Themed as “Beauty Unites Us: Chinese Art from the Vatican Museums”, the first exhibition of Chinese artifacts on loan from the Vatican, opens on May 28th at Palace Museum. The exhibition showcases 78 items selected from the collection of the Vatican Museums, which will run through July 14th.
The artifacts on display include a Northern Wei Dynasty stone Buddhist statue and sancai - a type of Tang Dynasty pottery figurines using glazes and generally in three colors, a Qing Dynasty thangka - a Tibetan Buddhist painting on cotton and silk applique - and an imperial robe from the Qing Dynasty.
The Palace Museum selected 12 treasures from its inventory to present at the exhibition, including Eight Horses, by Giuseppe Castiglione, the 18th-century Italian Jesuit painter who worked for Chinese royal family, and a painting by Wu Li, an early Qing Dynasty artist who was also a Catholic.
As the delegate for the administrative-management sectors of the Vatican Museums, Paolo Nicolini said that the exhibition is a result of the continuous cooperation since 2016. He said that the friendship which has been built makes our minds broader and horizons wider. Beauty keeps people united and it will continue to do so in the future.