According to official reports, the museum houses Chinese calligraphy, porcelain, bronzes, paintings, jades and many other artifacts. These include approximately 22% (2,972 out of 13,491) of the crates originally transported south from the Forbidden City, along with 852 crates of items from the National Central Museum. Through additional transfers, donations, and purchases, the museum has accumulated nearly 700,000 artifacts of significant historical or artistic value. With a collection of this size, only 1% is exhibited at any given time, while the remainder is stored in temperature-controlled vaults.
Metalwork Among the collections of
bronzes,
Zong Zhou Zhong (
Bell of Zhou), commissioned by
King Li of Zhou, is the most important musical instrument cast under his royal decree.
Mao Gong Ding (Cauldron of Duke of Mao) of the late
Western Zhou dynasty (1046–771 BCE) carries the longest
Chinese bronze inscriptions so far extant. In 1995, the museum acquired the
Taihe Shakyamuni, a statue of
The Buddha from the
Northern Wei Dynasty, that represents a pivotal shift from early Indian style towards
Chinese Buddhist style.
Ceramics With 21 pieces out of fewer than a hundred surviving, the museum has the world's largest collection of
Ru ware, one of the rarest
Chinese ceramics, made exclusively for the court and one of the
Five Great Kilns of the
Song dynasty (960–1279), along with
Ding porcelain,
Jun ware,
Guan and
Ge; the museum has major collections of all of these. Those from the
official kilns of the
Ming (1368–1644) and
Qing (1644–1912) dynasties, such as the
doucai porcelains of the
Chenghua reign during the Ming dynasty and painted
enamel porcelains from the early Qing, are also of excellent quality.
Carvings One of the most popular pieces of
jade carvings in the museum is the
Jadeite Cabbage, a piece of
jadeite carved into the shape of a
cabbage head, and with a large and a small
grasshopper camouflaged in the leaves. The ruffled semi-translucent leaves attached is due to the masterful combination of various natural color of the jade to recreate the color variations of a real cabbage. The
Meat-shaped Stone is often exhibited together with the Jadeite Cabbage. A piece of
jasper, a form of
agate, the strata of which are cleverly used to create a likeness of a piece of pork cooked in soy sauce. The dyed and textured surface makes the layers of skin, lean meat, and fat materialized incredibly lifelike. Other various carvings of materials such as bamboo, wood, ivory, rhinoceros horn, and fruit pits are exhibited. The
Carved Olive-stone Boat, carved by Chen Zuzhang, is a tiny boat carved from an
olive stone. The incredibly fully equipped skilled piece is carved with a covered deck and moveable windows. The interior has chairs, dishes on a table and eight figures representing the characters of
Su Shih's
Latter Ode on the Red Cliff. The bottom is carved in minute character the entire 300+ character text with the date and the artist's name.
Painting and calligraphy The paintings in the National Palace Museum date from the
Tang dynasty (618–907) to the modern era. The collection covers over one thousand years of
Chinese painting, and encompasses a wide range of genres, including landscape, flower and bird, figure painting, boundary painting, etc. Among the most popular paintings in the collection is the
Qing Palace Version of Along the River During the Qingming Festival by five Qing dynasty court painters (Chen Mu, Sun Hu, Jin Kun, Dai Hong and Cheng Zhidao).
Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains (Wu-yung version) by
Huang Gongwang of the
Yuan dynasty is one of the rarest and most dramatic works.
Walking on a Mountain Path in Spring is another significant work. The museum has a vast collection of
calligraphy works from the hands of major calligraphers, scholars and important courtiers in history. The calligraphy works date from the
Jin (266–420) and
Tang (618–907) dynasties, with a variety of styles.
Rare books and documents Rare books in the National Palace Museum range from the
Song (960–1279) and
Yuan (1271–1368) dynasties to the
Ming (1368–1644) and
Qing (1644–1912) dynasties, amounting to over 200,000 volumes.
Yongle Encyclopedia and
Complete Library of the Four Treasuries are among the examples. Historical documents in the museum include
Jiu Manzhou Dang, a set of
Manchu archives that are the sourcebook of
Manwen Laodang and a primary source of early Manchu history. Other official documents such as the court archives are available for research in the history of the Qing dynasty. ==Administration==