IP & Art

A few years ago, I had a chance to visit the National Palace Museum of Taiwan, which is known as one of Taiwan's most famous museums and one of the world's four largest museums. Of course, there is a lot of controversy about which museum is the 4th largest museum in the world. Basically, the Louvre, the British Museum, the Eromitaz Museum in St. Petersburg, and the Vatican Museum are counted as the four major museums, but it seems that the National Palace Museum of Taiwan also emphasized the fact that it has many relics and is of great value.

It is said that the relics housed here are 680,000 items that President Chiang Kai-shek brought to Taiwan from mainland China. Contrary to expectations, when I arrived, the size of the museum was rather small, and the entire museum consisted of an exhibition hall on three floors. Because of the large number of relics compared to the size, it is said that it is possible to display different relics at any time for 60 years.

All the relics were well organized and systematically displayed, and the system was set up so that you could appreciate the rare treasures of the Chinese royal palace while listening to detailed explanations in Korean, etc. for each artifact through a portable guide earphone. For about two hours, I looked at the exhibited works with considerable curiosity. Some impressive features were the first ancient bronze brazier engraved with 500 Chinese characters.

The highlight was the carving of Chinese cabbage, grasshoppers, and female chives using the white and blue colors of natural jade. It would have been extremely difficult to sculpt this, but surprisingly, the appearance of cabbage was vividly and realistically reproduced. There was also a work which realistically sculpted pork fat and fat inside. It was quite comical and the artistry was high. There was also a work of elaborately grinding jade into the shape of a bead. I imagined that it would have taken a considerable amount of time to process it, so I was more than surprised by the sincerity.

In addition, it was a time to savor the depth of Chinese history while looking at the beautiful bronze age sculptures, paintings and calligraphy works. On Fridays and Saturdays, the exhibition is extended until 9pm for local Taiwanese citizens. Thanks to that, I was able to enjoy the unique and beautiful relics fully.