My China Dayze : SHANGHAI MUSEUM REVISITED

May 2. This was my first trip on the Metro on my own. Of course, I did not get lost, but I did take the wrong exit on the way home and had to go back underground and walk under the street.

There are four floors to the Shanghai Museum. I thought there were more. One can spend a day there and not view everything, but I in my haste rushed through. I spent an afternoon, found myself like many others worn out and searching for a place to just sit. (I had to split the infinitive.)

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You can see what I mean about needing to rest. The two short films on how jade was cut centuries ago, were a good stopping place, but I get ahead of myself.

FLOOR 1: THE ANCIENT CHINESE BRONZE GALLERY from the 18th Century BC to 3rd Century BC
I included photos from my first visit in an earlier Blog. You should be able to find it among the archived list. That day we went to People's Park and the Museum. The detail of the casting was impressive.

FLOOR 1: THE ANCIENT CHINESE SCULPTURE GALLERY

Much of the sculpture in this gallery reflects Indian influence, as you can see. There were many Buddhas.

FLOOR 2: ANCIENT CHINESE CERAMICS GALLERY 8000 years of Chinese ceramics

The work in here took most of the second floor. Breathtaking in the intricacies of design, the pieces are also a product of amazing technology. To build kilns that fire over 1200 degrees C in order to complete porcelain ware firings required great ingenuity and technical skill.

And then there is the old adage of design: form follows function.


This piece, we are told by the little tag, is a chamber pot.


Could this be called a bifurcated jar?

I believe this is the entrance into a kiln.

One model of kiln ran maybe 40 or 50 feet in length. It was so big that I could not get enough distance in the room in order to take a picture.

FLOOR 3: CHINESE CALLIGRAPHY
Much of the work displayed in this gallery was kept behind glass; the lighting system automatically dimmed and raised the lights. I think my phone camera tended to focus on the glass instead of the work itself. Or the reflection caused a bit of fuzziness. Nevertheless, I've always been in awe of a great calligraphy, seeing the weight of the brush, the release and the rhythmic effortless sweep of hand and relaxed imagination as it finishes the stroke.