert its supremacy, the other to preserve its autonomy.

Protected by clay guardians and surrounded by jade and gold, the monarchs’ tombs were palaces fit for immortals. Each tomb was a symbol of power and majesty, designed to ensure that its owner continued to enjoy in the afterlife the same comforts and privileges afforded to them in life. In showing these two tombs together, ̽��ֱ��Search for Immortality sheds new light on a critical period of China’s early history. ̽��ֱ��exhibition will only be seen in Cambridge.

Curator of the exhibition, Dr James Lin, commented: “It is immensely exciting that we are able to compare these unique discoveries from two rival kingdoms for the first time in Cambridge, as the archaeology allows us to tell a story that textual evidence simply does not reveal.

"It is known from written records that the first Han Emperor and the first King of Nanyue vied with each other for power and legitimacy in southern China; this exhibition shows how the struggle to be known as ‘emperor’ in the southern borderlands continued into the second generation of the Nanyue kingdom, an episode mostly passed over in the historical chronicles.

"Through a direct comparison of the tomb treasures from the Han imperial family with those of the second king of Nanyue, Zhao Mo, the exhibition shows how the latter’s funerary splendour continued to be styled on that of the Han heartland, often reaching the same level of exquisite artistry. This provides a new perspective on the Han period and how the imperial family continued to exert its influence, through both arms and art, to maintain control of their vast empire.”

Founded in 206 BC, the Han Dynasty followed the collapse and disintegration of the Qin Empire, which had been established only fifteen years earlier by China’s First Emperor, Qinshihuangdi. Except for a brief interruption in 9-25 AD, the Han emperors were to rule much of China for the next 400 years until 220 AD.

Contemporaneous with the late republic and early Roman Empire, the Han is considered the ‘classical’ period of Chinese history and, at the time of the birth of Christ, was as great in population and power as the Romans. It saw the emergence of cultural values, ideologies and institutions which have remained central to Chinese identity ever since. During this period Confucianism, with its emphasis on loyalty to family and to the Emperor, was first adopted as the official ideology.

It was also then that rigorous state examinations for selecting civil servants on the basis of merit rather than hereditary status were first introduced. In China today ‘Han’ is often used interchangeably with ‘Chinese’: the language is referred to as the Han language – Hanyu; Chinese script as Han writing – Hanzi; and over 90% of Chinese nationals regard themselves as Han Chinese – Hanren.

Zhao Tuo, a former commander in the army of the First Emperor, established the independent state of Nanyue in 204 BC. Its capital Panyu is modern-day Guangzhou (Canton) and was then, as now, a busy commercial port and an eastern terminus of the ancient maritime Silk Route.

In 196 BC Emperor Gaozu, founder of the Han Dynasty, sent an envoy demanding that Nanyue founding king, Zhao Tuo, submit to his authority. Zhao Tuo agreed and Nanyue was granted formal status as a vassal state of the Han Empire.

Yet only a year later, having gained the allegiance of two neighbouring states, Zhao Tuo declared himself Emperor. After two years of conflict, Zhao Tuo once more ‘submitted’ to the Han ruler, though both he and his successors continued to style themselves ‘Emperor’ at home, using the lesser title of ‘King’ only in their dealings with the Han court.

̽��ֱ��exhibition compares the tomb of Zhao Mo, Zhao Tuo’s grandson and successor from the Southern Nanyue kingdom, with the astonishing finds from three of the major northern Han tombs of the kings of Chu, a branch of the imperial family that had been granted this kingdom by the emperor.

This is the first time such a comparison of the splendour and treasures of these two sets of rival tombs has been made.

̽��ֱ��exhibition will reflect the layout of the funerary goods within the tombs, giving a sense of what it would have been like to walk through one of these tombs for the first time: being met by tomb guardians, progressing into the principal chambers with pottery servants, musical instruments and other treasures, and finally coming upon the inner sanctum with the burials of the kings themselves. Highlights include:• two jade burial armour suits belonging to the rival rulers, painstakingly made from thousands of plaques of jade, sewn together with gold or silk thread

• lavish burial furnishings in jade thought to ward off demons or to serve the emperor in the afterlife, such as a jade cup to catch the morning dew that ensured immortality

• spectacular objects in gold, including imperial seals and exotically decorated belt buckles

• pottery soldiers and bronze weapons

• pottery dancers, musicians and servants

• unusual artefacts including a toilet and an early ginger grater.

̽��ֱ��Search for Immortality: Tomb Treasures of Han China has been made possible through the generous permission of China’s State Administration for Cultural Heritage, Art Exhibitions China, Xuzhou Museum and the Museum of the Mausoleum of the Nanyue Kings. ̽��ֱ��exhibition is part of the London 2012 Festival, a spectacular 12-week nationwide celebration from 21 June to 9 September 2012, bringing together leading artists from across the world with the very best from the UK.

In the first exhibition of its kind, the Fitzwilliam Museum will relate the story of the quest for immortality and struggle for imperial legitimacy in ancient China’s Han Dynasty.

̽��ֱ��spectacular objects in this exhibition bring to Cambridge the finest treasures from the tombs of the Han royal family.

Dr Timothy Potts

Fitzwilliam Museum

Tomb Treasures from Han China

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Vermeer’s Women: Secrets and Silence

bjb42 — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 12:00:15 +0000

"Vermeer's Women: Secrets and Silence" opens on Wednesday, 5 October, and offers a stunning view of the Dutch master and several of his contemporaries. ̽��ֱ��Lacemaker, on loan from the Louvre, is one of 32 works on display.

Painted circa 1669 to 1670, ̽��ֱ��Lacemaker is one of the Louvre's most treasured works and is rarely seen outside Paris. It offers a glimpse into some of the techniques the artist employed. Optical effects normally seen in photography are present in the painting, as Vermeer created a depth of field by blurring the foreground of the picture, while leaving the principal subject in sharp focus. This technique, rarely seen among other works of the period, gave the painting an unprecedented complexity.

Throughout his career, women were one of Vermeer's key subjects, offering a perspective of middle class life in the 17th century Dutch Republic. ̽��ֱ��scenes seem hauntingly familiar even today, given their domestic context. Needlework, playing music, reading, cooking, shopping and minding children are all beautifully captured and lend a feeling that one has stumbled upon a private moment.

Complementing ̽��ֱ��Lacemaker are three further pieces representing the pinnacle of Vermeer's later career: A lady at the virginals with a gentleman; ̽��ֱ��Music Lesson (c.1662 - 5), on loan from the Royal Collection; A Young Woman Seated at a Virginal (c.1670) from the National Gallery, London; and Young Woman Seated at a Virginal (private collection, New York).

Accompanying these are 28 masterpieces of genre painting from artists Cornelius de Bisschop, Gerard ter Borch, Esaias Boursse, and Quiringh van Brekelenkam, among others. These accompanying artists represent some of Vermeer's finest contemporaries, many of whom were more famous than Vermeer during his lifetime.

Dr Timothy Potts, Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, commented: "Vermeer's Women will be a rare opportunity to enjoy some of Vermeer's most ravishingly beautiful paintings of the intimacy of the Dutch household - frozen moments captured in Vermeer's uniquely luminous style. Although domestic scenes constitute the principal subject of Vermeer’s work and that of many of his contemporaries, and are one of the most distinctive and evocative aspects of Dutch art of the Golden Age, this will be the first exhibition to focus exclusively on them, and to explore their hidden significance in terms of contemporary Dutch mores.”

Vermeer’s Women: Secrets and Silence runs from 5 October to 15 January 2012 at the Fitzwilliam Museum, in Cambridge. A new catalogue accompanies the exhibition, with essays by Dr Wieseman and other internationally recognised experts in the field.

̽��ֱ��Lacemaker, one of the great masterpieces of the 17th-century Dutch painter, Johannes Vermeer, is to go on display in the UK for the first time as part of an exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

"Vermeer's Women will be a rare opportunity to enjoy some of Vermeer's most ravishingly beautiful paintings of the intimacy of the Dutch household - frozen moments captured in Vermeer's uniquely luminous style.

Dr Timothy Potts

̽��ֱ��Lacemaker

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence. If you use this content on your site please link back to this page.

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̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Timothy Potts

̽��ֱ��search for immortality: tomb treasures of Han China

Vermeer’s Women: Secrets and Silence