Museum announces Year of the Snake lineup

This year, Shanghai Museum will also work with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to present an exhibition of Chinese bronze art. Showcasing more than 200 objects from the collections of the Met, the British Museum in London, Musee Cernuschi in Paris, the Palace Museum in Beijing, the Shanghai Museum and the Liaoning Provincial Museum, the exhibition Recasting the Past: The Art of Chinese Bronze 1100-1900 will take place at the Met from Feb 28 to Sept 28.

Ancient Chinese Bronze art reached its climax in the late Shang (c.16 century-11th century BC) and early Zhou (c.11th century-256 BC) dynasties in China, when ritual vessels in a wide variety of forms and patterns were cast for the worship of ancestors and the commemoration of important events.

Apart from ceremonial significance, bronze items continued to be made and appreciated, developing distinctive styles and aesthetic criteria. Bronzes were long favored by the literati and continued to have an impact on Chinese decoration art, with traditional bronze patterns, shapes and designs used on other materials, Chu says.

The exhibition also marks the first collaboration between the Shanghai Museum and the Met as exhibition co-organizer. Previously, the Met has borrowed objects from museums in China. "It is completely different this time, as our staff has been involved in the preparation, transportation and planning of the exhibition," Chu says.

The exhibition will focus on bronze treasures of the period, study their interpretation, the passing on and development of the early bronze ritual tradition, and combine lacquerware, ceramics and jade of the same period to show the nostalgic fashion and cultural consciousness of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) literati furnishings, and present the unique artistic value of late bronze artifacts.

The exhibition will later be held at Shanghai Museum East from Nov 12 to March 16, 2026.