From dragons to golf – the fabulous Ming dynasty

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The British Museum’s latest blockbuster does not disappoint, bringing to life ‘the vibrancy of Ming court culture’, finds Jeannie Labno

This exhibition explores a pivotal period in Chinese history (1400–50), during the rule of the early Ming dynasty, when China extended international relations by opening up trading routes, thereby enabling the exchange of goods and people, and establishing important diplomatic contacts.

An important feature of this period was the vibrancy of its court culture – not only the main imperial court based in the new capital at Beijing, but the multiple princely regional courts, each ruled by one of the 26 sons of the first Ming emperor, all of which provided a stimulus and market for artistic and technical creativity.

The social and cultural changes during this period allowed China to redefine herself and her connections with the rest of the world, resulting in a flowering of creativity and cultural diversity, which  is highlighted by a wide range of objects arranged in five sections: the court; arts of war; arts of peace; belief; trade and diplomacy. They include recently discovered items not previously seen outside China, as well as exhibits from many museums around the world.

Many people will be aware of the blue and white Ming porcelain, which was mass-produced under the control of the Ministry of Works and exported all over the world. And, of course, there are very fine examples here with their exquisitely detailed decorations of birds, foliage and abstract designs, whose delicacy of touch takes the breath away. But one of the aims of the exhibition is to demonstrate that there is far more to the cultural contribution of this period than Ming ceramics, and in this it succeeds.

To decorate the vast halls of their palaces, the Ming emperor and his extended family required brightly coloured objects and so encouraged new developments in craft technology. A wonderful exampleis a large, brightly coloured jar with dragons made from metal with cloisonné enamels. The large size of this cannot be appreciated from a photograph (see carousel above), which is a pity. It is stunning.

Equally impressive are the gold vessels – uncommon as the supply of gold and precious gems was controlled by the Imperial court and many were later melted down. The gold flask incised with dragons among clouds is reputably ‘the largest gold flask to survive from the early Ming period’ – surprising, therefore, that its dimensions are not actually given. The gold chopsticks and ladle, and the superbly engraved basin with two dragons were found in imperial tombs (the five-clawed dragon is a common Imperial emblem). Then there are the gold jewellery items – for men as well as women – such as the finely-wrought gold-filigree hair pin of a phoenix with five streaming tail feathers (emblem of an imperial woman) and the flower-shaped hair ornament made of concentric leaves of beaten gold that move, which was found on top of a prince’s coffin.

But not all that glitters is gold and no less wonderful is the lacquer-work: boxes, trays and plates, superbly carved in high relief and wonderfully tactile – especially the rounded lacquer box with figures in a landscape (no.9), whose warmth and plasticity invite the touch. I can’t quite see how these fantastic objects, with their deeply carved surfaces, could be used to serve food as described by the labels – presumably they were ceremonial.

There are many other types of objects – furniture, textiles, weapons, scrolls, etc. – quite an eclectic mix, so there should be something there to interest everyone. There is even a celestial globe decorated with 60 stars in silver-point – the stars, constellations and signs of the zodiac engraved in Arabic and thought to have been used by Arabic mathematicians and astrologers at the Ming court.

For me the paintings were particularly fascinating with their wonderful craftsmanship, deft use of colour and attention to essential details.

The painting of  the Xuande emperor hunting demonstrates the balance between delicacy and detail – in particular the rendition of the horse is very convincing and the way it stares out at the viewer is reminiscent of a motif often used by Italian Renaissance artists.

The portrait of General Yang Hong appears iconic – rather like the portraits of Elizabeth I – with the somewhat stylized rendition of the massive body enveloped in its voluminous red robe edged in blue – and yet the face is realistic, almost a sketch with little colour in contrast to the deep, vibrant colouring of the rest of his attire. Similarly, the faces on the two attendants behind him are individualized and also contrast with their vividly coloured robes.

My favourite piece, however, was the scroll Amusements in the Xuande Emperor’s Palace – beautifully painted, wonderful composition and not a few surprises… It purports to show the emperor overseeing various palace sports – one of which is football! Yes, football – he is shown watching a group of over-dressed eunuchs trying to keep the ball in the air with their feet. Analogy with modern-day football players comes inescapably to mind…

Another sport depicted is golf. Now as a Scot I was always under the impression that golf was invented in Scotland and played first on the Meadows in Edinburgh – yet here we have a Ming emperor and his eunuchs wielding golf clubs. There is even a depiction of a young ‘golf caddie’ fetching a club from the pavilion (clubhouse). Polo is also shown with a group of four horsemen waiting to play and superbly depicted – the horses especially are very realistic, and once again one faces directly out gazing at the viewer. Furthermore, these four all show the same figure in four different poses – another Renaissance trick.

Evident in the paintings is a knowledge of perspective (see, for example, the golf pavilion), recession and a degree of contrapposto in the figures (where the weight is unevenly distributed on the feet and the body twists slightly) – albeit not as sophisticated as in later Italian Renaissance depictions but nonetheless there. Which, of course, raises the question of how? Did this knowledge appear independently in Italy and China or was one influenced by the other – and if so, which way round? Unfortunately such issues are not addressed, despite the fact that one of the curators is an art historian.

While sympathizing with the exhibition’s intention to highlight China’s Asian connections and ‘to replace older histories of China that over-emphasise contact with Europe’, I do feel that totally ignoring all European connections is not particularly enlightening either and leaves these intriguing art historical questions unanswered.

Last but not least is the Tribute giraffe with attendant in the Trade and Diplomacy section. This was sent by the ruler of Bengal who received in return textiles, porcelain and other luxury goods, demonstrating the reciprocal diplomacy of the period. However, it seems that to the Chinese the giraffe resembled the mythical qilin, which apparently only appears when a sage occupies the throne. The gift was, therefore, officially interpreted as heaven’s blessing on the emperor’s reign, and images were produced and distributed to advertise this ‘fact’. Which only goes to show that political ‘spin’ is nothing new.

This is a fabulous exhibition and there is so much to delight the eye and stimulate the mind. Enjoy.