Exhibition: until 18 April, 1995
Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam

CHINA'S DISTANT PAST
 
From 20 December, 1994 to 18 April, 1995 the New Church
Foundation (National Stichting de Nieuwe Kerk) in Amsterdam is
hosting an exhibition of objects from the Hunan Provincial Museum
in Changsha. All the works of art included in the exhibition were
made, excavated, found, or collected within Hunan province. 

By Jan Fontein

The exhibition has been organized by Ernst Veen, director, John
Vrieze, producer-editor, and the staff of the Nieuwe Kerk in
close cooperation with myself as guest curator. The Chinese team
assisting in the selection, preparation, inspection and
transportation of the objects from Changsha to Amsterdam was led
by Xiong Chuanxin, Director of the Hunan Provincial Museum.

BRONZE VESSELS 
The exhibition basically consists of three groups of objects,
although a number of other exceptional works of art not belonging
to any of these three categories have also been included. The
first group of objects consists of ritual bronze vessels of the
Shang and Zhou periods (1300-300 B.C.). Among these the zun in
the shape of a boar is perhaps the most important. Found by
chance in 1981 by a farmer near Xiangtan, it has travelled abroad
for the first time with this exhibition. The bronze-caster has
captured the shape in a decorative fashion. Stylized dragon
motifs accentuate the flanks, while a pattern of scales covers
the rest of the body. This type of treatment can also be seen on
a few other pieces that are known to have come from this region.
It is thought to be characteristic of Southern Chinese bronze
art. The hollow body of the boar has been pierced by two tubes,
which were probably used for the insertion of two poles by which
the vessel could be carried around in procession. No other
Chinese bronze vessel with a similar device has ever been found.
Another type of bronze typical of the southern regions is the
bronze bell of the Nao type. These huge bells, several of which
weigh more than 70 kg., were placed on a pedestal with their
mouths upwards. Like all other Chinese bells they do not have a
tongue but were struck with a hammer on a spot in the centre
close to the rim. The fact that such bells have been found only
in the south suggests that this region may have had a musical
tradition that was quite different from that prevalent in the
cradle of Chinese bronze culture in the northern Central Plain.
The two examples of Nao bells included in the exhibition also
represent two different types of stylization of the Taotie animal
mask that are typical of the region. 
The ethnic diversity of the region clearly left its traces in
bronze art. A bronze breaker with geometrical designs, that are
usually associated with the tribes of the southern state of Yue,
is covered with a decoration of silkworms on mulberry leaves. It
demonstrates that sericulture had already spread to these ethnic
groups as early as the seventh century BC. This early evidence of
sericulture helps to explain the great sophistication and
infinite variety and complexity of techniques and designs in the
textiles of the Han period included in this exhibition. 

THE TOMBS OF MAWANGDUI
The piece de resistance of the exhibition is a selection of
lacquerware, textiles, and tomb figurines from the tombs of
Mawangdui near Changsha, discovered in 1971 and excavated during
the two subsequent years. Owing to the almost total lack of
oxygen in the wooden tomb chamber, which had been sealed with a
layer of clay and  buried under twenty metres of earth, the body
of Lady Xingzhui, wife of the Marquis of Dai, who died ca. 165 BC
at the age of fifty-four, had been almost perfectly preserved.
Initially this sensational discovery diverted attention from the
extraordinary archaeological importance of the finds made in the
tomb of Lady Xingzhui and that of her son near by. Although a
number of exhibitions of Chinese archaeological treasures have
included a few artefacts from Mawangdui, these have often been
only replicas. 
The present exhibition includes thirteen original pieces of
lacquerware and eleven rare examples of textiles, some of which
are among the finest pieces recovered from these two tombs. The
tombs of Mawangdui provide a classical example of the sort of
knowledge that can be gained from burial sites that have remained
undisturbed through the centuries and that have been excavated by
skilled archaeologists. Many of the mortuary gifts were packed in
bamboo baskets, the contents of which were noted precisely on
labels. A complete inventory of the tomb furniture, written on
bamboo strips, provided additional information on the names of
objects, foodstuffs, beverages, textile techniques, and
decorative patterns. Inscriptions on the pieces indicate that the
pieces of lacquerware were not 'minggi' or 'spirit goods', i.e.,
cheap substitutes made for mortuary purposes only, but part of
the actual household utensils from the residence of the Marquis
of Dai. Cups and bowls for eating and drinking, including the
'ear cups' or 'winged cups' typical of the Han period, often
contain brief inscriptions indicating their cubic volume and
inviting the user to enjoy the food or drink. The same conditions
that proved conducive to the preservation of the mortal remains
of Lady Xingzhui also helped to preserve her elaborate wardrobe
of silk skirts and robes, socks and mittens, all of which have
survived more than two thousand years of burial in almost
pristine condition. The silk costumes, apparel and textile
samples display a dazzling variety of weaving and embroidery
techniques that bear testimony to the remarkable refinement of
the art of silk weaving during the Western Han Period. The
exhibition contains examples of most of these intricate
techniques. Forty books, written on silk, were recovered from the
tomb of Xingzhui's son largely intact, providing Chinese scholars
with their own equivalent of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Some of the
texts were previously known only by title, while other texts
represent versions of such well-known classics as the Daodejing
and Yijing that differ in many instances from the transmitted
recensions. In the exhibition a single page, written in
Chancellery Script, symbolically represents this discovery of
extraordinary historical importance. 

CHANGSHA STONEWARE
The third part of the exhibition consists of examples of Changsha
stoneware of the eighth and ninth century, excavated from kiln
sites in Wangchenxian, ca. 25 km. to the north of Changsha.
Although the technique of decorating ceramics in underglaze
copper green and iron brown was probably not invented here, the
Changsha potters were the first artists to use this new technique
on a large scale. It enabled them to draw elegant sketches of
birds and flowers or even lines of poetry on their wine vessels
or teapots. These wares, produced in great quantities, were
exported to countries as far away as Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Iraq
and Iran. These are the earliest examples of mass-produced export
wares, and even if the techniques used by these potters may not
be the direct precursor of the famous underglaze cobalt blue and
white porcelains of the fourteenth century, the wide distribution
of shards of these wares suggests that Changsha stoneware may
have captured foreign markets and may have established patterns
of trade from which the later blue and white porcelains could
profit. 

CULTURAL EXCHANGE
By focusing on a single region of China with a particularly rich
and colourful artistic history, China's Distant Past represents a
break with the tradition of exhibitions that offer a more general
survey of China's achievements in the field of archaeology. It is
hoped that through this exhibition the viewers may get an
impression of the importance of regional cultures throughout
Chinese history. The elegant and often impressive works of art
included in this exhibition provide visual proof that the culture
of Hunan had a strong regional flavour. The marked influence it
exerted on the late phases of bronze art in other parts of the
country, the contribution it made to the decorative arts of the
Han dynasty, and the world-wide fame of its potters demonstrate
that its regional flavour was never provincial in our somewhat
derogatory sense of the word. Attractively designed by Leo Helms
and accompanied by an educational audio-visual programme and an
illustrated catalogue, the exhibition  China's Distant Past seems
to have inaugurated a new phase in the cultural relations between
the Netherlands and the People's Republic of China. It is most
gratifying to see the corporate sponsorship by Credit Lyonnais
Bank, IBM, KPMG, Credietverzekering, and de Volkskrant matched by
the enthusiastic support of the local Chinese community. That
support seems to demonstrate the growing recognition of the
useful role such cultural manifestations can play in the cultural
exchange between two countries.

Jan Fontein is director emeritus of the Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston.