Ancient Chinese bronzes on display in New York

NEW YORK -- A comprehensive collection of Chinese bronzes from the 12th to 19th centuries will be on display in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) starting Friday for a period of seven months.

Co-organized by The Met and the Shanghai Museum, the exhibition will showcase around 100 collections from The Met and nearly 100 loans from major institutions in China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Germany, France, and Britain.

Titled Recasting the Past: The Art of Chinese Bronzes, 1100-1900, the exhibition aims to be the most comprehensive study of Chinese bronzes during this period.

Featured in the exhibition are around 60 loans from eight institutions in China, including major works such as a monumental 12th-century bell with imperial procession from the Liaoning Provincial Museum, documented ritual bronzes for Confucian temples from the Shanghai Museum, and luxury archaistic vessels made in the 18th-century imperial workshop from the Palace Museum in Beijing, according to a release by The Met.

"While bronze as an art form has long held a significant role throughout China's history, this exhibition explores an often-overlooked time period when a resurgence of craftsmanship and artistic achievements revitalized the medium," said Max Hollein, director and chief executive officer of The Met.

"Bringing together major loans from institutions in China alongside works from The Met collection, this exhibition offers viewers an important opportunity to better understand the lasting aesthetic and cultural impact of bronze objects," said Hollein.

The exhibition includes five thematic and chronological sections that explicate over 200 works of art -- an array of bronze vessels complemented by a selection of paintings, ceramics, jades, and other media.

"This exhibition attempts a long-overdue reevaluation of later Chinese bronzes by seeking to establish a reliable chronology of this art form across the last millennium of Chinese history. The exhibition will also distinguish outstanding works from lesser examples based on their artistic and cultural merits," said Lu Pengliang, curator of Chinese Art at The Met.

The cooperation and partnership among institutions from different countries also allows antiques with close ties to appear together to give people a more holistic view.

The Shanghai Museum's "Lady reclining over an incense cage," a painting by Chen Hongshou in the Ming dynasty, demonstrates people's elegant life in the mid-17th century and how an incense burner in the form of a duck was used, said Lu.

Lu put a bronze incense burner of this kind from The Met together with the painting.

Lu also discovered a Daoist ritual cauldron from the Cernuschi Museum (Museum of the Asian arts of Paris) and a Daoist ritual vessel from the Saint Louis Art Museum, which share the same mark and are believed to be from the same user in Qing Dynasty.

"Our studies show that the two items must once belong to the same person and they have specific functions in Daoism," Lu told Xinhua.

It's interesting to put them together in the exhibition and the two items also would be displayed in Shanghai later this year, said Lu.

"This whole project is a project of partnership, of friendship, of collegiality, of an ability (on) what we can achieve when you do something together," said Hollein at a press preview of the exhibition on Thursday.

"This exhibition marks another milestone in the collaboration between our two museums. I am also very pleased to share that this is an exchange exhibition, which will meet Chinese audiences at the Shanghai Museum in November this year," said Chu Xiaobo, director of the Shanghai Museum.

The exhibition will be open to the public in New York from Feb 28 to Sept 28, 2025 and the Shanghai Museum will host the exhibition from Nov 12 to March 16, 2026.

In today's world, dialogue and mutual trust are more precious than ever, where cultural exchanges play an irreplaceable role, said Chu, who noted that museums are the most inclusive and diverse platforms for cultural exchanges.

"We look forward to deepening partnerships, expanding collaborations, fostering friendships, and strengthening our shared commitment with global colleagues, to preserving and celebrating the beauty of human civilizations," said Chu at the press preview of the exhibition.