Shane McCausland explores the rich narrative themes of Ming-Qing era art from the Shanghai Museum on view at the Chester Beatty Library
Telling Images of China – Narrative and Figure Paintings, 15th–20th Century, from the Shanghai Museum, currently on view at the Chester Beatty Library is, apparently, only the second exhibition to be lent from China to Ireland. The first exhibition – of some of the 1st Emperor’s terracotta warriors to the Royal Hospital at Kilmainham – followed the discovery in 1974 of a satellite pit within Qin Shi Huangdi’s (r. 221–210 BC) tomb complex near Xi’an. This exhibition, in preparation since 2004, is the result of a collaboration between the Chester Beatty Library and the National Museum of Shanghai. Shanghai is the city which hosts the World Expo, featuring an Irish Pavilion.
