British Museum - China and the Far East

Location: British Museum, London

This section of the museum starts with a corridor lined on either side by Jade artifacts dating over almost the entirety of Chinese history, going as far back as the Neolithic period 5000BC. From there, many of the artifacts consist of ornamental pieces of jewelry, blades, and congs, whose usage has so far not been found. Later pieces, dating up to as recent as the early 20th century include more intricate designs, such as engraved plaques of various shapes depicting scenes.
The corridor opens out on to a large hall, where the rest of the artifacts are displayed, stretching from China, through to artifacts from Tibet, Burma, India and the whole of the South and East Asia. The current part itself opens up with a collection of ceramic and bronze statues of Buddha from China and the Far-East, some glazed in bright colours, others plain. Further in leads one to the famous white porcelain bowls and vessels, glazed in blue patterns of animals and flowers, some depicting scenes of farmers and other people in their centers.

Next in the exhibit, is a display case containing a collection of bronze artifacts, blades and coins. Detailing them is the history behind the coinage, how their size and shapes differed between different states, and not only over time. Following them, a large area of the hallway is taken up with the display of various jugs, bowls and vessels made up of a variety of materials, starting initially with lacquer, which was a widely used, naturally occurring plastic drawn from the lac tree, to ceramic and porcelain vessel, glazed in different colours, many in bright colours.
Past the vessels, the artifacts on display get a lot more interesting, starting off with pottery miniatures of a courtyard house from the Ming dynasty. These intricate models are plain in colour, without anyy these is a large display case containing a set of large porcelain glazed figurines for tombs. Coloured in sombre reds, greens, and browns, the figures come as pairs of a type of creature, starting with dragons, followed by warriors, then next come a pair that resemble priests or noblemen, ahead of a pair of horses, and last are the camels.
Other collections on display are a variety of bronze mirrors faded by time, a sword with a lacquer scabbard, pommel, and even guard. There is a section on bronze artifacts, with a case dedicated to the objects used in war, from swords, blades, axe and spearheads, arrowheads, many decorated with patterns. Many other artifacts include vessels of different types, but also of note is a case of bronze bells, of a style and decoration unlike those of the western world.
This leads nicely on to the last display worth noting, a display case containing small sculptures of scenes and landscapes, mountains and villages, some containing people, trees, and animals. All the ones on display were made of a different material, of jade, turquoise, white porcelain, glazed stoneware, and even bamboo root.

This concludes a glimpse in to a small section of the British Museum. The author will continue to visit, and bring back some more overviews of other sections of this large and varied museum of human history, dating back to it's roots, and covering almost every part of the globe.

Images again yanked from the British Museum main website