The Oriental art, and perhaps primarily the Chinese, has always fascinated us Europeans. We began early to collect old Chinese art and thanks to Museum Director Bo Gyllensvärd we were able to acquire Ceremonymaster Joen Lagerberg's collection, which included a large number of mirrors. After the death of Osvald Siren we were also able, with the assistance of Museum Director Bo Gyllensvärd, to acquire the larger part of Osvald Sirén's private collection of Chinese objects. The arthistorian Osvald Sirén was born in Finland and had expressed his wish that some part of his collection should return to his native country.
T'ANG-DYNASTY (618-906 A.D.)
During the troubled centuries following the Han dynasty much preliminary work was done in art and handicrafts which was to reach full maturity when the country blossomed forth as never before, both materially and spiritually, during Sui and above all during T'ang (586-906). At that time China became a great power politically, not only ruling a widely extended kingdom but also Korea, Japan and large parts of Central Asia. Communications were again opened to South-West Asia and the Mediterranean countries, both along the Silk Route and to an even greater extent by the sea route through Indonesia via India, to the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea up to Fostat, i.e. old Cairo. Through the rapid conquests of the Arabs, the teachings of Mohammed spread like wildfire round the whole of the Mediterranean and far to the east. The founder of the T'ang dynasty, Tai-Tsung, had already made peaceful contacts with the Arabs, and Muslim communities appeared in the large towns of China where merchants from the West organized steadily growing trade with the Chinese. These close contacts meant that Western influence was felt in many fields, not the least of which was art.
During the T'ang period goldsmiths and silversmiths reached the peak of perfection under the strong influence of Persian silversmiths. The beautiful hairpins in silver gilt, (no. 425) are exellent examples of this, even though the design is entirely Chinese.
425. A pair of hair pins with gilt tops,
chased silver
Decoration on the tops of the pins is openwork and depicts dragons and phoe nixes surrounded by palmette vines emerging from the dragons' iaws. The birds hold a band rosette in their beaks. Elaborate details. The pins have two prongs. Length 345 mm, width 55 mm.
At the begining of the dynasty plastic illusionism was applied to figure painting under the influence of Indian painting, and sculpture became considerably more physical than before, this, too, being a result of the direct influence of the Indian Gupta style's sensual figure representation. A Buddha head in limestone (no. 435) is a good examples of the T'ang style.
435. Grey limestone sculpture,
h. 195 mm, br. 110 mm
Buddha head with oval face, arched eye lids, narrow eye slits, triangular nose, small mouth, ears with long, extended lobes, a crease around the neck. The hair with "ushnisha" on the crown is treated summarily. Hewn from a stela or cave wall. The style suggests T'ien-lung Shan.
Height 195 mm, width 110 mm. Siren collection.
NEAR EAST-PERSIA
During the 9th century a highly developed bronze art flourished in various parts of Persia. As the districts were very isolated from each other the objects vary. In Luristan in the Zagros mountains were found horse-bits, idols and pins. Typical for Amlash at the south-western corner of the Caspian sea are the many objects representing animals, stags, bulls etc. During recent years a number of terra-cotta figurines were also found here which have excited admiration through their superb "modern" design.