The Hermitage renovated the exhibition "Culture and Art of China"

Four new rooms of the renovated permanent exhibition "Culture and Art of China" were opened in the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg with the support of Rosneft. This was reported by the press service of the oil company.

Work on the exhibition was started in 2023 and the first stage of the exposition was opened in December last year: the three halls of the Hermitage display art objects from China of the late 17th-18th centuries - the period of the heyday of the last Qing Empire in the country's history (1644-1912).

A year later the permanent exposition was supplemented by four more halls devoted to Chinese culture and art from antiquity to the 17th century. The chronologically organized joint exhibition familiarizes visitors with the traditions of centuries-old culture of the Middle Kingdom.

The exposition opens with a hall dedicated to ancient China. Visitors can see here samples of Han silk fabrics from the burials of Hsiung-nu nomads, as well as valuable monuments of hieroglyphic writing.

In the next hall, the culture of China of the III-XIV centuries is illustrated by examples of funerary plastics and a collection of bronze mirrors from the Tang period (618-907), bowls with colored glaze from the largest centers of ceramic production of the Song period (960-1279), as well as works of jewelers. Two more halls dedicated to the art of the XIV-XVII centuries - the period of the Chinese Ming dynasty (1368-1644) - show exhibits in the techniques of carved lacquer and cloisonné enamel. The halls are decorated with Ming silk fabrics, as well as examples of court paintings and the only ceremonial portrait of a Ming couple in the Hermitage collection.

The next three halls are devoted to the Qing era (XVII-XX centuries). One of the main decorations of the exposition is a stone-encrusted wooden screen, one side of which depicts the "three friends of winter" (pine, bamboo and plum) and the other side of which depicts poems by Emperor Qianlong dedicated to the expectation of spring.