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The Shanghai Museum has saved the best for last: The final show on this year's calendar is perhaps the most important show in the museum's history.
Running through January 6, "Selected Paintings and Calligraphy from the Jin, Song, Tang and Yuan Dynasties," which will also serve as a fitting conclusion to the ongoing Shanghai Biennale 2002, features a stunning and priceless collection of 72 traditional ink-wash paintings and calligraphic works, some of which are on loan from Beijing's Palace Museum and the Liaoning Museum in Shenyang. The works on display are all considered national treasures.
"Each piece on display is worthy of academic study," says Chen Xiejun, museum curator. "Some of them have never been shown in public before, and certainly never this number under one roof. This is a unique opportunity."
The artwork includes the renowned "Tomb-sweeping Day on the River," by Zhang Zeduan. The 5-meter-long scroll, painted over 800 years ago, follows a river from the mountains outside the city, through marketplaces, over bridges and finally to the city center. The detailed painting, with its 814 figures, portrays life in the ancient capital of Kaifeng.
"Emperor Taizong Receiving the Tibetan Envoy," also known as "Bu Nian Tu," by Yan Liben, is another highlight. Yan, who was the court painter for three different Tang (A.D. 618-907) emperors, is considered one of the dynasty's greatest painters. As a court painter, his duties included painting scholars, generals, deities and foreign envoys - like the Tibetan envoy in this painting.
The "Bu Nian Tu" depicts the meeting of Emperor Taizong (Li Shimin) and the envoy Ludongzan. The first king of Tibet was infatuated with Princess Wencheng and built her a palace. In A.D. 641, the king sent Ludongzan to escort the princess back to Tibet to be his queen.
"Yan was a master at capturing the facial expressions of people," says Yang Zhengxin, a well-regarded local artist. "Whether it was the envoy, the emperor or the maidens, they were all created with beautifully detailed brushwork."
Masterpieces by other major names, like Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) painters Wang Meng, whose mountain and river landscapes are considered to have set the standard for succeeding generations of artists, and Huang Gongwang, will also be on display.
The calligraphic work on display includes a rare early scroll by Wang Xizhi of the Eastern Jin Period (A.D. 317-420), the "Sage of Calligraphy," the earliest of the 26 works on display.
Best-known for his writing in cursive and running scripts, Wang's work was valued and collected by his contemporaries, yet few of his original works survive today.
"Even as early as the Tang Dynasty, authentic examples of Wang's calligraphy were rare. The copies in circulation are either authorized reproductions or outright forgeries," explains Chen. "So the piece on show here, which is 1,600 years old, is extremely rare."
(eastday.com November 29, 2002)
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