Riding the wind of rebirth

Therefore, even for this first-ever exhibition on the tastes of a certain emperor’s study, the museum actually did not have much space allocated.

Fortunately, the furnishings in the study room do not need to be large, they just need to be elegant, and this has been achieved in the exhibition area.

The design will be very simple, using a passage plus a small exhibition hall. Hanging at the entrance of the passage are the four-character exhibition title "Yanxun Xiu Se" written by Zhou Zhi, as well as the couplet "Clouds move the stream trees to invade the bookcase, and the wind blows the rock spring to moisten the ink pool."

Fortunately, both calligraphy pieces were hung in the style of a study. If this kind of paper-framed work were hung on a door lintel, it would look a bit like a funeral.

Zhou Zhi came here early mainly because he was afraid of this, but fortunately it did not happen.

After reading the title of the exhibition, you will enter the exhibition area. The exhibits in the study are naturally related to music, chess, calligraphy and painting, as well as a large number of exquisite decorative porcelain and study furniture.

The exhibits have been placed in the corridors on both sides and the glass counter in the middle.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a rich collection, mainly in the form of calligraphy and painting, as well as porcelain. In addition, there are many other collections, including inkstones, screens, jade carvings, lacquerware, bamboo and wooden objects. Only a small part of them are shown here today.

What Zhou Zhi cared most about was naturally calligraphy, painting and porcelain.

Kangxi was the first dynasty in the Qing Dynasty to truly flourish, spanning a long period of time. At that time, society quickly entered a period of prosperity from a recovery period, which of course was reflected in the production of porcelain.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art houses classic blue and white porcelain from the early Kangxi period, blue and white underglaze red, five-color porcelain, and three-color porcelain, as well as enamel and pastel porcelain developed later, and various colorful monochrome glaze porcelains - Langhong glaze, cowpea red glaze, Jilan glaze, sprinkled blue glaze, moon white glaze...

There are also antique porcelains fired by Jingde kiln workers at the order of Emperor Kangxi, which were mainly imitations of the five famous kilns of the Song Dynasty preserved in the Qing Palace.

On the wall on the other side are many ancient paintings from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection, including the most famous "Zhao Yebai Tu", "Summer Mountain Tu", "Viewing the Waterfall Tu" and "Trees in the Distant Sky".

The calligraphy works selected include "The Biography of Lian Po and Lin Xiangru" by Huang Tingjian of the Northern Song Dynasty and "Poems on a Boat in Wujiang" in large characters by Mi Fu, as well as some calligraphy and paintings by some emperors, including "Birds and Bamboo" by Song Huizong Zhao Ji, "Seven Quatrains in Cursive Script on Rainy Tianshan Mountains" by Southern Song Gaozong, "Seven Quatrains in Regular Script on Snow and Butter" by Empress Yang of Ningzong, and "Poem on Climbing the Mountain Pavilion after Snowfall" by Song Lizong.

There is nothing wrong with this. For wealthy literati, the calligraphy and paintings hung in their study are unlikely to be from the current dynasty. They are generally famous works from the previous dynasty. For example, the famous Sanxiting study of Emperor Qianlong was named after its collection of Wang Xizhi's "Kuaixue Shiqing Tie", Wang Xianzhi's "Zhongqiu Tie" and Wang Xun's "Boyuan Tie".

Finally, there is a large space left on the wall to display the "Kangxi Southern Tour Map" which reflects the life of Emperor Kangxi at that time. Of course, it is not the complete version. What is exhibited this time is the third volume, which is a part from Jinan to Mount Tai.

This painting has a clear date, 1689, and focuses on depicting the scene of Emperor Kangxi's visit to Mount Tai, the Eastern Peak.

The funniest thing is that the author Wang Hui has never been to Mount Tai. He was also inspired by his predecessors to design the pictures based on maps and woodcuts, and used aisles between imaginary landscapes to connect specific locations.

To emphasize the connection between Kangxi and China's great past rulers, Wang Hui adopted a green and blue landscape painting technique that echoed the spirit of the heyday of the Tang Dynasty.

The glass cabinet in the middle displays some small items, but the smaller the item, the higher the level of craftsmanship is often.

The most famous item here is the Kangxi Five-color Twelve Flower God Cups. This small set of cups is the pinnacle of Kangxi Five-color Porcelain. The "Twelve Months Flower Cups" consist of twelve pieces, with paintings on one side and Tang poetry on the other. Each cup is painted with a seasonal flower, referring to a famous woman in history, and inscribed with a corresponding poem, and is commonly known as the "Twelve Months Flower God Cups".

The inscriptions on the bottom of these cups are small, with different fonts, and most of them are not very neat. The specifications of the official kiln are 6.7 cm in diameter, 2.8 cm in foot diameter, and 4.9 cm in height. In addition, all of them are folk kilns and later imitations. Judging from the existing handed down products, whether it is painting or body making, the Flower God Cup is the peak of the craftsmanship of the Kangxi official kiln.

Zhou Zhi has a collection of three Twelve Flower God cups from the Kangxi official kiln, which are doucai (a type of doucai), which is actually rarer than wucai (a type of wucai), but unfortunately they are not a complete set.

As far as Zhou Zhi knows, the only other place where the original set of the Twelve Flower God Cups with five colors can be found is here, besides the Kaifeng Museum. Even the Palace Museum only has a few single pieces in its collection.

The second glass counter displays jade carvings, lacquer carvings, ivory carvings, rhinoceros horn carvings, and bamboo and wood carvings from the Kangxi period, all of which are commonly used tools and furnishings in a study.

The third glass counter is the "Eight Big Codes" on loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Zhouzhi. This is the first time that the entire Eight Big Codes have been exhibited in this dynasty, and a cowpea black tea ball is also set up.

At the end of the corridor is an exhibition hall, which is decorated exactly like the largest room in Yanxun Mountain House. Zhou Zhi asked Mr. Wang for the pictures. Of course, the things cannot be exactly the same, but the Metropolitan Museum of Art has so many collections that they can always find something similar to make up the number. This makes the exhibition hall look antique and full of oriental elegance.

"If Elbow considers working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, he will definitely be honored as the most popular tour guide in the Oriental Art Department." An Siyuan was sitting in a wheelchair and joked to Zhou Zhi who was whispering explanations to Mai Xiaomiao all the way.

"Hello, Mr. An." Zhou Zhi smiled and took over the wheelchair-pushing job from Guan Shuning. "To be honest, my first pot of gold was earned as a tour guide. I worked as a guide at the Jingyang Confucian Temple in the north of Shudu and earned several dollars."

"Hahaha, how old were you then?"

"First year of high school, five years ago."

"Did you ever think at that time that one day five years later, you would send the set of 'size eight' you bought in New York to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for exhibition?"

"Even now, I still think this idea is a bit exaggerated." Zhou Zhi smiled behind An Siyuan.

"How do you feel about the layout of this room?" An Siyuan asked, "Does it have the feel of Yanxun Mountain House?"

"The degree of restoration is already quite high." Zhou Zhi looked around and still felt a little regretful: "Actually, I think it would be perfect if the Five-Colored God of Wealth could be displayed."

"What?" An Siyuan couldn't help laughing at Zhou Zhi's amusement: "Putting the God of Wealth in the study! How could you come up with that? You are obsessed with colorful porcelain!"

“Can’t we put the five-colored God of Wealth in the study room?” Mai Xiaomiao adheres to the principle of asking if he doesn’t understand something.

"The pair of gods of wealth that Elbow mentioned are the best multicolored porcelains in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Their status is no less than that of the Twelve Flower God Cups." An Siyuan said, "They are a pair of figures dressed in Ming Dynasty clothing. Whether in terms of color, shape or craftsmanship, they are a model of hard color in Kangxi porcelain. Their characteristics even far exceed those of the Twelve Flower God Cups. No wonder Elbow likes them so much. I want to bring them into my study, hahahaha..." (End of this chapter)