Page 46 - BSAM 2015 Q3

Photographs of the present exhibition of Chinese art objects and handcrafts.
Top row, left to right;
Outdoor glass box with Shangshi (Chinese viewing stones) of the Willi and Gudrun Benz Collection.
Chrysanthemum stones worked by man: a viewing stone, a brush pot and seal stone
Human-shaped Shangshi
Left column, top to bottom;
Folding fans and cork carvings. Cork carving.
China was well-known for porcelain which was a main export item to the West in the Middle Ages. Shown are porcelain vases with blue underglaze paintings.
China is also famous for its lacquer ware. Here are carvings of red lacquer.
Right column; Taihu rock.
Even if big Taihu rocks were mainly used as garden rocks, smaller ones were brought inside in the scholar’ studio for contemplation. This Taihu rock is in the style of a traditional Chinese scholars’ rock.
qualities; bamboo for gentlemanly integrity; bamboo, pine and prunus together stand as the “three friends in winter,” a symbol of endurance. Peony, “empress of flowers,” symbolizes wealth and nobility. All these plants are featured in the garden in Mannheim.
The garden also offers exhibitions, lectures, tea ceremonies, musical and dance performances and much more throughout the year. In connection with this, an exhibition of Chinese art objects and handicraft items of the everyday life, as well as bonsai and Chinese traditional and modern scholars’ rocks, was opened on April 24, 2015.
44 | BCI | July/August/September 2015