The dragon has almost always been looked at as an evil monster in the western world. In Chinese society, however, it is traditionally lauded as an auspicious beast.
It is this latter theme that visitors will note as they wander among the artifacts displayed in "The Beauty of Dragons,"an exhibition at the National Museum of History that chronicles the use of the dragon as a decorative motif in every aspect of the Chinese culture since the Neolithic age.
"It's still true ... that the dragon is a popular pattern for everyday design," said Su Chih-ming, a researcher and curator of the dragon exhibition. "Even the broom I bought at a drugstore has two dragons on it." Su spent six months putting together the show, which is a joint venture between the Taipei museum and the National Museum of Chinese History in Beijing. There are 120 pieces on loan from Beijing and 80 from the Taipei museum's own collection.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF HISTORY
The range of items, from pottery and bronze pieces to jade accessories and coins or embroidery, show not only the splendor of an ancient culture but also highlight the various visions of the dragon in Chinese society. It can be cute, slim, nimble, elegant or dignified. It appears in different backgrounds, such as rising from the sea or flying high into the sky.
"The western world has a different depiction of the dragon, and it is quite fixed. It's a fire-gushing image with large wings of bats," said Su. "But in ancient China, and carrying on up to now, the dragon is portrayed in different fashions, and usually without horrifying fire or bat wings in the images."
As Su walked through the display rooms, he talked about how the dragon has always been seen in Chinese culture as a deified beast that can fly in the air or dive into the water. Its origin as a revered symbol is rooted in folk legend, where the dragon represented a synthesis of nine
animals, including a horse, a snake, an ox and a deer. The dragon possesses magic power that can bring rain to the earth and good luck to the people, particularly farmers. It is no wonder that after the 14th century, the dragon gradually become the exclusive decorative motif for the royal families of the Chinese empire.
Some of the particularly precious and beautiful pieces displayed are the jade ornaments from yore. "This is their first time to be displayed outside Beijing," said Su, stopping to look at a piece of jade with a simple, curved design of the dragon motif. It's an extraordinary piece,
made more so by the fact that it was carved in Inner Mongolia during the Neolithic age.
The dragon is often coupled with the phoenix to enhance its aesthetic effect. A Shang Dynasty (1500-1050 BC) piece on view showcases the innovative combination of the two legendary beasts, which represented a propitious omen in many ways. A wedding gift, for example, inscribed with a dragon, which symbolizes male, and a phoenix, which symbolizes female, is a perfect way to wish a couple many years of marriage and happiness.
Another historically significant piece on display is a stone taken from the banister of a bridge in Hebei Province.
"This is a defining piece for the styling of the dragon motif, and I insisted on having it here for the show," Su said. This stone, inscribed with two dragons, is from the Sui Dynasty (581-618 AD), which is a period that finalizes the depiction of the dragon image.
According to Su, the earliest decorative pattern of the dragon looked more like a small reptile. But after the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD), it evolved into a larger, four-legged beast.
"The Sui Dynasty is a watershed period when the dragon is finalized into something that looks like a combination of a reptile and a quadruped," Su said. "The pattern carries on until today."
Visitors to the museum will be able to see the somewhat ambiguously shaped dragon totem applied widely on daily utensils, such as plates, vases and pots passed down from the centuries before China turned into a republic.
Despite suggestions that the dragon is no longer a popular motif for furniture and household items in modern design, Su maintains that the dragon is not to be forgotten.
"It carries weight in our society symbolically and aesthetically. For example, the year of the dragon causes the birth rate to jump. And we still call ourselves the children of the dragon."
He is right. And the exhibit does a masterful job of reminding visitors just how intertwined the dragon is in Chinese culture.
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