As I walk towards the Douglas Dillon Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I feel as if I’m taking a journey to the past. The wooden coffered ceiling, textured shades, displayed calligraphy, and warmly lit rooms have the intimate feeling of a scholar’s study. Masterfully spaced around are intricately created ancient bronzes, ceramics, and artworks, all part of the ‘Recasting the Past: The Art of Chinese Bronzes, 1100-1900‘ exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan.
Initially unveiled on February 28th, 2025, the exhibit is currently on view through September 28th, 2025. The curators of this exhibit collaborated with the Shanghai Museum in China. The exhibit features over 200 different artworks, many of which were loaned from museums and collections from all over the world.
Collectively, the exhibit seeks to recognize a period of Chinese bronzes that is often forgotten in history: the later Chinese bronzes from the 12th to 19th century. Compared to the more well-known archaic ritual bronzes, later Chinese bronzes are often narrowly viewed as just poor imitations of their predecessors. This unilateral evaluation of later Chinese bronzes is unfair, dismissing their creative beauty and historical significance.
Max Hollein, the Marina Kellen French Director and Chief Executive Officer at the Met, explains, “While bronze as an art form has long held a significant role throughout China’s history, this exhibition explores an often-overlooked time period when a resurgence of craftsmanship and artistic achievements revitalized the medium.”
Through five chronological and distinct sections, the curators of the exhibit attempt to rectify and add dimension to the narrative of later Chinese bronzes, introducing viewers to their unique appeal and charm.
Since the beginning of Chinese civilization, bronzes have been used as vessels for religious and ritual purposes. They served as offerings to gods and ancestors and were symbols of the wealth, power, and legitimacy of the regime in power. However, by the time of the Song dynasty, ancient ritual bronzes were often misrepresented, as the meanings of ritual manuals were lost in varying translations and interpretations over time.
This gap in translation was filled when Emperor Huizong of Song took the throne in 1100 C.E. Emperor Huizong sought to recover the olden rituals while instating contemporary changes. He established the Agency for Deliberation on Rituals, which conducted vast research to make rituals more similar to the way they had been done in the past. Emperor Huizong believed that returning to standardized practices would improve societal behavior and bring about prosperity. These actions were a huge component of the fugu, or the return to the past movement, which was a prominent movement in the arts to reclaim the virtues of classical tradition.
Following this movement was the revival of the official production of ritual bronzes. These ritual bronzes spread across altars and temples in cities all across China, leaving a generational impact.
The first section of the exhibit, entitled ‘Reconstructing Ancient Rites,’ explores this broad and continuous use of Chinese ritual bronzes both during and after the Song dynasty. Upon first look, a large detailed ox tripod is the first work to attract gazes. It’s symbolic of the archaic recreation, contemporary infusion, and attention to detail demonstrated in many Huizong-commissioned pieces.
The style of ritual bronzes shows a gradual change with a further walk down the gallery. Ritual bronzes starting in the 14th century reveal a taste for simpler sets that could be used for burning incense. Tripartite sets expanded to five pieces during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The large variety of ritual bronzes, including grain containers, wine cups (jue), pedestal bowls, lids, and water vessels, reflected the changing needs and evolving tastes of ritual items.
The collection of ritual bronzes represents the changing political landscape in ancient China. In works from the Yuan dynasty, you can see the inclusion of lengthy inscriptions of official names and civil contributions. These inscriptions were a product of the increase in commissions of ritual bronzes by local officials after the lift of the ban on the nongovernmental use of copper in the Yuan Dynasty. The longevity of officials’ names and achievements on bronzes preserve their stories to this day.
In addition to their ritual importance, later Chinese bronzes were a key component in the decor and aesthetic of the manors and interior homes of Chinese scholars. A large number of the Chinese-educated elite collected and commissioned archaistic bronzes. Artists took inspiration from earlier Chinese bronzes but also felt a desire to recreate and deviate from them. The second section of the exhibit, ‘Experimenting with Styles’ examines this exploration and reinvention of antique bronzes.
Upon entering the room and scanning the gallery, you are presented with an array of differing and distinct pieces. Despite having similar qualities and a medium that connects the works, each bronze piece has unique traits resulting from the fusion of archaic styles and the artist’s creativity.
Starting from the mid-thirteenth century, there was a growing trend of combining creative expression with archaic bronze styles. Artists incorporated new contemporary shapes and iconography with antique styles. On one typical round and long ritual wine container, one can observe experimentation with the bold addition of cresting waves. Meanwhile, the solemn look of classical ritual vases is livened up with the addition of dragon and elephant handles and various animal mask motifs.
Bronze makers took the freedom to play around with bronze, creating fun yet functional sculptures such as crab-shaped paperweights and dragon-shaped brush rests. Their works also took inspiration from other mediums such as ceramics and porcelain. Pictorial images common on porcelain, such as flower and leaf patterns, decorated creative works of bronze.
Ceramics and porcelain also took inspiration from bronzes. Unique ceramic pieces were created in archaic bronze shapes like the hexagon. Through experimentation and innovation, artists of different mediums combined their skills and styles to create one-of-a-kind pieces that enhanced interior decoration.
With the passage of time, later Chinese bronzes started to deviate more and more from archaic bronzes. They were influenced by the particular tastes of the reigning dynasty and the influx of trade. The third section of the exhibit, ‘Establishing New Standards’, explores this impact on the appearance and characteristics of bronze vessels.
During the Ming dynasty, there was a growing appreciation for extravagant and fine artwork. The Ming dynasty’s system of workshops and imperial painting academy initiated the use of different materials such as ceramics, lacquer, cloisonné enamel, textiles, and more. The use of these different materials resulted in a prosperous era for the creation of fine art, including bronzes.
The bronzes most representative of the extravagance of the Ming dynasty are gilt bronze Buddhist sculptures and Xuande bronzes. Buddhist sculptures sponsored by the Yongle Emperor, such as the seated Buddha and standing Buddha, demonstrate the glistening craftsmanship and fine detail of Ming imperial workshops. Meanwhile, Xuande Bronzes were so well made that they presented a standard of quality for bronzes. Their style of minimal ornamentation, solid casting, heavy gilding, and large size was sought after and mimicked by many bronze makers in later years.
In addition to the aesthetic preferences in the dynasty, later period Chinese bronzes were also influenced by trade. Many pieces in the gallery illustrate artistic influence from other parts of the world such as Goryeo (Korea), Tibet, and the Islamic world. Pieces such as a Ming dynasty gold inlay incense burner include foreign influences such as a Persian inscription, which implies that the burner was created for a Muslim patron.
One of the largest importers of archaistic Chinese bronzes was Japan. Archaistic bronzes were highly regarded by Japanese aristocrats who exchanged bronzes as gifts and passed them down as family heirlooms. Pieces owned by Japanese nobility, such as the Japanese emperor Go-Daigo’s favored miniature landscape, ‘Floating Bridge of Dreams,’ reveal the impact of Chinese bronzes far beyond China’s borders.
As bronzes were mass-produced and commissioned, they became an essential in the daily lives of Chinese aristocrats. The fourth section of the exhibit, ‘Living with Bronzes’, introduces the incorporation of bronzes into everyday life.
Bronzes were commonly used by the educated elite and were staples of a scholar’s desk. They not only served as tools but were reflections of their owner’s sophisticated taste. Unique creations like the mountain-shaped brush rest and tree trunk-shaped brush pot gave character and life to literary spaces. Unique bronze talismans had personal meanings for scholars as well. For example, talismans like the three-legged toad water dropper conveyed scholars’ aspirations, serving as a lucky charm for the civil service exam.
Outside of the study, bronzes were used for everyday tasks. When looking at pieces like the bronze mirror with a rabbit mirror stand and touhus (arrow vases) of various sizes, you can picture their uses in everyday life. Perhaps a young lady had once admired her reflection in the rabbit mirror as her maids put up her hair for an outing. Or perhaps the touhu was used in an arrow-tossing game between friends after a long day of school. Whatever the use of these items was, it is evident that signs of these bronzes are everywhere in daily life.
This image of everyday use can be further pictured as you take a turn to the Astor Court. As you walk into the realistic model of a Ming era furnished room, you can see bronzes casually placed around the room as if they were in use. Standing inside this room, adorned to resemble the space people of the past lived in, makes one wonder what the scholarly elite did in their abodes.
Finally, when reaching the last section of the exhibit, ‘Harmonizing with Antiquity’, one feels as if there has been a full circle. Similar to the manner in which the exhibit began with reforms in bronzes under Emperor Huizong, the exhibit ends with reforms made more than 600 years later–under Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty.
Emperor Qianlong sought to make reforms in state ceremonies, which impacted the exterior of ritual devices. He worked in redesigning the ritual vessels in an organized and generally color-coded manner.
Ritual devices in the Qing dynasty displayed both a recognition of tradition, with faithful imitations of archaic bronzes, as well as experimentation with colorful and decorative pieces. There is a clear connection with past eras, as pieces like the shanzun (ritual vessel) took evident inspiration from past dynasties.
While works from the Qing dynasty took inspiration from the past, they are still clearly distinguishable. Qing Porcelain and bronze devices are recognizable by their brightly colored glaze and unique designs. This was because a lot of the bronzes in the Qing dynasty, such as the xizun (ox shaped wine container) and xiang zun (elephant vessel) were newly designed for specific seasonal ceremonies.
Under Emperor Qianlong, the catalog of archaistic works grew immensely. The hundreds of thousands of additions to the imperial workshop are an integral part of the Chinese legacy and influenced the way Chinese culture is portrayed in the media today.
From the revitalizing of bronzes in the Song dynasty to the final flowering of Chinese bronzes in the Qing dynasty, ‘Recasting the Past: The Art of Chinese Bronzes’ retells the story of later Chinese bronzes with depth and dimension. In just five sections, over 800 years of artistic expression, daily lives, and cultural changes are explored through the changing appearance of bronzes. As these bronzes stand witness to the depth of Chinese history, viewers stand to appreciate the unique beauty of Chinese bronzes.
Collectively, the exhibit seeks to recognize a period of Chinese bronzes that is often forgotten in history: the later Chinese bronzes from the 12th to 19th century. Compared to the more well-known archaic ritual bronzes, later Chinese bronzes are often narrowly viewed as just poor imitations of their predecessors. This unilateral evaluation of later Chinese bronzes is unfair, dismissing their creative beauty and historical significance.