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Chinese Art
The JSMA is renowned for its collection of Chinese fine and decorative arts. Collection strengths range from late-Imperial art of the Qing dynasty, including thrones from the Forbidden City in Beijing, to hanging scrolls from the fifteenth through the twentieth century. Ceramics, jade, textiles, and hanging scrolls are also represented. According to John Vollmer, textile scholar and former curator at the Royal Ontario Museum, the museum houses “one of the most significant public collections of Chinese costumes in North America.”
When the museum opened in 1933, its grandest gallery was quickly nicknamed “the throne room” in honor of the two Chinese throne sets that faced each other from opposite ends of the room. With the renovation, expansion and reopening of the museum in 2005, one of these magnificent sets is again installed in the Betty and John Soreng Gallery, surrounded by many of the same objects originally selected by Gertrude Bass Warner to evoke the splendors of the imperial court. A highlight of the gallery is a modern interpretation of a traditional Chinese “treasure wall,” featuring an array of jade, glass, bronze, and ceramic objects. Other items on display include a rich selection of court garments and accessories, ritual objects associated with Confucianism Buddhism, and Daoism, and architectural elements from the Forbidden City.
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