View part of the museum's collection, openly available to download under a CC BY-SA 4.0 licence
here.
Bronzes The manufacture of bronze began in the
Xia dynasty (c.2200-1765 B.C.), reaching its zenith during the
Shang dynasty (c. 1700-1050 B.C.). It was linked to sacrificial religious rituals and ancestor worship. The first bronzes copied the forms of
Neolithic ceramics such as three-footed vases, pedestal plates and jugs. The main decorative motif of the ritual vases of the Shang dynasty was the
Taotie – a mask of a non-specified animal with eyes, ears, mouth, horns and paws. A Taotie mask features on a
Gui vessel from the
Zhou period (c. 771–475 BC) in the museum's collection. Archeological excavations of tombs of later epochs, Zhou of the East,
Han and
Tang, reveal the existence of various bronze objects (vases for wine and other beverages, food containers, arms and mirrors) necessary for everyday life and the afterlife. One of the oldest objects in the museum's collection is a bronze
Jue ritual vessel from the
Shang dynasty (c. 1750 – 1050 BC). This vessel in which wine was served was called
Jue because of its form resembling a bird with a broad beak, used to pour the liquid, and a tail. It also has two wings and three feet.
“Fitzhugh” This was the pattern used in blue and white Chinese pottery in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. It is an elaborate pattern with a central crest surrounded by four motifs: flowers or fruits, pomegranates, “
Buddha's hand” lemons and a border of geometric motifs sometimes including butterflies. It is probable that the name of the pattern is related to the English family Fitzhugh that kept commercial ties with China since the beginning of the eighteenth century. In the nineteenth century, Fitzhugh porcelain was commercialized in the United States. The main ports were New York, Salem, Boston and Philadelphia.
China trade The Portuguese had a monopoly on the china trade from the sixteenth century to the middle of the seventeenth century. From 1630 to 1640 they were substituted by the Dutch who continued the trade until the nineteenth century. Apart from Macau, Canton was the only Chinese port open to international trade after the closure of all ports in 1757 during the reign of the
Qianlong Emperor. An area was reserved for foreigners in Canton, located outside the city walls. A series of laws preempted any contact between the Chinese population and Westerners. Only after the arrival of the English and the French in the eighteenth century can one speak of European influence in Chinese art. Orders from Europe increased to such an extent that the local artisan kilns worked only to satisfy the Western demand. Not only were sets in demand in the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries but also paintings, lacquer, fans, silver and furniture of European taste. These products were bound for ports in England, Holland and the United States. Flourishing trade allowed for the spread of Chinese art in the West, giving rise to
chinoiserie.
Lacquerwork Lacquer – the sap of a tree (
rhus verniciflua) originated in China and Japan – and has been used since Neolithic times in China especially as an impermeable coating for delicate objects in bamboo, wood and silk. Lacquerwork first found its way to the West along the
Silk Route and later through Portuguese merchants trading with China and Japan. European demand in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries led to the manufacture of all kinds of objects: furniture, boxes, plates and trays, decorated with Chinese and European motifs. The museum contains a rich collection of lacquered tea caddies. Lacquerwork tea caddies were often presented as gifts from local merchants to traders who frequented Chinese ports in the second half of the nineteenth century.
Silverware During the second half of the nineteenth century, there was an enormous increase in the export of silverware from China to the West. The search for the exotic among the European and American middle class led to the popularizing of silverware. Among the Portuguese silverware present in Macau was the five candle candelabrum with the trademark Filipe de Andrade, Oporto, registered in 1925.
Ivory and tortoiseshell Works of sculpture in ivory, tortoise, and jade, ordered by the west, led to a fusion of Chinese expertise and European sculptural models and iconography. Nevertheless, such pieces continued to reveal the art of the artisans as well as their interpretations. During the Qing dynasty (1644–1911) there were two great schools of ivory work, one in Peking and the other in Canton. The style of the latter was more elaborate. The cutting of concentric spheres that move within each other was a characteristic of the Cantonese artists for several centuries. One of the most elaborate objects in the museum's collection is the “Ball of Happiness” which probably originated from “The Balls of the Devil's Work”, dated 1388. They were mentioned in the book of Ge Gu Yao Lun of the same year. The number of concentric spheres vary and can be as numerous as twenty. The decoration is geometric and the pattern is never repeated.
Dragon robes The Chinese came under
Persian,
Mongolian and
Manchu influences. The models of the eighteenth century attire reflect the combined effect over time of these confluences. The museum houses two pieces of court robes of the late eighteenth century, designated semi-formal or "dragon apparel". These were used by civil officials of high standing during festivities that did not require the use of the court robe.
Opium paraphernalia At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Dutch used
opium as a hallucinogenic drug which Asians smoked in a mixture with tobacco. The English were responsible for the drug's expansion. They gave the monopoly of its production and distribution to the
East India Company. The conquest of
Bengal made this venture possible due to the area being an inexpensive source for quality opium. Though the use of
opium has been known for thousands of years, the drug's administration changed dramatically in the eighteenth century when smoking became the preferred method rather than oral consumption. The museum also contains a painting by Portuguese painter Fausto Sampaio, known as the painter of the Portuguese colonies, of an
opium den in Macau in 1937.
Coins The museum holds an important collection of Chinese coins dating from the sixteenth century BC to 1279 AD. == Library ==