Bronzewares still shine bright
Collaboration between two famed museums brings ancient vessels and their symbolism into the modern age, Zhang Kun reports in Shanghai.
Following the successful exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) in New York, Recasting the Past: The Art of Chinese Bronzes, 1100-1900 opened at the Shanghai Museum on Nov 11, showcasing approximately 178 pieces or sets of artifacts, including dozens that have never been displayed to the public.
The exhibition, jointly hosted by the Shanghai Museum and The Met, was held at the New York museum from Feb 28 to Sept 28. It featured artworks of 15 collections from Asia, Europe and the United States, many of which have never been displayed.
Paintings, ceramics and works in other media provided context for the bronzes' use and symbolic resonance in the modern age.
In Shanghai, the exhibition features new scenography and selected exhibits from the Shanghai Museum collection. It will be held at Shanghai Museum East until March 16.
The exhibition is of the most epic scale of later Chinese bronzes to be held in recent years, both domestically and internationally, according to Wei Hsin Ying, a research curator in the bronze department of the Shanghai Museum and the curator of the Shanghai exhibition.
