MOSTRE · 17 febbraio 2016

Treasures of Imperial China between Han and Tang Dynasties on display in Rome. Latest days!

Palazzo Venezia - until February 28, 2016

On display at Palazzo Venezia, still for a few days, masterpieces coming from the Henan Provincial Museum, one of the largest museums in the People's Republic of China, tell of the passage from the Han Dynasty, when today's China began to take shape, to the Golden Age of the Tang Dynasty (581 AD – 907 AD).

the halls of the Fifteenth-century Refectory of Palazzo Venezia will showcase the masterpieces of the Henan Provincial Museum, one of the largest museums of the People's Republic of China. The exhibition will tell of the passage from the Han Dynasty – when today’s China began to take shape – to the Golden Age of the Tang Dynasty (581 AD – 907 AD). More than 100 pieces will be displayed, including a funerary robe with 2,000 jade listels woven with gold threads, and then lacquers, glazed earthenware, vases, objects made of gold, silver and jadeite. They attest to the extraordinary prosperity and cultural openness of the Tang era, when the capital of the Empire, known today as Xi'an, was the crossroads of all trades, it used to receive ambassadors of the world and housed over a million people.
- See more at: http://www.polomusealelazio.beniculturali.it/index.php?en/165/exhibitions-and-events/79/treasures-of-imperial-china-central-plains-between-han-and-tang-dynasties-206-bc-907-ad#sthash.xyQtYGvU.dpuf

The exhibition deals with the time when the capital of the Chinese empire, the actual Xi'an, enjoyed a long period of prosperity and cultural openness, as a metropolis with more than one million inhabitants, a crossroad of commerce and peole, and a craved destination for ambassadors coming from a number of different countries around the world.

The halls of the Fifteenth-century Refectory of Palazzo Venezia showcase around 100 valuable pieces: lacquers, glazed earthenware, vases, as well as objects made of gold, silver, and jadeite.

glazed earthenware, vases, objects made of gold, silver and jadeite - See more at: http://www.polomusealelazio.beniculturali.it/index.php?en/165/exhibitions-and-events/79/treasures-of-imperial-china-central-plains-between-han-and-tang-dynasties-206-bc-907-ad#sthash.xyQtYGvU.dpufglazed earthenware, vases, objects made of gold, silver, and jadeite. Centrepiece of the collection is a funerary robe in life size very well preserved, which will surely like to the youngest.

One of the most valuable pieces displayed in the exhibition is a jade robe (see picture above). The jade robe was a burial vestment used by nobility of the Han period in order to preserve the corpse of the dead noble from decay.

The exhibited robe is composed by 2,008 jade listels woven with gold threads. It includes scarf, facemask, sleeves, gloves, pants and shoes, and is known to have belonged to an aristocrat named Liang Xiaowang.

On display also elegant accessories and statuary, made with ceramic or other materials, for the first time portraying women as main leading players, presented while playing music or taking care of themselves, and dressed in elegant costumes and complex hairstyles.

Some ceramic pieces show exceptional grace and plasticity, as the Zun vase (old wine recipient) shown in the picture on the right. This piece, manufactured in grey ceramic during the Han Dynasty (202 - 220 AD), is adorned with gracious figures in acrobatic poses that serve as a handle.

Alessia Paionni

The exhibition takes place in the halls, once used as a refectory, at the ground floor of Palazzo Venezia. The fitting of the rooms is superbe and especially designed for this exhibition.