The Chinese reverse glass diptych of the mother and her child: the West meets the East
"Sotheby's" has recently represented a Chinese reverse glass painting - a diptych entitled “ A mother and a child” (reverse glass painting diptych, China for the European market, Qing dynasty, 18th century). The right wing represents the mother-and-a-child theme through
Lai Afong – one of the most prolific Chinese photographers of his era
Lai Afong (黎芳 or 賴阿芳, c. 1838 or 1839 – 1890) is considered to be a pre-eminent nineteenth-century Chinese photographer and the founder of the most successful photographic studio in the late Qing Dynasty.Lai Afong's subjects ranged from portraits and
The cultural gem of the Silk Road: Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, China
Carved into the cliffs above the Dachuan River, the Mogao Caves southeast of the Dunhuang oasis, Gansu Province, comprise the largest, most richly endowed, and most extended used treasure house of Buddhist art in the world.Four hundred ninety-two caves are
The Han Dynasty brick relief illustrates a salt-mining scene
Southwest China’s Sichuan province has boasted abundant well salt resources for more than 2,000 years. An Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 CE) brick relief illustrates the salt-mining scene of the time.The crowded compositions of digging wells, drawing and transporting salt water,
Well-preserved, lavishly painted, and gold-adorned marble warriors from China
Two pieces of painted white marble reliefs, dating back to the Five Dynasties (907-960), depict two august warriors safeguarding the tomb of Wang Chuzhi in North China’s Hebei province. They’re wearing armor and holding swords, with a dragon and a
The hairpin used by the nomadic people of China
The dangling hairpins, called buyao, were once widely used by women during the reign of the Han Dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE). One such artifact was unearthed in Inner Mongolia in the 1980s, later becoming a significant exhibit in the National Museum
The ancient Chinese bell decorated by the Emperor himself
The Jingyun Bell, weighing six tons, was cast in the year 711, the second year of the Jingyun reign (710-711) in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). The artifact comprises 26 bronze pieces and 32 protruding circular elements on its outside wall,
The Chinese “magic mirror” discovered at the Cincinnati Art Museum
The Curators at the Cincinnati Art Museum have figured out that an unassuming bronze disc in the museum’s 100,000-strong collection is actually an exceedingly rare magic mirror. Magic mirrors, also known as transparent or light penetrating mirrors, were first created in
The mysterious Chinese Bronze Age culture of Shijiahe
The Shijiahe and Post-Shijiahe culture is a not very well-known late Bronze Age culture in China, named after the Shijiahe, the archeological site first discovered in Tianmen City, Hubei Province. It was preserved in small-scaled exquisite sculptures that show the
The ancient Chinese “postman” depicted without a mouth
In ancient China, the postal system was established to facilitate the delivery of correspondences and promulgation of state degrees. A pictorial brick, created during the reign of the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420) and unearthed in 1972 from a tomb
