CHINESE TREASURES

Greymouth Evening Star, 3 August 1935, Page 2

CHINESE TREASURES

EXHIBITS CENTURIES OLD The exhibits selected by the AngloChinese committee entrusted with the task total more than 700, comprising porcelains, bronzes, jades, paintings, examples of calligraphy, tapestries and embroideries, fans, cloisonne, lacquer, and ancient books, states the Pekin 4‘oitrespondent of the “Manchester Guardian.” Most of them are from the collections formerly exhibited in the Forbidden City in Pekin and transferred to Shanghai 'two years ago, •when it appeared likely that the Japanese army might occupy North China. One of the strongest features ,of the collection is an exceptionally representative group of bronzes. While better individual pieces are perhaps to be found elsewhere, there can rarely have been assembled in one collection so complete a series. Covering the period from 1500 B.C. to about A.D. 220, the 10S pieces include almost every known type of bronze. The best are the older ones before 400 8.C., which represent the earliest form of Chinese art; toward the beginning of the Christian era the standard gradually declined in China until finally the secret of bronze-making was entirely lost. In selecting the porcelain exhibits the British experts sought to choose those specimens which are not represented in collections abroad. Most of the pieces are Sung one-colour porcelains, whose beauty is largely a thing of shade and shape and which are likely perhaps to appeal more to the connoisseur than to the layman. But there are other exquisitely delicate porcelains of the late Chien Lung period which are beautifully painted and can hardly fail to please even the nonexpert. These are particularly hard to find in Europe, and the British selectors are highly gratified over the acquisition of such splendid specimens. There are also several good examples of Ming and Kang Hsi porcelains, but these periods are less strongly represented. Many of the single porcelains are valued at as much as £4OOO, while a few are said to be worth more than a million Chinese dollars.

PAINTING AND CALLIGRAPHY The British experts were particularly anxious to acquire a good assortment of paintings, which are difficult to obtain outside of China, and in this they feel they have been successful. Those represented among the treasures which are being shipped 'from Shanghai range from the T'ang dynasty (A.D. 618-907) to the end of the seventeenth century. Many of the earlier pictures are not absolutely verifiable as to date and may possibly be later copies of T’ang masterpieces, but the experts consider them to be not later than the Sung dynasty (A.D. 960-1279). and it may well be that, if they are copies, it was Sung artists who did the copying. Among the 17" specimens of painting and calligraphy are black-and-white brush drawings, richly coloured landscapes, and flower, animal and bird studies done with lifelike perfection of detail. Historically interesting are two albums containing portraits. painted by unidentifiable Yuan artists, of emperors and empresses of .the Yuan or Mongol dynasty (A.D. 12601268). There is also a striking lifesize portrait, of one of the Sung emperors.

I Taken as a whole, the paintings well I illustrate tin* gradual displacement of 'genius by technique, which took place after the thirteenth century. Sublime in their philosophical implications, the Sung examples are clearly the work of men whose souls were as vast, as their canvases. With the artists of the Ming dynasty (A.D. 1368-164-1). on the other hand, technical skill has grown more important; their art is less exalted, though more human ami in some respects more pleasing. Even less inspired is the stylised painting <f the t'h’ing dynasty (IU4 1-1!) 11 1, though works of this type arc much admired by a particular school of Chinese connoisseurs. Particularly in- i teresting to foreign observers are two paintings by Lang Shih-ning. which is | the Chinese mime of Castiglione, one! of two Jesuit priests who were al-1 tarhed as painters to the Imperial! Court in the eighteenth century, and! tried unsuccessfully to induce the Chi-' nese to accept European art forms, j One of these paintings is a landscape: in which the details are obviously! European, though it is painted in the! Chinese style. The other painting of I peonies in a vase proves on close in-

spection to be equally un-Chinese as to detail. EXQU ISITE TA PEST KIES. There are not many tapestries and embroideries, but the pieces have been I well chosen and make a brave show. Best of all are the Sung pieces, many of which are so exquisitely fine that they seem at first sight to be paintings rather than needlework. The later Ch'ing dynasty examples provide further evidence of the decadence of that period; they are interesting but for the most part inartistic. Another attractive exhibit, is a group of twenty Imperial Ming dynasty fans with dainty design's painted on gold, some of them the work of famous artists. The' weakest element of the whole collec-

tion is the jade, which Is neither very old nor very good. There are not more than half a dozen really first-class pieces. Of considerable interest because of the rarity of the stone, however. is a set of three seals connected by chains, all wrought in a yellow jade which has the colour of cloudy amber. The British experts hope to supplement the jade exhibits from private collections in Europe and America. Fifty rare volumes of Chinese classics, said to be of Immense historical value, are included among the books, one of which formerly belonged to the Imperial Library of the Emperor Chien Lung.