CHINESE ART.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 271, 15 November 1935, Page 5

CHINESE ART.

WNE EXHIBITION.

BRONZE AND CERAMICS.

COWJBCXION AT MUSEUM.

Chinese jade, bronzes and ceramics— objects.of beauty, steeped in history and m the religioue philosophy of a people *ho6e culture is many thousands of years old. In search of them ancient hero-mariners sailed across unknown seas and experienced strange adventures. About them strange legends and fancies grew. Kingg 6oU t]leir upright to Possess them and 'men gave their lives jpintil the ago of imitation produced ancient treasures" from modern factories and sold them through shops to *noever might buy. But through the passing years their attraction has not «w, and for genuine historic pieces there » still adventure in collection and a lortune in value. Once they were for the few—now their oeauty and charm is for the many. At ™° Present time hundreds of people are on the seas bound not for China but ;°r London, where at Burlington House gathered the greatest collection of ancient Chinese art that the world has + 7 er witnessed. Treasure ships carried 3 < * mtributions of nations to its glory, * n » its money value is fabulous. Though ") a ?y will make a pilgrimage to this 'Wine of beauty, for the majority of j*°Ple it is beyond roach. Not entirely, c u Wev f r, f° r cvc n in this far-removed of n- e ■ Em P irc there are specimens 1 wnnese bronzes, jade and porcelain, in +i ° f thesc are gathered together n 'he Auckland War Memorial Museum rend there this afternoon Mr. A. T. jvcroft, president of the Auckland Institute and Museum Council, opened a special exhibition which, for lovers of ea Wy, should have great attraction. Of Inestimable Value. A number of private collections have ontnbuted to the great array of objects, . Ky. one of which is a line specimen uom - the variety of Oriental arfc. Many

of the pieces are of inestimable value, and some of them will later be taken Home to join the great collection at Burlington House—an exhibition roughly eetimated to be worth £30,000,000. One or two of these pieces have already been on show at the recent Loan Exhibiton of Antiques, but in the better arrangement of the Museum exhibition their true beauty ie revealed to greater advantage. Among the prize specimens of the exhibition is an oblong archaic bronze dish, Which was found in a small Lama temple in the Italian Legation at Poking. It was of a type used for cooking cereals for ceremonial use, and it bears in the bottom an inscription in Chinese characters of such archaic type that the translation of it has so far defied the authorities of the world. It is difficult to comprehend that the dish was made by some Eastern craftsman about the year 2000 B.C. Bronze Beauty. Buddhism, like the other Chinese religions, is largely a philosophy, and its influence assisted greatly in the development of art, many of the best pieces of which are emblematic of religious conceptions. Two fine bronzes ranged on either side of the dish referred to above. They are dishes also, but are arranged in representation of a variety of the common choko, an emblem sacred in china. Its slightly clenched fingers have earned it the name of "hand of Buddha," and it is emblematic of resurrection. There are two specimens, but underneath one has been found the seal signature of one of the Ming emperors, giving it the date of about 1375 A.D. The dragon "guardian of the law —or justice" is the main figure of another line piece, an incense burner of beautiful design, and there is interest, too, in a bronze tripod wine cup of Chioh, a ceremonial drinking vessel of about 1250 B.C. For beauty in bronze, however, there are few pieces to equal a'n incense burner which is given place of prominence at the entrance of the exhibition. About a beautifully cut bronze ball— representing the world —play the celestial lions, guardians of wisdom, the whole idea of the piece being a representation of an early legend. It was the custom when the celestial lions—the Dogs of Buddha, as they were called — walked the paths about the palace to,

place in their way brocaded balls soaked in milk. The lions would play with them, and it was the belief that they thus transmitted some of their wisdom to the owner of the ball, who would afterwards treasure it as a sacred possession. Jades And Ivory. Even for the person who is without knowledge of antique values there is beauty in the collection of Chinese jade, which forms one of the centre exhibits. Amongst the various pieces will be seen many representations of the swastika— which has changed in the eyes of the modern world from the emblem of luck to the emblem of Fascism. But here it has an older and a deeper meaning— eternal life. All types of jade are represented from the highly prized "mutton fat" light green to the dark rich green, which in European eyes holds the greater beauty. And there is beauty, too, in the arrangements of carved ivory which form another exhibit. The ivory used in the earlier pieces was mostly of the fossilised type, which was dredged from riyer and sea. Prize piece of this collection is a gloriously carved Chen-Shou, or hand rest, which was once used by some Chinese emperor or mandarin when writing upon his tablets. In their philosophic contemplation of the beauties of Nature the Chinese artists found, many symbols, which have since come to be conventional features, of artistic patterns. Thus there are represented the aquatic plants, convoying the idea of "marital happiness" and thus found mainly in articles of domestic use; and the "Three Brothers" — the bamboo, which withstands the winds of adversity, the fir, which is always green, and the hawthorn, which blossoms in wintry weather. There lies much of the attraction of Eastern ari. It represents not only an object of beauty, but a philosophic idea which is the inspiration of a poet.