Exhibition & Museum News
Past Exhibitions 2009
THE BRITISH MUSEUM
- Treasures from Shanghai: ancient Chinese bronzes and jades
30 January – 27 March 2009
This display brings together examples of jades and bronzes from the Shanghai Museum collection.
It explores their role in ancient China as ritual objects and demonstrates their powerful legacy for
later generations. This legacy is vividly presented in two scrolls that show the collection of the
major official and diplomat Wu Dacheng. This is the first time that that these scrolls have been
included in a major exhibition of the bronzes from Shanghai. Jades and bronzes are the most
important objects from ancient China. They were used from very early times for sacred rituals and
burials and were associated with spirits and ancestors; they were also of great political
significance. Shanghai Museum is one of the leading museums in China and holds the finest collection
of ancient Chinese bronzes. The museum preserves the artistic and archaeological record of ancient
Chinese jades and bronzes.
The exhibition includes a selection of Shanghai Museum’s finest jades and bronzes, with sections on
jade and Neolithic pottery; bronzes from the Shang dynasty; objects from the Zhou dynasty (c.
1050–221 BC); tombs,hoards and technology; and later objectsand the Shanghai Museum.
(from the website of the museum)
Exhibitons 2006Last modified: 16.10.2009