The Shaanxi History Museum: a guide to the collections
- Kelly
- Oct 9, 2017
- 9 min read
I have been this museum for a few times and unfortunately found many people traveled from abroad came with no expectation and a confusing mind. I feel like it needs a little bit explanation. That is why I want to write this guide and intend to make it as much visible as it can be to visitors. In this guide, I will tell you how to get into the museum without sweating for hours, what you are expecting, what to see and why.
let's go straight to the point.
Before you come:
The Shaan'xi History Museum opens at 9:00 am or 9:30 am depends on whether you come during winter time or summer time. There are five exhibition inside the house, three permanent exhibitions and two special exhibitions. The word "special" means you have to buy additional tickets to access in those exhibitions.
As well known, China divided her own history into dynasties in a chronological way. That explains why we see they organize objects differently from most of museums in the U.S.
At this museum, three permanent exhibitions are: Chinese history until Qin Dynasty (n.d. to 207 B.C.); Han Dynasty and beyond until Tang (221 B.C. to 618 A.D.); the Great Tang dynasty and beyond (618 A.D. to r.14th century).
Two special exhibitions are:
a special collection of gold and silver ware of the Tang dynasty (featured with Sogdian and Persian techniques) and frescoes of the Tang dynasty. To access to the first one you have to pay 30 Chinese yuan (US$4.5) and latter you pay 300 Chinese yuan (US$45).
When you come:
You will find people are lining up to get in. It can take up to 2 hour or more to enter the building during the summer time, and even worse during national holidays.
But what about you don't have so much time and you don't want to wait for so long?
That is why I encourage my readers to spend US$4.5 to see the first special collection. Facing the front door of the museum, the left is a long waiting line to get free tickets to see three permanent exhibitions, and the right is four windows selling tickets of special exhibitions.
Option 1: Free: three permanent exhibitions. (wait up to 2 hours to get in)
Option 2: US$4.5, three permanent exhibitions + a special collection of gold and silver ware of the Tang dynasty (quick pass)
Option 3: US$45, three permanent exhibitions + frescoes of the Tang dynasty (quick pass)
Option 4: US$49.5, all five exhibitions. (quick pass)
If you plan to spend 3 hours or less, I recommend option 2 and go straight into the museum. If you plan to spend a day or two, I strongly recommend you see all five exhibitions. I will explain my reasons later.
Twelve Must-sees
1. Painted Pottery Basin with a Design of a Fish and a Human Face 人面鱼纹彩陶盆
Location: 1st Exhibition Hall (one of three permanent exhibitions)
Description: The Pottery can trace back to Banpo, one phase of neolithic age, which is securely dated between 4790 and 4340 B.C. A small hole in the bottom served as the passageway for the soul of the dead to travel in the nether world, and it was inferred that the human face design was a totem or an expression of the blessings of the living toward their deceased relatives and the affection of the elder towards their children.
2. Bronze Tiger-shaped Tally with Inscriptions 杜虎符
Location: 1st Exhibition Hall (one of three permanent exhibitions)
Description: A tally was a special token used by the emperor to transmit his orders to mobilize armies and to confer military power upon his banner men. And it must be small to carry. This one is in the shape of a tiger, bearing 40 gold-inlaid characters. The tally is comprised of two halves, the left and the right. The left half was kept in the imperial palace, while the right half was held by the commander stationed outside. Only when both parts are fitted together, completing the inscriptions, would an officer accept the written order as valid.
Tiger Tallies are perhaps among the most interesting relics from ancient China. Because they were uncommon in their own period, they have become extremely rare and valuable today.
3. The Queen's Jade Seal 皇后玉玺
Location: 2nd Exhibition Hall (one of three permanent exhibitions)
Description: The jade 玺 or seal was said to be owned by the first Queen of Han Dynasty (r. 220 B.C.). It has a tiger-shaped handle and square base. When it was first discovered in the 1960s, Mao Zedong's wife, the infamous Jiang Qing, the usurp of China's cultural revolution, gave an order to her people and asked to escort this seal back to Beijing. And she kept this seal until the "Gang of four" was shattered. Perhaps Jiang Qing imagined she could be the Queen one day as well.
4. Gilded and Silvered Bronze Bamboo-joint-shaped Incense Burner 鎏金银竹节熏炉
Location: 2nd Exhibition Hall (one of three permanent exhibitions)
Description: The incense burner consists of a brazier, a stem and a pedestal. The three parts are riveted together. The whole surface is plated with gold and silver. It is one of the best-known metalwork objects of this period and a consummate piece of craftsmanship.
Two inscriptions on the base of the lid and on the edge of the foot, identify and describe the object, giving dates of manufacture and of delivery, probably in 137 and 136 B.C. The inscriptions associate it with the family of Princess Yangxin, the elder sister of the Great Emperor Wudi (r. 141-87 B.C.) and probably was the reward Emperor Wudi bestowed upon his sister and her husband, the chief General Wei Qing (the one who helped exploring the ancient silk road).
5. Tri-colored Pottery Figure of a Lady 三彩女俑
Location: 2nd Exhibition Hall (one of three permanent exhibitions)
Description: The lady has a round and full moon face and small hair buns hanging down to her forehead. Her red lips are slightly open and her eyebrows are immaculate. She is elegantly sculpted, showing majestic and gentle style and reflecting the dignity of noblewomen of the Tang Dynasty.
The tri-colored glazed pottery of the Tang dynasty drew on the skills of Chinese painting and sculpture. Glazes of different colors were painted on and while chemical reactions took place in the process of firing in the kiln, they dripped naturally so that the colors mingled with each other and formed smooth tones. The tri-colored glazed pottery flourished during its peak of the Dynasty, when pottery pieces of this kind were used by the elites as funerary objects. Those in existence today are limited in number.
6. Celadon Bottom-filled-in Kettle with a Loop Handle 青釉提梁倒装壶
Location: 3rd Exhibition Hall (one of three permanent exhibitions)
Description: The lid and body are connected with a phoenix-shaped loop handle and lion-shaped spout. The body is engraved with entwining peony flowers in blossom and a plum-flower-shaped hole at the center of the bottom. There is a tube inside the pot to separate the water, therefore, when the pot is upright, the pouring-in tube holds the water so that the bottom hole doesn’t leak. This smart design represents the high standard of porcelain making of that time (r. 960 A.D.).
7. Carved Agate Cup with Gold Mouth 镶金兽首玛瑙杯
Location: a special collection of gold and silver ware of the Tang dynasty
Description: The cup actually originated from a wine utensil known as "rhyton" in the west, which was very common in handicrafts in central and west Asia, especially in Persia (pre-Islamic Iran). The academy is still divided over its origin. It may have been a trade object from a foreign country or made by Tang craftsmen based on a design they saw from the West. The bull's head can be seen clearly with the horns suggested by the variations on the handle. If it was made by foreign hands, it should have been more clear about what kind of animals it wish to indicate since most of rhyton like-this-kind appears to be much more obvious. No matter where it was made, it is a precious treasure which reflects the cultural interchange between Tang and other parts of the world.
These two Greek rhytons above belongs to the Cleveland Museum of Art.
8. Gold Bowl with Design of Lotus Petals and a Mandarin Duck 鸳鸯莲瓣纹金碗
Location: a special collection of gold and silver ware of the Tang dynasty
Description: The bowl is beaten into shape, with a flared lip and a trumpet-shaped foot with a bearded rim. The whole surface is decorated with interlocking rows of repoussé lotus petals against a ring-punched background. The upper layer of petals is alternated with mandarin ducks, parrots, geese, foxes, roebuck, deer, and rabbits, while the lower layer is filled by vine scrolls. The ring foot is decorated with a band of rhomboid designs, and flying birds. Flowing clouds are engraved in the inner side of the foot.
Unlike most of gold and silver ware before Tang, this bowl and almost all objects of this collection are made with Sogdian technique. Sogdiana, a Central Asian Kingdom was populated by an Eastern Iranian people and settled in territories roughly corresponding to the modern provinces of Samarkand and Bokhara in modern Uzbekistan.
The Sogdians occupied a key position on the ancient Silk Road and Sogdian traders dominated the caravan routes of Central Asia. Luxury goods brought to China by them included silver and gold vessels and jewelry, grapes and wine as well as Buddhist images, glass, coral, and amber.
9. Gilded Silver pot with Design of Parrots 鎏金提梁鹦鹉银罐
Location: a special collection of gold and silver ware of the Tang dynasty
Description: The pot was hammered into shape and the whole surface is decorated with engraved designs against the ring-punched ground. The belly has floral medallions, leafy sprays and vivacious parrots at the center. The neck and ring foot are decorated with petals and water-chestnut flowers, while the center of the lid has floral medallions surrounded by grapes, pomegranates, and acanthus.
When it was discovered in 1970s, it was half-full with a thin gold foil floating in the water. Meanwhile, twelve exquisite pure gold dragons stood on the gold foil around which scattered ten rare gems of diverse colors.
10. Pure Gold Dragons 赤金走龙
Location: a special collection of gold and silver ware of the Tang dynasty
Description: There are twelve tiny dragons when they were first found standing on the gold foil. They are exquisitely made, with eyebrows, neck, tail and beard clearly delineated and the bodies covered with minute scales. Many believe that these tiny dragons were used as ceremonial objects in Taoism. It shows what dragons look like during the China's Tang dynasty.
11. Gilded Silver Flask with Dancing Horses Holding Cups in Their Mouths 鎏金舞马衔杯纹银壶
Location: a special collection of gold and silver ware of the Tang dynasty
Description: This wine flask is an imitation of the combined shape of the leather bag and saddle used by the nomads on the northern borders of the Tang Empire. Each side of the flask is decorated with a dancing horse holding a cup in its mouth.
The horses at Tang Dynasty were widely used not only in war, transportation and other areas, but also for the social entertainment of the imperial elites, in particular the attractive dancing horses. It’s even said that at the birthday of the Emperor Xuanzong, the dancing horse even danced in concert with the music and held the cup in its mouth to congratulate him on his birthday. After the Turmoil of Anshi in Tang Dynasty, dancing horses gradually disappeared into the history of ancient China as a unique imperial entertainment. Since then, many have even doubted whether this entertainment ever existed, since the actual details of the practice were left to the imagination by the historic documents. After this flask was discovered, dancing horses was verified. It is the one and only piece of the Tang Dynasty, and even of whole ancient China.
12. Silver Censer with Openwork Designs of Flying Birds and Grape 葡萄花鸟纹银香囊
Location: a special collection of gold and silver ware of the Tang dynasty
Description: A censer was used by the nobility for spreading perfumes. It could be hung on the body or placed inside the bed-curtains. This incense burner consists of two perforated hemispheres joined together by a hinge with a bolt on either side. It hangs from a short chain. The bowl inside is suspended from two concentric rings, called gimbals, which turn on their own axis, rather like a ship’s compass, on gyroscopic principles. Thus the bowl maintains an upright position and, regardless of how much the censer is swung, the incense will not spill. The upper hemisphere has a small ring at the top for suspension, its chain and hook. The mechanism reflects the advanced technology and metal manufacturing standard of the time.
If you plan to spend more time here, I strongly recommend visiting the Special Collection of Frescoes of the Tang Dynasty. It was renowned for the quality and extremely fine wall paintings. These paintings were removed from murals for safekeeping and well put in this museum. You will not see the same kind elsewhere in the world.
To conclude, I hope you can enjoy the exhibition.
Disclaimer: Some of pictures and texts are based on online research. My special thanks to Virtual Collection of Masterpieces for their beautifully written interpretation of collections mentioned above, though not all are perfectly accurate. If you wish to re-post, you can send an email to me. You can also contact the original author regarding copyrights of these photos. If I ever misuse them, please let me know and I will make changes accordingly.
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