Virtually explore the Shanghai Museum with Smarthistory as your guide
Some background
videos + essays
Link to the Shanghai Museum's website
Hua Yan, Pheasant, Bamboo and Chrysanthemum
Color and brushwork create a golden pheasant in this Qing dynasty hanging scroll
Wang Shimin, Cloud Capped Mountains and Misty Riverside
Wang Shimin reimagines the past in this Qing dynasty landscape
Zhao Zhiqian, Flowers Album
Peonies, plum blossoms, radishes, and cabbages are all depicted in these calligraphic ink paintings
Wang Shishen, Garden scene album leaves
These garden scenes are examples of how professional artists in Qing-dynasty China made a living
Miniature furniture and figurines in a Ming tomb
Mini furniture and figurines give us a tiny look into Ming dynasty life
Tang Yue ware
This begonia-shaped porcelain bowl attempts to achieve purity and perfection in its shape, thinness, and glaze
Ding ware bowl, Northern Song dynasty
This porcelain bowl with reeds and geese for decoration has a metal rim where the bowl couldn't be glazed
Wang Mian, Plum Blossoms in Ink
Painting and poetry among friends during Mongol rule in Yuan dynasty China
An introduction to tomb figurines, Tang dynasty
Musicians on camels, women on horseback, and terrifying guardians—these are some of the figurines found in Tang dynasty tombs
Zisha “Ru Ding” teapot, Yixing ware
A tiny teapot made for a literati audience in Qing dynasty China
Oracle Bone, Shang Dynasty
The writing on these bones is 3000 years old, but scholars can decipher an incredible 40 percent of the characters.
