Collections at Taipei Palace Museum
Updated: 2007-06-18 10:26
The composition of the artifacts in the Taipei Palace Museum was largely compiled in accordance with the perspectives of prevailing scholars at the time the artifacts were selected and shipped from the mainland to Taiwan. The museum's collection mainly includes ding (ritual tripod caldron) and other bronze ware, which are considered a symbol of Chinese culture; paintings and calligraphy, which are highly valued by scholars and were easily transported; and jade articles, which were traditionally worn by men of honor as an adornment. In addition, there are also refined porcelains selected from the PalaceMuseum in Beijing.
In the collection of the Taipei Palace Museum is the 28-character calligraphy tracing book "Clear Day after Brief Snow," attributed to the highly revered historic calligrapher Wang Xizhi and praised by Qing Emperor Qianlong as "28 Shining Beads." It is regarded as one of the "Three Rarities," the other two being "Letter to Boyuan," attributed to Wang Xun, nephew of Wang Xizhi, and "Mid-Autumn Festival," attributed to Wang Xianzhi, son of Wang Xizhi, both among the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing. Among the invaluable ancient paintings of China, Guo Xi's Early Spring is housed by the Taipei Palace Museum, while Zhang Zeduan's UpperRiver during Qingming Festival is preserved by the Palace Museum in Beijing. The Palace Museum in Taipei does not hold a single "dragon robe" worn by an emperor, because the robes collected in Beijing's Palace Museum were all of the emperors of the Qing Dynasty, and were not considered to be of much value by scholars in 1948.
The Taipei Palace Museum is regarded by the Taiwan people as an embodiment of Chinese culture, and the revered place plays an important role in Taiwan's external cultural exchanges.
The late Qin Xiaoyi, former curator of the Taipei Palace Museum, once said
that since the cultural relics held at the Taipei museum were transported from
Beijing, after China's national reunification the precious articles should be
returned to their original home: The Palace Museum in
Beijing.
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