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Visitors enter the conservation lab at Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology in Xian. From left: Jan Hatchette, deputy director of communications, VMFA; Hou-mei Sung, Cincinnati curator of Asian art; and Li Jian, VMFA curator of East Asian art. (Photo by Katherine Calos)
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Alex Nyerges, left, director of the VMFA, and Li Jian, East Asian art curator, talk with Shao an Ding, director of the conservation lab at Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology. (Photo by Katherine Calos)
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A set of bronze Zuo Bells from around the mid-9th century B.C. hang in the Shaanxi History Museum. A similar bell is in the "Terracotta Army" exhibition at the VMFA. (Photo by Katherine Calos)
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The group traveling in China with the VMFA is shown at the Beilin Stele Forest Museum. From left: Erin Bagnell, public relations manager, Richmond Region Tourism; Matthew McClain, creative services director, WTVR-CBS 6; Ed Slipek, freelance writer; Grace Guohui, Xian tour guide; Jessica Noll, director of local programs, WTVR-CBS 6; Jan Hatchette, deputy director of communications, VMFA; John Oseid, travel writer; Katherine Calos, freelance writer; Travis Fullerton, chief collection manager of photography, VMFA; and a Beilin museum tour guide. (Photo by Travis Fullerton, © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts)
Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of reports by freelance writer Katherine Calos, who is traveling in China this week with a group of journalists and officials with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Cincinnati Art Museum to see where the masterpieces in the VMFA's current "Terracotta Army" exhibition were created and to talk with curators and archaeologists.
The Big Wild Goose Pagoda in Xian, China (Photo by Katherine Calos)
Tuesday was a day for the birds in China with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts “Terracotta Warriors” travelers. You could call it Goose, Goose, Goose, Duck!
First came the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, where bronze geese are among the items under conservation.
Then a power outage pushed the group outside for a detour to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, before returning to the institute for interviews in a crowded display hall while an alarm beeped behind us.
After lunch, the Shaanxi History Museum revealed a restored bronze goose lamp among its treasures.
And finally, duck came with about 30 other dishes at a farewell dinner in Xian, home of the fabled life-size figures buried 2,000 years ago to guard the emperor who first united China.
The farewell dinner menu in Xian included duck among the 30 or so dishes. Typical Chinese dining style has a rotating platform in the center of the table and a variety of dishes from which diners can serve themselves. Travelers included WTVR-CBS 6 reporter Jessica Noll, center, and her husband, videographer Matthew McClain, to her left. Emily Maxwell, a Cincinnati reporter, sits at right. (Photo by Katherine Calos)
Wednesday, it was on to Beijing, where the drive in from the airport took almost as long as the 95-minute flight from Xian, to explore the VMFA connection with the Palace Museum. Dinner, of course, was Peking duck.
People who’ve seen the VMFA exhibition “Terracotta Army: Legacy of the First Emperor of China,” often remember a bronze goose as a favorite object alongside the terra cotta figures. The blockbuster exhibition, which the museum says has attracted nearly 80,000 visitors since its Nov. 18 opening, will remain on view until March 11 before traveling to the Cincinnati Art Museum.
At the archaeology institute’s conservation lab, director Shao an Ding is leading the way on preserving 46 bronze birds unearthed recently at Pit 7 of the third century B.C. mausoleum site of the first Qin dynasty emperor. Twenty of the birds are geese, 20 are swans, and six are cranes.
He said the discovery broke new ground in several ways. The birds are the earliest Chinese example of bronze sculpture used for purely artistic purposes, not functional shapes. The outlines of feathers were etched into the surface of the bronze, and the birds were decorated with pigment. Some of the technical details are similar to Egyptian and Greek workmanship, indicating some kind of previously unknown interaction between the ancient cultures.
VMFA photographer Travis Fullerton lifts his camera for a shot of Cameron Kitchin, director of the Cincinnati Art Museum, left, and Li Jian, VMFA curator of East Asian art, taking a close look at the bronze birds under conservation at the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology. (Photo by Katherine Calos)
“For me, the birds are one of those areas where archaeology and art combine, where there’s a very blurry line,” said Cameron Kitchin, director of the Cincinnati Art Museum, who is among the terra cotta travelers. “They’re archaeological material, but each one is such an individualistic work of art. They’re so beautiful.”
Tian Yaqi, an archaeologist at the institute, gave a preview of the talk he will deliver in Richmond at a VMFA forum on Feb. 2. He’s been working on the earlier Qin capital of Yongcheng, which was the 2016 Chinese archaeological discovery of the year.
Journalists set up for an on-camera interview with archaeologist Tian Yaqi at Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology. VMFA curator Li Jian, far right, was the interpretor. (Photo by Katherine Calos)
Even though the Qin capital finally settled in Xian, Yongcheng remained very important in Qin history, he said through interpreter Li Jian, the East Asian curator at VMFA.
A bronze lamp in Shaanxi History Museum has the shape of a goose holding a fish in its mouth. It dates from the Western Han Dynasty, 206 B.C. to 8 A.D. (Photo by Katherine Calos)
“Through excavation, we learn that in Yongcheng was laid the foundation of the success of the Qin dynasty,” he said.
At the Shaanxi History Museum, bronze geese are among 1.7 million objects in the collection. One of the favorites is a lamp shaped like a goose holding a fish. It was designed so that smoke is directed through the goose’s neck into water in the goose’s belly, to keep air in the room clear.
Director Qiang Yue said through an interpreter that he hoped exhibitions such as the one in Richmond would help people in the United States become interested in Chinese culture and historic preservation.
“I hope more and more people will join the field to protect cultural relics and experience our ancient wisdom.”
