8 Bronzes


RECASTING THE PAST The Art of Chinese Bronzes, 1100-1900


T


he Metropolitan Museum of Art is currently showing a selection of important Chinese bronzes chosen


from various centuries to explore the variety of bronze casting in China. In ancient China, bronze vessels were emblems of ritual and power. A millennium later, in a period of about 800 years, from 1100 to 1900, such vessels were rediscovered as embodiments of a long-lost golden age that was worthy of study and emulation. Tis ‘return to the past’ (fugu) was part of a widespread phenomenon across all the arts to reclaim the virtues of a classical tradition. An important aspect of this phenomenon was the revival of bronze casting as a major art form. To explore this concept, the exhibition brings together major loans from museums in China to sit alongside works


from Te Met’s own


collection and other institutions, giving the audience an opportunity to better understand the aesthetic and cultural aspects of these objects. Divided into


five thematic,


chronological sections, the show examines over 200 works of art, including a selection of paintings, ceramics, jades, and other media that place the bronzes in a wider context. Some 100 pieces from Te Met collection are augmented by nearly 100 loans from major institutions in China, Japan, Korea, Germany, France, the UK, and the US to explore a comprehensive narrative of the ongoing importance of bronzes as an art medium throughout China’s history. Featured in the exhibition are around 60 loans from institutions in China, including major works


such as


the monumental 12th-


century bell with imperial procession from the Liaoning Provincial Museum, documented ritual bronzes for Confucian temples from the Shanghai Museum, and luxury archaistic vessels made in the 18th-century imperial workshop from the Palace Museum, Beijing.


A return to the


past was part of a phenonemon to


reclaim the virtues of a classical tradition


Te exhibition begins with the section


‘Reconstructing Ancient Rites’, which introduces how emperors and scholar- officials commissioned ritual bronzes from the 12th to the 16th century as part of an effort to restore and align themselves with antique ceremonies and rites. Te accompanying essay to this section in the catalogue, ‘Reconstructing Ancient Rites: Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Ritual Bronzes’, notes that bronze vessels for offerings of food and wine were an essential part of state rituals, and elaborate sets of vessels were symbols of legitimacy and, together with bronze weapons, emblems of power, status, and wealth. In Shang times, sets of bronze vessels were both used in above-ground temples – presumably to honour royal ancestors and propitiate deities – and buried with kings and members of the aristocratic family. Rulers of the succeeding Zhou dynasty continued these practices and rewarded loyal vassals with gifts of bronze vessels bearing commemorative inscriptions.


Taihe bell, note ‘Jiazhong’, Song dynasty (960-1279), circa 1105, reinscribed circa 1174, bronze, height 22.8 cm, courtesy of the Palace Museum, Beijing


Ancient moral rituals’ standards


importance and the they embodied were


enshrined by the philosopher Confucius (551-479 BC). Confucius emphasised the following of precedents, especially those associated with the Duke of Zhou, regent and administrator of the early Zhou dynasty (active circa 1042-1035 BC). Te duke had been credited with Te Rites of Zhou (Zhouli), which was


in fact an


Water dropper in the form of a rhinoceros, Ming dynasty (1368-1644), 15th century, bronze, 5.4 x 12.7 x 4.8 cm, purchase The Vincent Astor Foundation Gift, The Metropolitan Museum of Art


agglomeration of later texts. Tis revered manual, together with Te Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial (Yili) and Te Book of Rites (Liji), became hallowed as a Confucian classic that preserved the ancient rites and provided guidance on their implementation. By the Yuan dynasty, after the Mongol invasion, ‘Te unequivocal support for the traditional Chinese ritual system by the Mongolian court, from Khubilai onward, encouraged the spread of Confucian temples, schools, and other cultural institutions in almost every county of the Yuan empire, which in turn stimulated local officials’ patronage of ritual bronzes. When the Mongol Yuan dynasty collapsed in 1368, and rule by indigenous Chinese was reinstated, and official support for the casting of ritual bronzes was sustained for the next five centuries. Te exhibition continues with


‘Experimenting with Styles’, illustrating how the form, decoration, and function of


ancient bronzes were creatively


reinterpreted from the 13th to the 15th century. Te accompanying essay in the catalogue notes that bronzes were no longer limited to institutional ritual objects to be used on state or temple altars; they began to be collected and commissioned by an expanding segment of the Chinese educated elite to use on family altars or to enhance the scholar’s study. Tis, in turn, led to a proliferation


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Vase with archaistic design, Yuan dynasty (1271-1368), 14th century, bronze, 39.4 x 20.3 cm, diameter of rim 11.1 cm, purchase Brooke Russell Astor Bequest, The Metropolitan Museum of Art


of bronze makers and a vibrant commercial market, with a concomitant expansion of forms, decorative motifs, and styles. Artists continued to value antique models, especially as represented in the woodcut illustrations of bronzes in antiquarian catalogues such as Xuanhe bogutu,


but reinterpret felt increasingly them, creatively free to integrating


various antique motifs. For the large- scale vessels used on Buddhist, Daoist, and Confucian altars, the previously wide variety of types was reduced to two: a censer and a flanking pair of vases. Teir proportions also changed, becoming larger and taller, suiting their new roles as the primary bearers of offerings. ‘Establishing New Standards’ explores


further transformations in both the aesthetic and technical direction of bronze making from the 15th to the 17th century. Te Yongle emperor established Beijing as the centre of his rule and initiated construction of


the majestic


Forbidden City, which epitomises the grandeur of the early Ming. It was Yongle and


his immediate successors who


fostered the arts through the creation of an imperial painting academy as well as a system of workshops to produce all manner of materials to furnish the imperial


palaces, including


ceramics,


lacquer, cloisonné enamel, textiles, and sculpture. Taking advantage of the concentration of craftsmen living in the former Yuan capital, Ming imperial patronage resulted in an outpouring of


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