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Celebration: The Birthday in Chinese Art
February 27, 2010–August 15, 2010
Florence and Herbert Irving Galleries for Chinese Decorative Arts
Birthday celebrations and concomitant themes of longevity are pervasive in Chinese art of the
Ming and Qing dynasties. A recurring scene of a splendid reception at the residence of a wealthy
family, represented in a lacquered screen, a set of embroidered hanging scrolls, and a porcelain
vase, shows the eightieth birthday gathering for the Tang-dynasty general Guo Ziyi, a popular
figure of long life, wealth, and honor. Longevity is also encoded in peaches, cranes, immortals,
and flora and fauna of many kinds, sometimes forming sophisticated visual word play expressing
wishes of long life for the honoree. The exhibition will draw together works in many media from
the Museum’s collection to illuminate these auspicious themes.
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