The Royal Ontario Museum is proud to hold the largest and most significant collection of Chinese historical art in North America. This extraordinary collection comprises more than 41,000 pieces, many of which are objects of significant importance, rarity and value.

Besides many first-rate artworks, the ROM’s Chinese collection is characterized by its wide range of categories, representing one of the most comprehensive and diversified art collections outside China. This collection is vital for the study of Chinese art history and archaeology, not only because of the aesthetic status of the objects, but also because of the academic significance of the pieces. The ROM also holds many unique and one-of-a-kind objects in almost all major categories of Chinese works of art and antiquities, including language, calligraphy, and Chinese script.

10 Chinese Art Collection Highlights

• More than 41,000 pieces — many of which are considered national treasures

• International renowned sculptures of stone, bronze, ceramic and wood rarely found outside of China

• Comprehensive holding of ceramic vessels to the end of Qing Dynasty (1912)

• Paintings and calligraphy dating from Ming through Qing Dynasties (1368–1912)

• Prints and rubbings of the Tang through Qing Dynasties (618–1912)

• 500 bronze mirrors, ranging from the Bronze Age to the Qing dynasty

• More than 100 Chinese ancestor portraits — one of the largest collections held by any museum outside China

• Tang and Qing glass of great interest to scholars and collectors

• Decorative arts from Qin, Yuan and Late Imperial China — furniture, lacquer, ivory, cloisonné, pewter and bronze

• Gallery display of The Paradise of Maitreya, one of the world’s best-preserved murals from the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), and Painting of Heavenly Court from the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), one of the finest examples of Daoist art outside China

World-Class Curatorial Expertise 

An internationally-regarded scholar, teacher and speaker, the ROM’s Dr. Chen Shen is cross-appointed as a Professor in East Asian Studies at the University of Toronto. He is a special research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a guest professor at Shandong University. Dr. Shen has received numerous grants and supervised dozens of graduate students in these roles. He is currently writing Art and Archaeology of Early China: Stories Behind the Objects, a textbook for an advanced class at the University of Toronto and he published Ancient Chinese Jades from Royal Ontario Museum in 2016.

Dr. Shen is one of the world’s top experts qualified to drive the continued growth of the ROM’s Chinese collections, exhibitions and programs. The curatorial expertise and professional contacts of Dr. Chen Shen are critical to the ROM’s ambition to further expand and share its Chinese art collection, with a focus on paintings, Buddhist artworks, furniture, jade, bronze, glass and decorative arts.

A Remarkable Opportunity

Influential philanthropists, scholars and art dealers have been instrumental in establishing the ROM’s world-renowned Chinese collections. This singular collection began more than a century ago and these artworks inspire learners around the globe to this day. The ROM is an international museum and has forged a long-standing relationship with China, which today is stewarded by Dr. Chen Shen.

Over the past 20 years, Dr. Shen has significantly raised the profile of the ROM’s Chinese collections with his prolific research and as curator of critically-acclaimed ROM exhibitions: The Forbidden City: Inside the Court of China’s Emperors (2014), Treasures from a Lost Civilization: Ancient Chinese Art from Sichuan (2002) and The Warrior Emperor and China’s Terracotta Army (2010). Dr. Shen has also established excellent working relationships between the ROM and Beijing’s celebrated Palace Museum, the National Museum of China and Nanjing Museum.

《Epitaph for Sir Duo and his wife, Lady Zhao 墮暨妻趙氏墓誌》

Limestone, Tang Dynasty, China, 610 AD | Qing Dynasty, China, 1903 | 石灰石，唐朝，公元610年

921.21.165 The George Crofts Collection

Chinese epitaphs consist of short biographies of the deceased, followed by a lament in verse. This epitaph features exquisite calligraphy, to honour military official Duo (509–593) and his wife, Lady Zhao (540–610)

中國的墓誌銘多數由精簡的亡者傳記及悼詞所構成。這一墓誌銘以名家大氣的書法展現了對唐代□墮(509–593)及其夫人趙氏(540–610)的敬意。

《Album "Declining a Fan in Sutai" “蘇台卻扇圖” 冊頁》

Ink on paper, Huang Yi (1744–1802), Qing Dynasty, China, 1796 | 紙本墨色，黃易（1744–1802）清朝，嘉慶元年(1796)

2003.12.1 This purchase was made possible by a generous grant from the ROM Foundation

This album is a record of friendship and gift-giving. It was created by a well-known literati painter, Huang Yi (1744–1802), who presented this as a wedding gift to his friend Tao Liang (1772–1857). The album contains a painting of the newly married couple, Tao Liang and his wife Xu Shanxiu, in a garden and about twenty texts by important scholars, artists, and calligraphers congratulating them on their marriage.

這本冊頁是友誼與饋贈的見證。由知名文人畫家黃易為友人陶墚(1772–1857)的新婚所創作。冊頁中包含一幅新婚夫婦 — 陶墚和徐山秀在花園中的畫像，以及由眾多名家學者、畫家和書法家為新人題的二十多幅字。

《Snuff bottle 鼻煙壺》

Mould-blown glass, Ma Shoxuan (active 1894–1925) | Qing Dynasty, China, 1903 | 棕色模壓玻璃，馬少宣（活躍於1894–1925）| 清朝，公元1903年

975.206.3 Gift of Miss Violet Stewart

This small bottle was used for storing snuff, a finely ground tobacco inhaled through the nose. The habit of snuff taking immediately became popular at court and miniature decorative bottles were specially designed to hold small quantities. On one side of this snuff bottle is a poem by the artist Ma Shoxuan (active 1894–1925). Unlike bottles in other materials left unsigned by the artisans who made them, this one is signed by Ma Shoxuan and dated 1903. 

這隻小壺曾是盛裝鼻煙的容器。鼻煙由煙草加工磨粉而製成，通常用鼻子吸聞。在宮廷之中吸聞鼻煙很快蔚為風尚，於是這種精巧別緻的煙壺也被專門製成，用於承裝少量鼻煙。這個鼻煙壺的一側題有一首馬少宣(活躍於1894–1925)的詩。通常鼻煙壺的設計及製作工匠都不在作品上留名，這件作品上卻題有馬少宣的簽名及製作年份。

《Album of Twelve Fans with Painting and Calligraphy 書畫冊頁十二幅》

Ink and light colours on paper treated with mica, Gao Qipei (1660–1734), Qing dynasty, China, 1697–1698 | 紙本墨色，高其佩(1660–1734),清朝公元1697–1698年

2008.46.1.1-10 This acquisition was possible with the generous support of the Louise Hawley Stone Charitable Trust

Even without the benefit of a brush, the artist Gao Qipei drew these works with flair. The strokes he rendered can be as delicate as the man’s facial features, as crisp as the bamboo leaves, or as robust as the cliff face and tree trunks. The control over the amount of ink and its tonal intensity, too, is admirable. 

高其佩的這冊扇頁盡顯其高超技藝。他的人物山水，或蒼渾沉厚，或簡恬生動。人臉的溫婉、竹葉的勁脆、山岩的峻峭與樹幹的挺拔，種種細節被他生動地刻畫出來，讓人無比敬佩。

The Royal Ontario Museum is pleased to extend a rare opportunity to guests of Fête Chinoise to experience a curated tour of the museum’s extraordinary Chinese collection. If you are interested in this unique experience, please contact Katie McMillan at katiem@rom.on.ca or 416-586-5582.