Ming: 50 years that changed China, British Museum

The hotly anticipated British Museum Ming Exhibition (Ming: 50 years that changed China) opens this week, writes Joseph Funnell 

In the burgeoning (new) era of the dragon, it’s useful to remind oneself that the West has arrogantly claimed cultural dominance only for a relatively small period of history, outside of which that laurel has indisputably belonged to China. Thanks largely to colonial European tastes, popular knowledge of the artworks of the legendary Ming Dynasty is limited to a ‘Ming vase’. There’s so much more to see at this exhibition at the British Museum, which shows the full diversity of Ming China’s artistic output in mediums such as porcelain and painting, gold and textiles, and tells an untold history of unmatched traditions of craftsmanship and a brilliant cultural blossoming.

The exhibition

This show will bring to life 50 crucial years in China (1400-1450) through various exquisite objects loaned from 10 Chinese and 21 international museums (and yes, an iconic blue and white Ming vase will actually be there to see). These objects tell a number of stories. During this period, when the Ming Imperial family was building Beijing’s Forbidden City, China sailed into first place on the world stage; the intrepid explorer Zheng He’s discoveries predate Christopher Columbus’s by decades. The fabulous Chinese courts, outshining Europe’s grotty capitals, were dotted around the vast nation and flourished thanks to increasingly close cultural contact with Asia and Arabia. The show tells of the unfamiliar Ming political system and how four emperors shared the crown. 

Coveted objects 

The ‘Warrior’ emperor Yongle's sword, the ‘Bureaucrat’ emperor Hongxi's calligraphy and the ‘Aesthete’ emperor Xuande's  paintingsare some of the strangest and liveliest exhibits. The fourth, the Zhengtongemperor, was too young to rule; his regents’ paintings will hang alongside the prince’s gold , jewellery and furniture . There will also be the world’s first  encyclopaedia , from long before the printing press reached England, and countless other artefacts, from weapons to robes. Visit this show to witness nothing less than the reincarnation of a nation through its material culture.

Understanding China 

The British Museum’s worthy goal is to put right the pernicious Western view that not much of note happened in China until Europeans went there. In this century, when we’re likely to see much more of China’s influence, understanding this country’s history is essential. But this exhibition is also an unmatched assembly of some of the most rarely seen and beautiful works of art ever created, and they may well turn your artistic instincts on their head.

Ming: 50 years that changed China, at the British Museum, Sep 18, 2014 to Jan 5, 2015