Gods, Guardians and Immortals
8 February – 5 August 2007
Room 91
Admission free
Painting is a highly regarded art form in
China, second only to calligraphy. This exhibition, the second in a
series of five planned displays of Chinese painting, focuses on
depictions of deities, virtuous humans and visions of paradise from
China’s major religions. There has always been a pragmatic view of
religions and philosophies in China and people have happily
accepted a mixture of Buddhist, Daoist and Confucian popular
images. This exhibition presents examples from the British Museum’s
extensive collection and is a unique opportunity to see these
paintings which are extremely fragile and can only be displayed for
short periods of time.
The first section of the exhibition will
examine Buddhism, explaining its key tenets and the meaning of the
symbols in Buddhist paintings. Paintings of the Buddha usually show
him accompanied by Bodhisattvas (enlightened beings who have chosen
to remain on earth to help others attain enlightenment), monks or
guardian figures. They often depict stories from his life on earth.
Examples on display include Maitreya's Paradise from the Tang or 5
Dynasties (9-10th century from Dunhuang on the Silk
Road) and the exquisite Portrait of a Priest, Qing Dynasty from the
17th century.
Daoist beliefs and the eight Daoist immortals
will be explained using paintings such as Qian Gu’s Portrait of
Laozi with calligraphy of the Daodejing, 1534, or Yuan Jiang’s 1723
painting of Penglai, the legendary abode of the Immortals.
Landscape painting is a very important aspect of Daoism, as
mountains were seen as places where vital energy was strongest.
Through a display of ceramic material, this section will also
investigate how Daoism and other religions have been combined to
produce a whole series of popular gods for use in everyday
life.
The famous Admonitions scroll will be used to
illustrate the depiction of Confucian philosophy. The scroll is
thought to be a sixth-century copy of the earliest and finest
painting attributed to Gu Kaizhi (about 345-496). The Admonitions
Scroll illustrates a typical Confucian poem about virtue and
correct behaviour for women. The author, Zhang Hua (AD 232–300),
cleverly used it to criticise the behaviour of the Empress Jia, who
dominated her young husband Emperor Huidi (reigned AD 290–306).
The next exhibition in this series on Chinese
Painting, ragile Nature, will open in spring 2008
For further information or images please
contact Hannah Boulton on 020 7323 8522 or hboulton@thebritishmuseum.ac.uk