The Great Collection of Cultural Relics in the Palace Museum: Ming and Qing Furniture (Part 1)

Author: Zhu Jiaqi, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-04-01
Features: In the 1950s-1960s, the Palace Museum reorganized and verified the cultural relics in Beijing, classifying artifacts and calligraphy/painting works into the category of cultural relics according to new concepts. All items from the former Qing Imperial Collection were assigned "Gu" numbering, totaling 711,338 pieces, including over 1,200 newly discovered items from unregistered collections. As a nationallarge museum, the Palace Museum is responsible for collecting and protecting precious cultural relics scattered in society. After 1949, it enriched its collection through channels such as purchases, transfers, exchanges, and donations. Newly acquired items were assigned "Xin" numbering. By the end of 1994, there were 222,920 such items. These nearly million cultural relics contain extremely rich historical materials of Chinese ethnic cultural arts. They span from the primitive society, Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han, through Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui, Tang, the Five Dynasties and Two Song periods, Yuan, Ming, to the Qing Dynasty and modern times. Each dynasty has outstanding works, without interruption. The categories of cultural relics are comprehensive, including bronze, jade, ceramics, steles and sculptures, calligraphy and famous paintings, seals, lacquerware, enamel, silk textiles and embroidery, bamboo and wood carvings, ivory and bone carvings, gold and silver utensils, rare collectibles, clocks and watches, jade and pearl jewelry, furniture, and other historical artifacts, etc.