Power and Glory: Court Arts of China's Ming Dynasty

Now at the St. Louis Art Museum!
February 22nd through May 17th, 2009

Power and Glory: Court Arts of China's Ming Dynasty is a landmark exhibition, as it is the first to showcase a full spectrum of extraordinary works made during the reign of an imperial house that ruled China from 1368 to 1644. A representative range of architectural fragments, archaeological materials, and decorative arts are featured in the exhibition, as well as paintings; ceramics; jade, gold and silver jewelry; metalwork; lacquerware; textiles; musical instruments; and woodblock printing. Many of the works have never been shown in the United States before.
With over 125 spectacular works commissioned by, or presented to, the imperial courts in both Nanjing and Beijing, the exhibition draws special attention to the hitherto neglected artistic, cultural, and technological achievements of the early Ming period, which established very high standards in terms of ingenuity of design, luxury of materials, and superb craftsmanship for the remainder of the dynasty.
The works in the exhibition have been drawn from China's finest museums—the Palace Museum, Beijing; the Nanjing Municipal Museum; and the Shanghai Museum—along with objects from the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.

http://saintlouis.art.museum/ming_dynasty/resources.php