ANCIENT CHINESE ART.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19471, 29 October 1926, Page 13

ANCIENT CHINESE ART.

MUSEUM'S COLLECTION.

TWO IMPORTANT DONATIONS. BRONZE AGE TO IBTH CENTURY, The beauty and elaborate ornament, of Chinese art are well exemplified'in numerous splendid pieces in European nasd American collections and to a hsz degree even in our own country} but the simpler examples, with more direct, treatment," of the older periods bare hitherto been difficult to obtain. Many articles had been buried in the ancient tombs, while others in the private collections of the Chinese aristocracy were equally hidden from Western eyes. Excavations for railway works have, however, recently revealed some of the former, and economic conditions in China have forced some members of the old families to part with their treasures so that a certain amount of material of the oldest periods is now, almost for the first time, leaving China. By the generosity of two donors the Auckland Museum has secured a representative collection of the art. of these early periods. Last year Mr. Oscar Raphael, of London, presented a pair of glazed pottery ridge tiles in the form of equestrian statuettes; early in the present year a small collection specially sent from China was purchased by the museum, and recently a larger, more comprehensive series, containing more elaborate articles, was presented to the museum by a gentleman who desires 'to remain anonymous. The earliest period represented by these newly-acquired pieces is the bronze age, of which there is a halberd head dating from about 500 8.C., or about the time of Confucius. Pottery was known in this period and much earlier, but it was utilitarian in character with some crude,incised decoration and no glaze. In the Han Period (206 8.C.-220 A.D.) communication with the West resulted in the introduction of glaze, and this advance in technique is represented by a small vase and a model grain mill which had been placed in a tomb, either ■ for the use of the dead person or to commemorate his work on earth. Development of Ceramic Art. A finely-modelled, unglazed pottery horse is a valuable acquisition belonging to the little-known Wei period (386550 A.D.), a turbulent period in which the potter's art suffered a decline. The secure establishment of the famous Tang dynasty (618-917) made possible the development of the most important ceramic age of China. Commercial contact with Tibet, India, Persia, Indo-China and Java brought many new ideas, new methods and materials, and a great . variety of ceramic forms resulted. Chief among the articles of this period in the museum collections is a clay ox chariot, probably representing a' lady's chariot. The ox bears traces of red and green colouring matter while the cart was formerly covered with gold leaf in front and coloured elsewhere in red snd green. It was discovered in an excavation near Loyang. Other articles of the period are cream glaze statuettes of a lady and of an official, and glazed bottles, cups and ewers. The almost equally famous Sung period (960-1280) is represented by only three pieces, but they, include a pair of ivory glaze plates of the ware known as Ting Yao, considered to be typical of the best 'Sung art. This ware was almost hard enough to be called porcelain, a design was carved into the body and the whole covered by a thin layer of ivory glaze. Such plates were baked upside down, on the rims,, which therefore bad no glaze, the deficiency being covered with a copper band.' Unfortunately, the bands are missing in the museum pair, which came from a tomb in Honan. The decoration is a lotus design. Decline and Revival. The end of the Sung dynasty was marked ,by " the Mongol invasions under Yenghis Khan and Kublai Khan and the Yuan dynasty, which they founded, was marked by a decline in ceramic art, warlike themes, crudely and harshly, expressed, being common. One technical advance, however, was the introduction of cloisonne from the West. Chinese ascendancy was regained in 1368 by the foundation of the Ming dynasty, which ruiea for nearly 300 years. The large glazed pottery ridge tiles, in the form of equestrian statuettes, given by Mr. Raphael, belong here, as does also a miniature pagoda-shrine, containing a figure, " Green Sprouts Genii," a Taoish divinity who guarded the young crops. More highly finished porcelain is represented by a plate of green crackled gb.se, known as crackle celadon. The crackle is not a mark of age, but was introduced in the making as a decoration. Also of this period is a.carved rhinoceros born cup. This is a "poison cup." Rhinoceros horn and celadon ware were thought, in mediaeval times, to possess the property of changing the colour of liquids containing poismi, and thus were a protection to their owners. The series.ends with a crackle celadon ■vise of the Yung Cheng period (1723-1736) and a jade figure of th? Kien Lung periol (1736-1796). This latter is known as a Kylin and represents u dragon, a symbol in this case of good fortune because it was said to appear only in times of peace to bear the sacred jade books to heaven. This collection of the early periods of Chinese art, together with the early bronzes and middle ami later period porcelain with its remarkable dworation represented in Mr. Dadley's collection which has been exhibited in the museum for some years, should be sufficient to give visitors at least an outline of what Chinese art is, of its history, and of the variety and beauty of its form and decoration, and will serve as a basis of the more extensive Oriental collection which it is to b«

hoped the city will one day posses?