McClung's new Chinese art exhibit spans 2,000 years

Photo by McClung Museum

A censor of enamel inlaid with semiprecious stones and ivory can be seen in the exhibit "2,000 Years of Chinese Art : Han Dynasty to the Present" at the Frank H. McClung Museum. The censor is shaped like a luduan, a Chinese mythical animal.

Photo by McClung Museum

A censor of enamel inlaid with semiprecious stones and ivory can be seen in the exhibit "2,000 Years of Chinese Art : Han Dynasty to the Present" at the Frank H. McClung Museum. The censor is shaped like a luduan, a Chinese mythical animal.

This thin carved piece of pale green jadeite is no ordinary artist tool. The curved shallow bowl ending in the carved head of a goat was used almost 200 years ago to wash ink out of brushes. Today the piece from China's Qing Dynasty is an art object to be displayed and admired.

The brush washer used sometime between 1736 and 1795 is one of 80 pieces in a new exhibit at the Frank H. McClung Museum. "2,000 Years of Chinese Art: Han Dynasty to the Present" opens Jan. 23 at the University of Tennessee museum.

The display shows decorative vases, incense burners and statues as well as functional robes, hats, cosmetic boxes, belt buckles and tea bowls. Taken together, the items trace the cultures, arts and influences of several of the ethnic groups and dynasties that ruled China through the centuries.

The oldest object shown is a 13-inch bronze goose lamp from the Han Dynasty of 206 B.C. to A.D. 220 Many items come from the Qing Dynasty that began in 1644. But Chinese art and life is shown through the centuries between. A heavy glazed stoneware flask, shaped like an animal skin, dates as far back as A.D. 907. A six-inch gilt silver ewer comes from the Tang Dynasty of A.D. 618 to 907. A ceramic camel, glazed in yellows and browns and standing about 3 feet tall, was created during the same period for the tomb of a well-to-do person.

But the beauty, not the antiquity, of the objects is most likely to strike museum visitors. Items bear the marks of expert workmanship; many are highly decorated in exquisite detail.

Porcelain vases are done in decorative enamel. A 16-inch ceramic vase from the Qing Dynasty shines in a deep turquoise glaze. Even functional pieces are elaborately done. A large round table has a top done in blue and yellow cloisonne. Gilt bronze elephants' heads adorn the table's three legs; a bronze dragon creeps up its main support.

Animals, real and mythical, are often featured on items or form the object itself. A 16-inch long Ming Dynasty sculpture decorated in cloisonne enamel bears the head of a dragon and the body of a turtle. Molded fish swim in the bottom of a stoneware brush washer that's 600 to 700 years old.

An 18th-century sculpture covered in red lacquer depicts a mythical qilin. With the body of a deer, horn of a unicorn, hooves of a horse and tail of an ox, the creature was an omen for good. Another mythical, rather plump, animal forms an 18th-century increase burner. The horned, bird-footed creature called a luduan is enameled and inlaid with ivory and semiprecious stones.

"2,000 Years of Chinese Art: Han Dynasty to the Present" is at the McClung through May 23.

Amy McRary may be reached at 865-342-6437.

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