Page 47 - Jindezhen Porcelain Production of the 19th C. by Ellen Huang, Univ. San Diego 2008

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object category - bronzes, painting and calligraphy, ceramics, and miscellanea (qita Չ˼),

which included tapestry, embroidery, jades, cloisonné, red lacquer, and ancient books.

Temporal order was specified within such object-bound categories. By centering the

presentation of Chinese national art by form – object – the exhibitions in Shanghai and

Nanjing had a dual conceptual effect. Chinese presentation strategies promoted a

timeless universality of cultural treasures and at the same time portrayed Chinese art

proceeding along historical development.

The British slighting of the material nature of displayed objects as expressed in

display layout bothered experts from Beijing. In his article describing his experience as a

keeper of objects sent to the exhibition in London, Fu Zhenlun criticized the British for

refusing to display objects from newly excavated sites at Anyang, Henan. Fu noticed that

the London display wrongly separated objects from the northwest among six different

galleries. His critique might have stemmed from the importance he attributed to the

physical location and archaeological origins of artifacts, rather than to their temporal

dating. Fu also noted that the British did not include textiles, showed insignificant

architectural objects of imprecise dating, hung paintings in the wrong manner, and

arranged colophons “upside down.” To Fu, haphazard placement of art objects did not

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adhere to “exhibition principles” (zhanlan yuanze). Thus, Fu’s critiques of display

modes, alongside Zheng and Minister Guo’s emphasis on the movement of material

objects illuminate a type of object-oriented thinking that surpassed a conception of

objects limited to their status as cultural symbols. Instead, Chinese officials and

organizers showed a preoccupation with the objects’ material and physical aspects - as