Shanghai Museum exterior
The Shanghai Museum’s stunning collection presents an intimate picture of Chinese culture and history that makes it a great introduction to China for the first time visitor.
The museum has gathered together more than a million ancient art objects including bronzes, ceramics, paintings, calligraphy, sculpture, jade, coins, furniture.
It is also home to the Minority Nationalities gallery.
Shanghai Museum atrium interior
This museum is so vast and engaging that it takes no less than a full day to fully absorb its exhibits.
I’m not an aficionado of home furnishings or jewelry, but for my shorter visit I singled out furniture, jade, porcelain and the Minorities Gallery on the grounds that they would afford greater insight into the daily lives of ancient Chinese.
FURNITURE GALLERY
The Chinese were already producing intricately engraved and painted furniture as early as 1500 BCE.
Secretary, Shanghai Museum
Its style is characterized by the use of thick lacquer finishes, detailed engravings, and paintings.
Some of the features now widely regarded as Chinese began appearing more prominently around the start of the European Middle Ages.
Chair with carved back, Shanghai Museum
By the beginning of the second millennium, chairs, benches, and stools were in common throughout Chinese society.
The newest and most complex designs were reserved for use by officials and the upper classes.
Decorative panel, Shanghai Museum
It’s an interesting bit of trivia that the Chinese introduced the folding stool, adapting it from designs of nomadic tribes to the North and West who valued them for their collapsability and light weight.
Carved chair and bas-relief panel, Shanghai Museum.
When the Chinese ban on imports was first lifted in the 1800’s, larger quantities and varieties of woods began to flood in from other parts of Asia.
These denser woods lent themselves to works marked by even finer detail and more elaborate joinery.
Decorative panel, Shanghai Museum
Jade carving, Shanghai Museum
JADE GALLERY
The Chinese began to carve jade as early as 3500 BCE.
Simple ornaments with bead, button, and tubular shapes are among the earliest known jade artifacts.
Jade carving, Shanghai Museum
Many gemstones were considered by the Chinese to have properties for detecting and neutralizing poison.
Jade has been traditionally considered to have particularly strong powers.
Jade brooch, Shanghai Museum
Similar beliefs were widely shared by people in the pre-Hispanic Americas and in Renaissance Europe.
Aristocrats of the Han Dynasty were buried in jade suits intended to preserve the body from decay.
Jade was also used for adze heads, knives, and other weapons which required delicate shaping and finishing.
Ceremonial blades began to appear in China during the European Middle Ages.
Jade carving, Shanghai Museum
By the dawn of the first millennium, new metal-working technologies produced finer tools which made it possible to carve jade into more delicate decorative objects.
There are actually two types of jade. Jadeite has about the same hardness as quartz. Nephrite is slightly softer, but is more resistant to breakage than jadeite.
Jade brooch, Shanghai Museum
Nephrite appears as creamy white in color, as well as in a range of green colors. The white variety – known in China as “mutton fat” jade – was the most highly prized until early in the nineteenth century, when the jadeite variety became more popular.
Jadeite displays more color variations, including blue, lavender-mauve, pink, and green. Translucent emerald-green jadeite is the most sought-after variety.
Jade scultpure miniature, Shanghai Museum
In the nineteenth century, a vivid green jade from Burma known as Kingfisher Jade became the preferred gemstone among China’s rulers and imperial scholars. Much of the jade carved in China today is still mined in northern Burma.
See more of the Shanghai Museum in my next post.
The Shanghai Museum is centrally located within the sprawling People’s Park. Both sit on the site of the former Shanghai Race Club organized by and for Europeans living in the foreign concessions. They’re readily accessible by Metro lines, city busses, and Big Bus Tours.
P.S. – Like many other foreign tourist attractions and upscale hotels, restrooms in the Shanghai Museum have Western-style commodes that distinguish them from the squat-over-a-hole variety of toilet usually found in older and more local venues. Be forewarned.
See these earlier posts from “21 Days In China”
Antonio Ramblés travels 