2 more videos over the BM exhibition Ming: 50 years that changed China

Ming: 50 Years That Changed China 

The Exhibition explores the years 1400 – 1450, a pivotal 50 year period that transformed China during the rule of the Ming dynasty.
In this film we hear from the exhibition’s co-curators Jessica Harrison-Hall, British Museum and Professor Craig Clunas, University of Oxford who lead through the exhibition room at a time demonstrating some the finest and most historically important objects ever made in China.

The exhibition features a range of these spectacular objects – including exquisite porcelain, gold, jewellery, furniture, paintings, sculptures and textiles. Many of the objects have only very recently been discovered and have never before been seen outside China.

The carefully selected objects in this exhibition shed new light on this important part of world history that is little known in Europe. China’s internal transformation and connections with the rest of the world led to a flourishing of creativity from what was, at the time, the only global superpower.

The film is chance to see how AHRC funded research has shaped and informed the exhibition from the outset and how the funding has facilitated international exchange and partnership working with 21 international lenders including 10 Chinese institutions.

The following institutions all loaned objectrs or material to the exhibition:


首都博物馆 Capital Museum
湖北省博物馆 Hubei Provincial Museum
南京市博物馆 Nanjing Municipal Museum
南京博物院 Nanjing Museum
中国国家博物馆 National Museum of China
故宫博物院 The Palace Museum
山东博物馆 Shandong Museum
上海博物馆 Shanghai Museum
山西博物院 Shanxi Museum
四川博物院 Sichuan Museum
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Board of Trustees of the Royal Armouries
Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Muban Foundation
Musée Cernuschi, Musée des Arts de l’Asie de la ville de Paris
Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art
National Folk Museum of Korea 국립민속박물관
National Museum of Korea 국립중앙박물관
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Private Collection
Royal Artillery Historical Trust
Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Asiatische Kunst
The British Library
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Victoria and Albert Museum

Published on Oct 10, 2014

Curator Jessica Harrison-Hall introduces the British Museum’s collection which tells the history of the world for the world, with particular focus on ceramic works and the current BP exhibition Ming: 50 years that changed China at the British Museum 18 September 2014 – 5 January 2015