Footsteps - Jotaro's Travels: July 2018

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Footsteps - Jotaro's Travels

Taiwan National Palace Museum: 3rd Floor Gallery 302
(Treasures of Treasures) - November 2017

Close up of jade carving of a bokchoy cabbage (上海青) with katydid and locust sitting on the leaves - Qing Dynasty (清朝) (1644-1912).

The National Palace Museum, located in Taipei and Taibao, Taiwan, has a permanent collection of nearly 700,000 pieces of ancient Chinese imperial artifacts and artworks. Gallery 302 (A Gathering of Treasures) display only two pieces of artwork but it is artwork so well and finely carved that they are considered top masterpieces of Chinese Art. Due to photography angle, the photos below has been cropped, and due to photography distance, some of the photos were blur; as such it is best to visit the museum personally and view the artwork first-hand.

This blog comes in several pages, this is Gallery 302 of the third floor galleries, click below to navigate to other sections:

< Go to 3rd Flr 301 | Go To 3rd Flr Main | Go to 3rd Flr 303 >
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Go To 2nd Flr
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Go To 1st Flr

Meat-shaped stone - carved banded jasper, Qing Dynasty (清朝) (1644-1912).

This gallery contains what I would call the Treasures of Treasures, stone carving so well executed that they are exceptionally realistic. The craftsman had a keen eye to take advantage of the stone's natural colours and imperfections (such as cracks and holes) to form a part of their pieces these imperfections are unnoticed and fits in well as part of the carving.
The piece above is titled Meat-shaped stone, carved from banded jasper to look like a succulent piece of Dongpo (東坡肉) braised pork. Banded jasper naturally appears with layers which in this case suggest those of layers of fat and lean meat of a piece of pork belly. The artist had taken advantage of this feature to stain the layers from top to bottom with darker to lighter shades of brown, giving an effect of the meat stewed in soy sauce. Even more remarkable is that he had created many dimples on the top dark-brown stained surface to mimic follicles of pork skin. This transformed this tough stone to look even more like a piece of Dongpo pork just scooped out from the pot with the tender surface having a gelatinous quality.

The are long queues lined up to enter this gallery, and only a limited number are allowed in at one time to view the art work for a short while only. Due to these pieces being encased in a casing, it was quiet hard to get a good photo of them with my compact camera, given the limited time of viewing.
The first photo was taken of the actual display and does not do justice to the artwork. This second photo and subsequent photos are taken from explanatory posters lining the wall of the room. This better photo of the Meat-shaped stone shows more details which elaborates the high craftsmanship of the artist. There's a story behind the Dongpo dish was invented by Su Dong Po, a Chinese scholar/court official of the Song Dynasty.

Jadeite Cabbage - white & greenjade carving of a Chinese bokchoy cabbage (上海青) with a katydid anda locust sitting on the leaves , Qing Dynasty (清朝) (1644-1912).
This is the most favourite piece of the whole museum, with long queues lining up to see it. The artist followed the natural colours of the jadeite to turn the green part into leafy areas and the white one into stems. Despite the cracks and the impurities in the white part, they were skillfully adapted by the craftsman and turned into a freshly cut stalk. At the top of the leafs are a katydid and a locust which instantaneously turned this carving into a lively rustic scene.

Close up view of the top showing the detailed carving of the locust.

Another vies angle of the locusts.
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This blog comes in several pages, this is Gallery 302 of the third floor galleries, click below to navigate to other sections:

< Go to 3rd Flr 301 | Go To 3rd Flr Main | Go to 3rd Flr 303 >

↓

Go To 2nd Flr

↓

Go To 1st Flr

Second Floor Layout Plan National Palace Museum Taipei

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National Palace Museum
(國立故宮博物院)
No. 221, Sec 2, Zhi Shan Rd, Shilin District, Taipei City, Taiwan 111.
Entry fee: NTD 250
Hours:
Sundays to Thursdays: 8:30am to 6:30pm | Fridays & Saturdays: 8:30am to 9:00pm
Website: https://www.npm.gov.tw/en/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/npmgov/
GPS & Direction Map: 25.10235, 121.54849

(Click here for interactive Google Street View)

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