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PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
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Stanhope Hall, Princeton, New Jersey 08544-5264
Telephone 609-258-3601; Fax 609-258-1301Contact: Ruta Smithson (609) 258-3763
Private Collection of Chinese Ceramics on View at Princeton University Art Musuem
PRINCETON -- "From Ritual Simplicity to Imperial Splendor," an exhibition of thirty-six works of Chinese ceramics from the collection of Nelson Chang, Class of 1974, will be on view through September 26, 1999, in the Franz Galleries of The Art Museum. Mr. Chang has lent the works in honor of the Twenty-fifth Reunion of his Class at Princeton University.
Organized by guest curator Virginia Bower, independent scholar in Chinese ceramics, and Cary Y. Liu, associate curator of Asian art, the exhibition includes works from the early third millennium b.c. to the late eighteenth century, encompassing a wide variety of Chinese ceramics, from simple funerary and everyday vessels to porcelains of exquisite refinement reserved for the enjoyment of the imperial household.
Of particular interest is a pair of thirteenth- or fourteenth-century granary storage urns decorated with mythic symbols correlating to the sun
and moon, gift of Nelson Chang to The Art Museum. Reflecting late imperial taste are eight remarkable porcelain Buddhist altar ornaments of imperial quality. This rare complete set along with an imperial vase with revolving interlocking sections are technical masterpieces that date to the eighteenth-century reign of the Ch’ien-lung emperor.
The exhibition is made possible by the Epoch Foundation and the Spears Fund, Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University.
The Art Museum is open to the public without charge. Free highlights tours of the collection are given every Saturday at 2 p.m. The Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sunday from 1 to 5p.m. It is closed on Monday and major holidays. The Museum Shop closes at 5 p.m.
The Museum is located in the middle of the Princeton University campus. Picasso’s large sculpture Head of a Woman stands in front. For further information, please call (609) 258-3788.