Shanghai Exhibits Jade and Bronze Wares in London
By admin on 2014-12-16

Shanghai Museum is exhibiting jade works and bronze wares at the British Museum in London. The displays comprise bronze wine vessels of diversified shapes and lively patterns and finely-carved jade works, conveying a sense of elegance.

Running from January 29 to March 27, the exhibition, known as Treasures from Shanghai, is part of the Shanghai Week in London to promote Shanghai World Expo in 2010. It is the first time for the museum to show 60 Chinese jade and bronze masterpieces in Europe.

Jade works and bronze wares, the most important objects from ancient China, were of great political significance. Since ancient times, they had been applied at sacred rituals and funeral ceremonies, associated with spirits and ancestors.

Jade works and bronze wares of the early days also represented the beginnings of Chinese art. Through artistic excellence and technical virtuosity, they set the standard for all Chinese art that was to follow.

Chinese jade: Cong

Liangzhu Culture: Late Neolithic Age in China (3,200-2,200 BC)

Cong is one of the principal types of jade artifacts of the Liangzhu Culture. Unearthed in 1984 at the Fuquanshan site, Qingpu, Shanghai, the jade article unveils principal decorations of Cong in the Liangzhu period: the mysterious face pattern may refers to spirits or deities that Liangzhu people worshipped. Every corner is carved with a flying bird, thought to be messenger of the spirits or deities.

Chinese wine vessel: You

Western Zhou Dynasty (About 1,100-771 BC)

Height: 27.6cm, maximun widtht: 17.9cm

This wine vessel was unearthed at Tunxi, Anhui Province.

You was one of the principal wine vessels used in the early Western Zhou Dynasty. Boasting advanced casting techniques, the vessel had the finest carved patterns, with the body, neck, loop handles, and lid all decorated with graceful phoenixes and linear patterns.

Chinese wine vessel: Jia Mid Shang Dynasty (16th-14th Century BC)

Jia, a wine container and warmer, has a round mouth and three hollow and cone-like legs, with a pair of mushroom-like columns on the rim. Below the neck is a decoration with eyes protruding from an animal face, exuding a mysterious atmosphere.

Chinese wine vessel: Gong

Ox is this year’s zodiac animal in traditional Chinese calendar. Therefore, Gong, an ox-shaped wine vessel is singled out for display in London to greet the ox year. The bronze ox stands up, lifting the head, carrying a 2-cm-long little calf on its back. This unique design, along with sophisticated decorative phoenix patterns, is highly admired by visitors.

Chinese wine vessel: Lei

Late Shang Dynasty (13th -11th Century BC)

This quadrangular wine vessel, tall and vase-like, is completely carved with patterns from the uppermost downward to the bottom.