Calligraphy and Paintings in the Palace Museum

by+Xiao+Bian

The paintings and calligraphy collected in the Palace Museum make up one fourth of the total ancient Chinese paintings and calligraphy in public museums around the world， of which one third are of high academic and aesthetic value.

According to the 5th survey of the collection in the Palace Museum， by the end of December 2010， the museum had collected 1，807，558 pieces of cultural relics， including 53，492 paintings， 75，035 calligraphic works， and 28，560 rubbings from tablet inscriptions. Altogether， 420 paintings and 310 calligraphic works in the collection of the Palace Museum can be traced back to the Yuan Dynasty （1271-1368） or earlier.

A majority of the paintings and calligraphy in the Palace Museum are collections of the Qing （1644-1911） royal family. Statistics show that the museum houses nearly 1.56 million pieces of collection formerly belonging to the Qing court， accounting for 86 percent of the museums total collection. The remaining 240，000 pieces of cultural relics were collected after the establishment of the Palace Museum. Currently， the museum preserves more than 15，000 paintings， 22，000 calligraphic works， and 5，800 stone rubbings that were formerly collected by the Qing royal family.

In recent history， cultural relics collected by the Qing court suffered three major robberies， resulting in heavy loss of its calligraphy and painting collections. The first robbery occurred in 1860 when the Anglo-French Allied Forces plundered the Yuanmingyuan， also known as the Old Summer Palace. According to The Precious Collection of Stone Moat， more than 200 paintings and calligraphic works housed in the Yuanmingyuan were either burnt or plundered by invaders. Among them was a Tang Dynasty （618-907） copy of Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies originally painted by Gu Kaizhi， a renowned painter of the Jin Dynasty （265-420）， which was plundered and later transported to London.

The second calamity came in 1900 when the Eight-power Allied Forces invaded Beijing and looted countless collections of the Qing court. A number of ancient books， paintings and calligraphic works collected in the Summer Palace were taken away. After the 1911 Revolution， Chinas last emperor， Puyi， abdicated from the throne. For 13 years after that， however， he still lived in the Forbidden City. In the five months from July 13 to December 12， 1922， Puyi transferred a number of cultural relics， including 210 ancient books and 1，285 paintings and calligraphic works， out of the Forbidden City under the pretext of awarding them to his younger brother Pujie.

In November 1924， Puyi was expelled from the Forbidden City. After the establishment of the Palace Museum in October 1925， former royal collections in the imperial palace became public property.

To avoid robbery by Japanese invaders during World War II， the Palace Museum moved its cultural relics to southern China. In the following decade， these cultural relics were well preserved until they were transferred to Nanjing in June 1947. In the late 1940s， 2，972 boxes of cultural relics， including 91 boxes of paintings and calligraphy， were transported to Taiwan， which accounted for 22 percent of all cultural relics moved to southern China. The remaining cultural relics were transported back to the Palace Museum in Beijing in 1950， 1953， and 1958， respectively.

After the founding of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949， the Palace Museum continued enriching its collection through government allocation， relic purchase， and accepting donations. Of the more than 1，200 precious paintings and calligraphic works that Puyi smuggled out of the Forbidden City， most are now in domestic museums – except for a few in foreign museums and individual collections. More than 370 pieces returned to the Palace Museum.

In 1951， the State Council of China appropriated a large sum of money and entrusted the State Administration of Cultural Heritage to purchase Letter to Boyuan， a masterpiece by Jin Dynasty calligrapher Wang Xun， and Mid-Autumn by Wang Xianzhi， also a famous calligrapher of the Jin Dynasty， from Hong Kong. The two calligraphic masterpieces were later transferred to the Palace Museum for collection. According to Permanent Collections of the Heavenly Mansion， the museum redeemed some other calligraphy and paintings from Hong Kong during the period， including Five Oxen by Tang Dynasty （618-907） painter Han Huang， Night Revels of Han Xizai by Gu Hongzhong of the Five Dynasties （907-960）， The Xiao and Xiang Rivers by Dong Yuan of the Five Dynasties， Dragon Stone by Zhao Ji of the Song Dynasty （960-1279）， Gathering Ferns by Li Tang of the Southern Song Dynasty （1127-1279）， and Singing and Dancing by Ma Yuan of the Southern Song Dynasty.

According to the Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum， the museum had purchased 53，971 cultural relics， including 1，764 first-grade relics， by the end of December 2006.