By Cheryl Robbins / Taiwan news, Staff Writer


To celebrate the 80th anniversary of the National Palace Museum (NPM), a set of special exhibitions will be held from July 15 to October 15 in the museum's main building, in cooperation with museums from the United States, Japan, Mainland China and England.

Grouped under the title "Grand View," these exhibitions cover the topics of Northern Sung painting and calligraphy, Northern Sung Ju ware ceramics and Sung Dynasty printed rare books.

Painting and Calligraphy

The Northern Sung Dynasty was the golden era of painting and calligraphy in China. Displayed items from this period will include important paintings such as

"Travelers on a Mountain Path" by Fan K'uan, "Early Spring" by Kuo Hsi and "Wind in Pines among Myriad Villages" by Li T'ang, and calligraphic works such as "The Cold Food Observance" by Su Shih and "On Szechuan Silk" by Mi Fu. The multinational contributions to this exhibition come from the Metropolitan Museum and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in the United States, and feature "On the Bank of the Stream" by Tung Yuan and "Second Prose Poem on the Red Cliff" by Ch'iao Chong-ch'ang.

"Erh-ya",an ancient text devoted to philology(the study of writing), annotated by Kuo P'u,Chin Dynasty, This large-charaacter inprint is from the sung Dynasty./NPM

Ju Ware

Northern Sung Ju ware, renowned for the lustrous sky-blue color of its glaze, is considered the most excellent and exquisite of celadon wares. The firing process is mostly taken from legend, as scientifically it remains a mystery. Only 70 of these works have survived. The museum's collection of 21 pieces, the largest in existence, will be displayed in its entirety.

Northern Sung Dynasty Ju ware lotus-shaped warming bowl with greenish-blue glaze./photos Courtesy of NPM

This exhibition also crosses international boundaries with the inclusion of Ju wares from The Museum of Oriental Ceramics in Osaka, Japan, the Henan Provincial Administration of Cultural Heritage in China and the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art in England. Rare Books In contrast to printed books today, those in the Sung Dynasty were made using the highest quality

of paper and ink,along with refined printing techniques. The museum holds nearly 200 rare Sung Dynasty printed books, many the only existing copies. Thirty representative books will be on display.

This is the first time that the public will be able to view the NPM's internationally renowned collection of Northern Sung items in its entirety. Such a unique opportunity to peek into one of China's most highly creative periods should not be missed.