Ming News

Abstract

“This exhibition illustrates a transitory time range in the 17th century, a period that was both intriguing and full of various possibilities. From the perspective of the modern material culture studies, not only we can glance into the story of adventurers that explored new water channels through hardships, under the scope of the East and West exchanges, but also from the viewpoint of the district Jiangnan, to understand the seemingly ordinary, but in fact detail-oriented quality of the literati families’ daily rituals. The curatorial focus concentrates on the ‘calligraphy and painting’ and ‘objects,’ the two chapters extracted from ‘Treatise on Superfluous Things’ that was written by the modest literati Wen Zhenheng (1586–1645) in the 17th century. In addition to rediscover the cultural contexts embedded by the museum’s collection, it is also the purpose to explore the fine elements of the ancients’ appreciation towards the objects. Along the process, the picture of related social network is built up and the gradual trend to admire the antiquarian style, which had placed influence on general home accessories is also clarified. The purpose is unfolded by examining the ancient mindsets about one’s belongings and then look into the relationship between human and objects in the modern days.” [From the webpage. See https://www.npm.gov.tw/en/Article.aspx?sNo=04010912]