A journey through China in five objects

The Sir Joseph Hotung Gallery of China and South Asia has now reopened to the public after a major refurbishment. At 115 metres, this magnificent space is the longest gallery in the British Museum. Its narrative now brings the stories of China and South Asia right up to the present, with new acquisitions of contemporary works. For the first time, paintings and textiles are included in presenting these enormously important areas of the world. Here are eight of the collections on display:

Commissioned by the Qing dynasty court, this pair of beautifully carved red lacquer jugs, decorated with dragons, was used to serve Tibetan butter tea. The tubular form of these vessels is found in both copper and wood in Tibet, as is the feature of a makara (mythical creature) biting the base of the spout.

This steatite stamp seal with carved bull and inscription was found in the 1850s in the town of Harappa in Pakistan and played a part in the discovery of the Indus Valley civilisation, one of the earliest urban societies. Indus seals were probably used in trade and administration, and are usually carved with animals and a short inscription. The script has not yet been deciphered.

This box is a fine example of 16th-century inlaid lacquer. This type of pictorial design became increasingly intricate, partly due to the widespread availability of woodblock prints which provided artisans with clear references. The scene depicts a group of scholars, identified by their elaborate robes and caps, and attendants scattered across an architectural setting, enjoying recreational pursuits such as painting, calligraphy and zither playing.

Bronze bells such as this, with a flat bottom rim and a loop knob (often elaborated in dragon shapes), are called bo in Chinese texts. They were used together with other varieties of bells to form a chime set to produce music essential for court life and rituals. All bells in China were cast with an elliptical section and some of them can produce two notes when struck at the mid-point of the bottom rim or at the bottom corner. This bo bell was made at the Houma foundry in present-day Shanxi province around 600–400 BC. At Houma, patterns on bells and other ritual bronzes were made by using pattern blocks, allowing mass production of objects with complex yet identical surface decorations.

At first sight, Yang Yongliang's prints appear like Song dynasty (AD 960–1279) idyllic landscapes, painted in ink and in traditional fan format. By digitally manipulating photographic images, however, Yang substitutes trees with telegraph poles and mountains with clusters of skyscrapers, commenting on the rapid transformation of cities and landscapes in present-day China.

Final Thoughts

From the Qianlong Emperor's lacquered dragon-patterned ewer, to the still-undeciphered Indus "unicorn" seal, to Yang Yongliang's lens on the "invisible mountain" of contemporary China—the British Museum's new permanent exhibition, across 115 meters of corridors, reveals: Whether it's 4,000-year-old clay seals or 21st-century digital landscapes, humanity has always sought its own identity and poetic meaning between "seals" and "landscapes." Now, take this timeless Eastern aesthetic home.

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