ART OF CHINA

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 December 1933, Page 14

ART OF CHINA

PROBLEM OF ORIGIN Three exhibitions of Chinese things have been open in connection with the Thirteenth International Congr.ess of the History of Art which has just been held at Stockholm, writes Professor AV. P. Yetts in the “Manchester Guardian.” An account of these exhibitions calls first for a brief retrospect of our knowledge of Chinese art and archaeology, especially in relation to Swedish contributions. It is not mere-

ly a coincidence that nearly twenty years ago, at the beginning of 1914. the first general exhibition of Chinese art to take place in Europe was also in Stockholm. Before this century we in the West had hardly begun to interest ourselves seriously in the subject. Now there are many ardent collectors, writers, and' students. The awakening of interest is due to the devoted labours of a few Europeans, among whom. Swedes have figured prominently. A forerunner of these modern archaeologists was William Chambers, who belonged to an English family which had' settled in Sweden. At the age of sixteen he became a supercargo in the service of the Swedish East India Company, and made at least one voyage to Cannon, -where he collected material for the first serious book in a Western language on Chinese architecture, published in 1757. For our present purpose he is to be remembered for this., book, and for having built in Kew Gardens the structure which at a distance looks like a Chinese pagoda. The work for which he is. generally famed is Somerset Hou,se. He died in 179 G, and -was honoured with burial in Westminster Abbey. Sir William Chambers—he was knighted by the King of Sweden —may be regarded as an early link between Sweden and the study of Chinese art and archaeology. Much of the stimulus to this study during the present century comes from discoveries in Central Asia. Explorers of the oases of the Tarim Basin have .brought China immeasurably nearer to us in the cultural sense. On this great highway joining East and West they have found remains of the free intercourse which began in the second century B. C. between China and the Roman Orient. Chinese desire for the superior horses of Ferghana, on the one side

and the Roman fashion for Chinese silk on the other seem to have been decisive factors in starting this traffic. Among those who first opened this Eastern extension of., our cultural horizon is the Swedish explorer Dr. Sven Hedin. His discoveries in Central Asis began as early as 1893, and' he has added to them notably in recent years. He was followed by Grunwedel, Le Coq, Sir Aurel Stein, Professor Pelliot, and others. In China itself the pioneer work was done by Stephen Bushell, physician to the British Legation in Peking, and by the French Sinologist, E. Chavannes, whose great archaeological survey of Northern China appeared some twenty years ago.

EARLY BRONZES .it / s. ‘ To Professor J. G. Andersson belongs the honour of acquainting us 'with the presence in China of NeoliIthic pottery which suggests connections with the Western world. His unrivalled collection may be seen in the Ostasiatiska Samlingarna (Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities) ; but our concern now is with the two exhibitions arranged at the museum specially for the Congress. One is devoted to early Chinese bronzes and kindred objects, the other to Ordos bronzes. These exhibitions mark a step towards the solving of one of the most perplexing and important problems to do -with the history of mankind. Whence came the cultural origins of this huge section of humanity? Belief is growing that there may be truth in earlier theories which pointed westward, though they were generally based upon unsound foundations. Bronzes are the best-preserVed and most accomplished, works of ancient China to survive, and they are likely to afford valuable clues, if only we could recognise them.

Ancient China was far from being a single cultural unit; it was a congeries of semi-independent and self-suffi-cient States. The organisers of the exhibition show a thorough grtisp of the situation, for they have utilised the scanty chronological criteria available, the earliest dating from the eleventh century 8.C., and combined this, so far as may be, with a territorial classification. Of the 1295 objects thus disposed most belong to the museum. Important loans come from the Crown Prince of Sweden and Mr. Anders Hellstrcm, and some from other collectors in Sweden, Collections in I

f America. China, Denmark, England, I and France are also represented- The assigning of provenance is chiefly due to the exporations and collecting genius of Mr. Orvar Karlbeck, who formerly resided in the Huai Valley and introduced archaeological knowledge of this important cultural region in the centre of ancient China. Above all, the success of the exhibition is due to the practical guidance of the Crown Prince, who for months has supervised the preparations. His well-known enthusiasm for Chinese - t archaeology is the main ’ impulse which has brought about Swedish eminence in this field. ; The exhibition of Ordos bronzdF. comprises 926 pieces, and to these are added 253 Siberian pieces loaned for comparison from the National Museum, Helssingfors. by Professor A. M. . Tallgren. This is the finest display of the animal-style art of the nomads which has yet been made outside Russia, and it has far-reaching, consequences in regard to Chinese art, especially that of the Han period, about the beginning of otir era. It is a domain in which Professor Andersson, director of the museum, has 1 made distinguished contributions. At "the Swedish National Museum an exhibition of Chinese sculptures and paintings provides a noteworthy complement to the others. It owes much to the initiative of Dr. 0. Siren, whose writings on Chinese subjects are" manifold. Here in the paintings: we come into touch with modern times.