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The Metropolitan Museum of Art is located at 82nd Street on 5th Avenue in New York, USA. It is opposite the famous American Museum of Natural History. It is the largest art museum in the United States, covering an area of ​​130,000 square meters. It is as famous as the British Museum in London, the Louvre in Paris, France, and the Leningrad Art Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. It is ranked among the four largest museums in the world, with a total collection of 3 million exhibits. Under the promotion of Douglas Dillon, a member of the museum's board of directors, the museum has continuously increased the number of Asian artworks and cultural relics. Many of the Chinese cultural relics exhibited in the Asian Pavilion are rare treasures. Some paintings are also covered with seals of collectors and emperors of various dynasties, indicating that the paintings have experienced the vicissitudes of history. In the early 1980s, the museum also imitated a small Suzhou garden. The "Ming Xuan" in the courtyard displays many furniture from the Ming Dynasty in China.

Please enjoy below

Tang Mirror

Bronze chariot yoke ornaments with doe (pair) Northern China 10th century BC Height 11.6cm

Bronze sheep statue, northern China

Gilded belt hook inlaid with pearls, green Song stone and jade, Warring States Period, length 16.5cm

Gold-plated silver belt hook Eastern Zhou Dynasty - Western Han Dynasty Length 14.1cm

Buddha Statue Exhibition Hall

Lacquer and Ramie Seated Buddha Statue

Early 7th century Tang Dynasty Lacquer and Ramie Height 96.5 cm Width 68.6 cm

This Buddha statue has a history of nearly 1,400 years. It is a seated Buddha made by dry lacquer and paper-mache technique in the early 7th century during the Tang Dynasty. The statue is vivid and delicate, just like a real person, with bright eyes and a peaceful expression. It is sitting cross-legged, wearing a cassock, with the right shoulder exposed. The folds of the clothes are natural and realistic, smooth and vivid, and the exposed chest muscles are smooth and elastic. There are traces of color on the surface of the cassock. The exposed skin of the Buddha statue can be seen with obvious traces of gold. There are bright red and blue colors on the surface of the cassock. The Metropolitan Museum's annotation indicates that the Buddha statue comes from the Zhengding Dafo Temple in Zhili Province.

Japanese antique dealer Yamanaka Teijiro established a branch of Yamanaka Chamber of Commerce in Beijing at the beginning of the last century, and officially started the business of purchasing Chinese antiques in Beijing, providing a steady stream of high-quality Chinese artworks for branches of Yamanaka Chamber of Commerce in Europe and the United States. One day in 1917, an antique dealer brought four Buddha statues. Yamanaka Teijiro, who was familiar with Chinese and Japanese culture, saw that these old Buddha statues were not ordinary objects, but were made of the ancient craft of dry lacquer and paper-mache. Yamanaka Teijiro believed that the four dry lacquer and paper-mache Buddha statues in front of him had an extraordinary origin, so he bought them all at a high price without hesitation.

After Yamanaka Teijiro got these Buddha statues, he kept one of them and shipped the other three to the New York branch of the museum for public sale, which attracted the attention of major museums in the United States. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York soon bought one of them at a high price, and the other two were bought by the Freer Sackler Gallery in Washington and the Walters Museum of Art in Baltimore. The seated Buddha statue we see now is the treasure purchased at a high price.

This group of Buddha statues has a very important cultural relic value in the history of Chinese Buddhist sculpture art. The importance of this group of Buddha statues lies in the fact that they were made using the dry lacquer and paper-mache technique that was used thousands of years ago. Dry lacquer and paper-mache is now commonly known as bodiless lacquerware. The only well-known dry lacquer and paper-mache Buddha statues made in the Tang Dynasty are the dry lacquer and paper-mache statues of Tang Jianzhen, a national treasure of Japan (80.1 cm). This shows how precious these four Buddha statues from the Tang Dynasty are.

However, since there were few large-scale productions of dry lacquer and paper-mache Buddha statues in history, the dry lacquer and paper-mache Buddha statues that have been handed down are rarely seen. And those that have been handed down from the Tang Dynasty to the present are even rarer. As Sun Zhixin, deputy director of the Oriental Department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, commented on this Buddha statue in the museum's collection: This Buddha statue is a very important cultural relic in the history of Chinese Buddhism or Chinese art. Its important feature is that it is a hollow lacquerware. There are very few such hollow lacquerware Buddha statues in China. From the Tang Dynasty to the present, I dare not say that this is the only one, but I am afraid it is one of the few Buddha statues. From a domestic perspective, there is no such large and well-preserved hollow lacquerware Buddha statue in China. This is a very, very precious cultural relic. It can be called the treasure of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Chinese Pavilion.

Buddhist statues are not only sacred objects of Buddhism, but also precious works of art. However, as time goes by, ordinary wooden Buddha statues are easily eroded by natural forces, and will inevitably crack, deform, and fade, and cannot permanently maintain the artistic charm of the Buddha statues.

The dry lacquer and ramie craft is an ancient handicraft. It uses dry lacquer, ramie, colorful stone powder and other raw materials, and is completed through 48 processes such as drying, grinding, and ramie. When using this process to make Buddha statues, first make a work tire, as a wooden sculpture of Buddha statues, and then use hemp, and then paint, wait until the paint is dry to a certain extent, and then take out the wooden tire, so that it becomes a layer of empty shell. Ramie is a plant of the genus hemp, that is, ramie. In the volume of "Sakyamuni Fangzhi" annotated by Tang Huilin, the "Jia Lu" article, it is noted that "according to the original meaning of Fangzhi, Jia Lu means to remove the hollow image lacquer cloth." Later generations called dry lacquer and ramie "de-molded" or "de-sanded", that is, de-molded lacquerware. After the treatment of dry lacquer and ramie craft, the Buddha statue is brightly colored, presenting a smooth and shiny texture, and is not prone to cracking and deformation, which can better preserve the original charm of the Buddha statue, delicate texture and smooth clothing folds.

According to historical records, the dry lacquer and paper-mache craft was already used in Buddhist statues during the Eastern Jin Dynasty. It is said that it was invented by Dai Kui, a famous painter and sculptor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, around 300 AD. In the Northern Wei and Sui Dynasties, and in the Tang Dynasty, the Buddhist statue technology, while inheriting the legacy of the Northern and Sui Dynasties, continued to absorb foreign art and formed a new artistic style, making the Buddhist statue art reach the highest level in history. The literature on dry lacquer and paper-mache statues in the Tang Dynasty records that in the first year of Ruyi (692), Wu Zetian changed the two statues of the God King in the Puguang Buddha Hall of Shaolin Temple in Songshan into paper-mache statues and placed them in the palace. In the first year of Tiance Wansui (695), Wu Zetian ordered the manufacture of a large paper-mache statue.

Yixian Tri-color Arhat Liao Dynasty

The "Draft of Yi County Chronicles" compiled by Shaoxing Shou Pengfei in the 1930s states: "Bafowa is in the northeastern branch of the bottom of the Emei Temple ditch, also known as Baifo Cave and Baifo Mountain...Emo Mountain is 50 miles northwest of the prefecture, with a cliff overlooking to the south, commonly known as White Face Mountain...There is a cave halfway up the mountain named Baifowa"; The "Draft Chronicles" also states: "There were 72 Buddha statues in the temple, all made of porcelain", "The Porcelain Buddha in Baifowa of Emei Temple is behind Emei Temple 55 miles northwest of the county. Baifowa is also known as Baifo Cave or Baifo Mountain and Bafowa. A stone tiger was carved on the mountainside, with eight large Porcelain Buddhas and 72 small Porcelain Buddhas inside. A pavilion was built against the mountain, with a three-color Porcelain Guanyin inside. It was later stolen by foreigners and sold abroad. There are now three in England. The foreigners there think it is a Tang three-color Porcelain statue."

In 1912, two antique dealers in Beijing sold a life-size tri-color seated Arhat statue from Yizhou to German sinologist Belchisky. Belchisky was amazed by the superb realistic charm of the statue and praised it highly. After learning from the Japanese Shikanosuke Terazawa that the statue came from Bafowa, Yi County, Hebei, 130 kilometers southwest of Beijing, Belchisky immediately rushed to the site for a field investigation. Under the pretext of "recuperation", he moved into Yongfu Temple in the Western Qing Tombs, which was only 20 meters away from Bafowa. Then he hired a local guide and a photographer to ride a mule to the destination.

In fact, Belchisky had "investigated" Bafowa twice in the summer and autumn of 1912. In between the two "investigations", Bei was still scheming and sent people to Yi County many times to gather intelligence and seek to purchase this batch of Arhat statues. According to Bei's record, after learning about this, the local government also bluffed and took measures to arrest and punish a group of cultural thieves who stole and hid Arhat statues. Before Bei's second visit to Bafowa, local officials had already ordered "martial law", and the antique dealers sent by Bei before were also arrested and tortured, but were released soon after.

The Yongfu Temple in Xiling, where Pei stayed during his second trip, was also searched. Local officials strictly prohibited local residents from selling any cultural relics to Belchisky, but the local officials' embezzlement proved that the above measures were just a pretense of worrying about the outflow of benefits! The greedy government officials finally couldn't resist the temptation. According to Pei's record, the county government once kept two Luohan statues. The local officials pretended to be nice. On the one hand, they claimed that they would place the Luohan statues in a temple for worship. On the other hand, they subtly hinted to Pei that the statues could be sold at a good price. One of the complete statues was later collected by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, USA, and the fragments of the other Luohan were lost afterwards (see Mr. Jin Shen's translation, Harada Shuren's "On the Pottery Luohan Originally in Yi County, Zhili Province", "Cultural Relics Spring and Autumn", Issue 2, 2003).

During his trip to Bafowa in November 1912, Pei personally witnessed or knew the whereabouts of six Arhat statues. The information provided by the local aborigines involved as many as nine to ten Arhat statues! Soon, all the Arhat statues in Bafowa were stolen and sold out. It is extremely regrettable that at least three extremely valuable Arhat statues were broken by the villagers in the process of stealing the statues down the mountain at night. According to Pei, the first Arhat statue whose hiding place he knew was broken into at least six pieces! Another mountain dweller in Baihua Mountain once told Belchisky that he had tried to carry an Arhat down the mountain, but the statue was smashed to pieces!

While studying in the United States in the early 20th century, Mr. Liang Sicheng saw a three-color arhat statue unearthed from Bafowa in Yi County at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania. In his famous book "History of Chinese Sculpture" he later wrote, he commented: "Their appearances are all like the real ones, and the folds of their clothes are also very realistic. ... Some have a graceful demeanor, ... some frown and look earnest. In short, they all have their own personality and are not just empty and illusory statues. Their lifelikeness can be compared with Roman statues. They are all portraits created by careful observation of daily expressions. Not only the appearance, but also the structure of the body and the drape of the clothes are all based on realism. The observation of the third dimension is very subtle, so it is a faithful representation, no less than the best works of the Italian Renaissance."

This group of life-size tri-colored Arhat statues from the Liao Dynasty hidden in the mountains was identified as Tang Dynasty works in the early years. There are 16 of them in total. At least three of them were destroyed during the theft and transportation out of the country in the early 20th century. During World War II, one of them, which was previously in the collection of the Berlin Museum of East Asian Art, was unfortunately destroyed in the war when the Soviet army conquered Berlin. So far, only 10 of them are still in existence:

Yixian Tri-color Arhat (partial close-up)

Arhats are those who understand the teachings of the Tathagata by hearing them. They are the fruition of Buddhist practice and are the people who serve the Buddha and spread the Dharma. Therefore, from Ananda and Kashyapa, the two disciples beside Sakyamuni, to the ten great disciples headed by Sariputra and ending with Ananda (see Volume 1 of the Collection of Translations), to the Sixteen Arhats (The Record of the Dwelling of the Dharma), and further to the Eighteen Arhats, the Twenty-Four Arhats (The Biography of the Transmission of the Dharma Treasury), the Five Hundred Arhats, etc., it can be said that there is no strict difference in level whether they are called disciples, patriarchs or arhats. It simply means that they have cultivated to the fruition of arhat, and in artistic modeling they all appear as monks, the so-called arhat image.

According to records, Lu Lengjia and Wang Wei of the Tang Dynasty had painted the Sixteen Arhats, but no physical remains have been found; not only in calligraphy and painting, but even in sculptures, no single statue of the Sixteen or Eighteen Arhats of the Tang Dynasty has been found. The Sixteen Arhats became popular in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties. The famous Zen Master Guanxiu (832-912) was famous for his paintings of Arhats, and the Sixteen Arhats handed down from generation to generation are line-carved stone sculptures. The Sixteen Arhats were increased to Eighteen Arhats roughly during this period. Su Shi wrote "Ode to the Eighteen Great Arhats", which recorded that when he was exiled to Hainan Island, he obtained the "Eighteen Arhats Picture" made by Zhang of Jinshui in Jianzhou, Former Shu from the folk.

Tri-color ware of the Tang Dynasty was first and foremost funerary objects. Judging from the unearthed objects so far, most of the tri-color ware were depicted in the images of civil and military officials, noble ladies and maids, camels, horses and servants, tomb guardian beasts, and daily utensils. It can be said that they include various themes from life and imagination, but tri-color ware of Buddha statues and Arhats has never been found in the Tang Dynasty.

However, during the Song, Liao and Jin dynasties, due to years of war, copper resources were seriously scarce. The Jin Dynasty had a stricter copper ban, and even copper mirrors, which were necessities of life, had to be officially registered and engraved before they could be used. Under such circumstances, the materials of Buddha statues were varied. In addition to the original copper and stone, there were iron Buddha statues, lacquer Buddha statues, wooden Buddha statues, ceramic Buddha statues, and clay Buddha statues. It can be said that there are all kinds of materials. Many of them still exist today because of the lack of copper.

Painted stone Buddha statue Jin Dynasty height 174cm

Painted wood carving of Manjusri Bodhisattva from the Northern Song Dynasty, height 109.2cm

Ming Dynasty painted wood carving of Shancai boy height 69.9cm

Jin Dynasty painted wood carving Bodhisattva statue height 149.9cm

Liao Dynasty painted wood carving of Water Moon Guanyin statue height 118.1cm

The display layout of the five Buddha statues

Tang Dynasty Ananda painted stone statue height 175.3cm

Northern Song Dynasty Gilded Woodcarving Guanyin Statue Height 94cm

Ming Dynasty painted wood carving lion roaring Guanyin statue height 107cm

Yuan Dynasty wooden sculpture of Buddha height 99.7cm

The Northern Wei Dynasty gilded bronze Buddha statue is 140.3 cm high. This is the largest known early gilded bronze Buddha statue.

Ming Dynasty Water Moon Guanyin wooden statue height 76.8cm

Ming Dynasty Lead Brass Guanyin Height 38.4cm

Northern Qi stone lion height 65.4cm

Liubo Pottery Figurines from the Han Dynasty

Liubo, also known as Lubo, is an ancient Chinese gambling game that uses six chopsticks to play chess. The winner is the one who captures the pieces. Dabo, an ancient game that requires the player to kill specific pieces to win, is a very early military chess game. It is speculated that chess-like games may have evolved from Dabo.

Liubo was popular in the Han Dynasty. The unearthed Han Dynasty figurines show two people sitting opposite each other playing Liubo. Bao Hong's "Bo Jing" says: "Use twelve pieces, six white and six black. The head thrown is called Qiong." Each person has six pieces, and the game is divided into twelve lanes. There is a horizontal space in the middle as water, and two fish are placed. When playing, throw the pick first, then move the pieces. When the piece reaches the water, eat the fish, and eat one fish to get two chips. More specific playing methods have been lost.

Seems to be in deep thought

Seems to be exclaiming

Western Jin Dynasty dragon head bronze vessel

Gilded dragon head, exquisite work of the Eastern Han Dynasty

Deer-shaped bronze bowl, Han Dynasty, length 11.7cm

Tile end Western Han Dynasty diameter 18.4cm

Bronze mirror Eastern Han Dynasty diameter 23.5cm

Bronze mirror Eastern Han Dynasty diameter 10.8cm

Gold and silver inlaid bronze sword Western Han Dynasty

Judging from the existing archaeological data, the combination of jade and swords appeared as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty. In the late Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, jade sword ornaments with all four elements gradually formed. In the Western Han Dynasty, such jade sword ornaments became an important decoration on the swords of princes and nobles, and also became a symbol of social status at that time. The material of jade sword ornaments is mainly jade, including jade sword heads, jade sword guards, buckles on scabbards, and jade ornaments at the end of scabbards. The jade sword ornaments of the Han Dynasty have made new developments on the basis of the Warring States Period. The shape is slightly higher than that of the Warring States Period, and the edges and corners are more rounded. Some even have hollowing technology, which is unprecedented in the history of jade sword ornaments. The patterns of jade sword guards in the Han Dynasty are mainly animal face patterns, and a high relief image of Pan Chi is also popular.

Turtle-shaped seal (copper on the left and silver on the right) Eastern Han Dynasty

Bronze Western Han Dynasty 4.4cm high

Green glaze sheep herd Eastern Han Dynasty diameter 21.9cm

Green glaze poultry Eastern Han Dynasty

Green glazed pottery mill Eastern Han Dynasty width 22.1cm

Green glazed pottery sheepfold Eastern Han Dynasty

Green glazed pottery stove Eastern Han Dynasty

Green glazed pottery building Eastern Han Dynasty height 84.5cm

The overall display of this group of green-glazed pottery is like a historical scroll that reflects the life and customs of the Eastern Han Dynasty unfolding before your eyes.

Painted pottery pot Western Han Dynasty height 20.8cm

This painted pottery pot, with its brilliant color pigments and confident, unrestrained, and free-flowing black brushstrokes, achieves a perfect decorative effect, showing the flamboyant personality of the Western Han Dynasty.

Bronze statue of a Liubo player

Two actors, two spectators

Painted pottery cup Western Han Dynasty Height 11.6cm

Painted pottery tripod Western Han Dynasty height 17.9cm

Painted pottery box Western Han Dynasty height 17.5cm

Jade Pig Eastern Han Dynasty Length 11.4cm

Animal-shaped celadon candlestick, Western Jin Dynasty, length 12.7cm

Green glaze soul bottle Western Jin Dynasty height 45.4cm

Tiger-shaped flagpole base, Han Dynasty, width 13cm

Snake-shaped handle bowl Eastern Jin Dynasty

Celadon Tiger, Eastern Jin Dynasty, length 23.2cm

Turtle-shaped inkstone Sui to Tang Dynasty Length 29.5cm

Gold-plated copper ornament inlaid with turquoise, white coral and lapis lazuli Height 7cm

Painted pottery camel Northern Wei Dynasty height 24.8cm

Painted pottery figurine of a warrior holding a shield, Northern Wei Dynasty, height 23.5cm

Pottery figurine holding an eagle, Northern Wei Dynasty

Tomb guardian beast Northern Wei Dynasty height 31.1cm

Gilded bronze altar for Maitreya Buddha, Northern Wei Dynasty, height 76.8cm

Painted figurine of a man holding a hoe

Painted female pottery figurine

Painted female dancer figurine, Tang Dynasty, height 15.6cm

The figurine is labeled Resting Dancer at the Met, but I prefer to think of it as a Tang Dynasty version of The Thinker.

Three-color female sitting figurine Tang Dynasty height 37.5cm

Painted mural of Buddha and his disciples, Xinjiang, 4th-5th century AD, 23.2 x 26.7 cm

Painted mural of Bodhisattva, Xinjiang, 9th-10th century AD, 36.8 x 33 cm

Watercolor painting of Buddha on wood Xinjiang 6th century AD Height 59.7 cm

Tomb Buddhist Stone Sculpture Northern Qi

Epitaph Tang Dynasty

Coffin door panel Tang Dynasty 152.4cm

Painted Hu people camel figurine Tang Dynasty

White Porcelain Double Dragon Zun Tang Dynasty Height 51.1cm

The double dragon vase is also called the double dragon ear vase. Its basic features are: a dish mouth, a slender neck, and a jar-shaped body. The two dragon mouths hold the edge of the dish, and the tails connect to the jar shoulder, standing on both sides of the mouth of the vase in the shape of two ears, hence the name. According to unearthed materials, the double dragon vase appeared in the Sui Dynasty and was popular in the Tang Dynasty. It was mainly popular in the area of ​​Luoyang, the eastern capital. It was rarely found in other areas and disappeared after the Tang Dynasty. The double dragon vases discovered in the Tang Dynasty include white porcelain double dragon vases, three-color double dragon vases, yellow glaze double dragon vases, and copper double dragon vases; among them, white porcelain double dragon vases are the most common; copper double dragon vases are rare, and only one has been found (in the collection of the Poly Museum). The double dragon vases of the Tang Dynasty have beautiful shapes, solemn and generous, and round and plump lines. They are rare ancient art treasures. Therefore, in recent years, a large number of counterfeit Tang Dynasty double dragon vases have flooded the cultural relics market, especially white porcelain double dragon vases.

From the data of Tang Dynasty white porcelain double dragon vases that have been discovered, the specifications can reach 60 to 70 centimeters, while the lowest ones are only a dozen centimeters high, and most of them are 25 to 45 centimeters. The shapes are similar, and the changes are mainly concentrated in the neck and shoulders. They can be mainly divided into two types: slender plain neck and neck with spiral spiral patterns. The shoulder type can also be divided into full shoulder type and sloping shoulder type. The double dragon used as double ears also changed sooner or later. The early dragon body was straighter, with the legacy of the Sui Dynasty. The later dragon body became curved, with three to five nipples attached to the dragon's back, the double dragon mouth holding the edge of the vessel, the ears standing upright, a crown on the head, and one end of the double dragon horn curled and attached to both sides of the crown. The entire dragon body is hand-molded, and it looks vivid and powerful.

The Tang Dynasty white porcelain double dragon vase has a beautiful shape and smooth lines, but it is still in the early stages of white porcelain development. Like other white porcelains of the same period, it still has defects and deficiencies in body and glaze.

Black glaze bottle Tang Dynasty height 30.5cm

The decoration methods of black-glazed porcelain in the Tang Dynasty were not very rich. The black-and-white decoration objects found in the data are bowls with white inside and black outside, jars with black glaze and white edges, and black-glazed porcelain animal sculptures. Black porcelain and unglazed animal porcelain bodies were excavated at the Hunyuan Kiln Site of the Tang Dynasty, and black-glazed small animal porcelain statues were excavated at the Jiaocheng Kiln Site. The most distinctive black porcelain in Shanxi Province in the Tang Dynasty is the flower-glazed porcelain of Jiaocheng Kiln, also called Tang Jun. It uses black-brown glaze as the base, and the glaze is randomly sprinkled with moon-white spots, like clouds and magma, and is free and easy. The shapes include drums and porcelain jars, but unfortunately no complete objects have been found. At the same time, only the Lushan Kiln in Henan produced similar objects.

The black-glazed porcelain glaze of the Tang Dynasty has a strong milky feel, and the color tends to be grayish, brown, or yellowish-green. It is not as vitrified as the black-glazed porcelain of the Song and Jin Dynasties, and has a strong glassy texture.

Porcelain pillow Tang Dynasty width 16.5cm

Blue glaze porcelain vase Tang Dynasty height 16.5cm

Three-color plate, Tang Dynasty, diameter 29.7cm

Three-color box Tang Dynasty

Three-color bowl Tang Dynasty diameter 8.3m

Three-color pillow Tang Dynasty width 11.1cm

Green glaze jar Tang Dynasty Height 7.9cm

Three-legged porcelain cup Tang Dynasty Height 3.8cm

White porcelain bowl Sui to Tang Dynasty diameter 11.4cm

Three-color jar Tang Dynasty

Porcelain box Tang Dynasty diameter 16.7cm

Three-color female rider and horse, Tang Dynasty, height 44.5cm