China’s Treasures in Vienna | DiePresse.com

In the room that was previously called the “Berger Hall” because of the ceiling painting and which the new director Jonathan Fine has renamed the “Golden Hall”, 76 small treasures from the “Forbidden City” are now on display, presented in showcases. This is the name of the imperial palace complex in Beijing, to which the Palace Museum belongs. The collection there includes almost two million art and cultural objects, including furniture, paintings and weapons. In Vienna you can see snuff bottles, brush holders and small figures, but also vases made of jade.

The Chinese curator Zhenghong Liu chose the motto “Harmony in Diversity” for these 18th century treasures. Highlights include a gold-plated Ruyi scepter with three inlaid jadeite stones and the gold-plated copper clock with rotating fruits.

Is there a connection to the clocks in the Wunderkammer in art history? With such objects, the European monarchs at that time wanted to demonstrate technical artistry and scientific progress, but also power and wealth – all aspects that were certainly also important for the Chinese emperors. For the objects made at the court in Beijing, the principle applied was that every decoration had to have a meaning and that each of these meanings should promise good luck.

The Ruyi scepter was considered a symbol of prosperity and luck. In the copper clock, the rotating ornament forms into the Chinese character “shou”, a symbol of longevity. The pineapple-shaped flowers can rotate and make music sound – a masterpiece that also uses the pineapple motif to tell an interesting detail about the differences between East and West: In the West, this exotic fruit was considered a typically Chinese motif, while in China the pineapple was seen as an expression of European styles.

These works are flanked by the two marble sculptures “Venus and Cupid” and the “Iris as Rainbow Goddess” that stand freely in the room. Both were created by Italian masters in the 19th century – is there a connection to the Chinese objects here too?

Is cultural exchange perhaps even under discussion in this small show? Like four years ago in the magnificent “Phoenix and Dragon” exhibition in the Louvre Abu Dhabi, where the artistic connections between China and the Islamic world from the 8th to 18th centuries were documented using the two motifs on works of art from porcelain to carpets? The KHM room texts actually talk about “intensive global exchange”. The Chinese equivalent of the “Hundred Antiques” for the European Chamber of Wonders is mentioned.

However, the objects did not and do not meet each other consciously even today. The direct neighborhoods with the marble sculptures in the Wunderkammer are not a curatorial intention. The pictures and busts in Room XIX are simply too heavy to clear away. The reason for the exhibition is not cultural-historical research, but rather political will.

Already agreed in 2019 by the then Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, the show originally planned for the World Museum in 2021 was intended to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Austria and China. But then the corona pandemic got in the way. Now, without further ado, the 55th anniversary is mentioned as the reason for this “Greetings from China”. Above all, it illustrates the philosophy that was in effect at the Chinese court at the time: “conveying ideals through objects.”