The exhibition and exchange event of A Comprehensive Collection of Song Dynasty Paintings was successfully held at Cambridge University on March 14th.
A Comprehensive Collection of Song Dynasty Paintings is part of A Comprehensive Collection of Ancient Chinese Paintings (中國歷代繪畫大係 – Zhōngguó lìdài huìhuà dà xì). It is a cultural project by Zhejiang University and the Cultural Heritage Administration of Zhejiang Province consisting of 232 books showcasing China’s greatest ancient paintings.
At the opening ceremony of the exhibition, Chinese and British representatives jointly visited the special exhibition of Song Dynasty paintings. The exhibition was themed on “The River Cam’s Rhythm and Ink Reflecting Thousands of Years”. It showcased the unique charm of Song Dynasty paintings through high-definition color proofs from the collection.
A visitor from Cambridge University expressed that the arrival of A Comprehensive Collection of Song Dynasty Paintings has injected new vitality into the academic research and cultural exchanges of Cambridge University. They believed it will help broaden the artistic horizons of teachers and students and promote mutual understanding and appreciation between different cultures.
The entire A Comprehensive Collection of Ancient Chinese Painting consists of 232 books in 62 volumes. These feature 12,405 sets of Chinese paintings on paper, silk, linen and other materials featured in the books. They come from 263 museums and other cultural institutions in China and abroad. As well as A Comprehensive Collection of Song Dynasty Paintings there are also collections for the Pre-Qin Period to Tang Dynasties, Song Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty Paintings, and Qing Dynasty.
These publications are the world’s most complete and most extensive collections of Chinese painting masterpieces to date. It is the first time in history that a nation has made such a comprehensive and systematic collection of its ancient paintings, offering the artistic resources to be shared and utilized by the entire world.
Some of the most famous Chinese paintings in the world are included in the collection, such as Admonitions of the Court Instructress. Thanks to the most advanced image acquisition and digital processing technologies, A Comprehensive Collection of Ancient Chinese Paintings has restored the true essence and spirit of these ancient paintings to the greatest extent possible. It provides an excellent method of preservation for these ancient works.
Each individual book in the collection weighs around 8kg, meaning the total collection comes in at a whopping 1.8 tons. The entire project took almost 20 years to complete, starting in 2005 and was first published in 2023.
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