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Objects & Management
Old Collection, New Additions | Categories in the Collection | Inventories of the Collection


項目符號 Old Collection, New Additions

The collection of the National Palace Museum mainly deals with art and artifacts of Chinese art. Many of the works in the collection are masterpieces, leading the Museum to become known as a treasure trove of Chinese culture. 

After arriving in Taiwan, the collections of the Palace Museum and the Preparatory Office of the National Central Museum were temporarily stored at Pei-kou in Wu-feng, Taichung. In 1965, the two collections were joined in Wai-shuang-hsi, Taipei, to form that of the National Palace Museum. The holdings from the Palace Museum included 46,100 antiquities, 5,526 paintings and calligraphic works and 545,797 rare books and archival documents. The collection from the National Central Museum included 11,047 antiquities, 477 works of painting and calligraphy, and 38 rare books. In sum, the combined collection consisted of 608,985 cultural relics.

The storage of art and objects in crates at Pei-kou, Taichung.

The storage of art and objects in crates at Pei-kou, Taichung.

The current collection of the National Palace Museum features not only the objects brought to Taiwan from the two institutions mentioned above, but also acquisitions made after the Museum’s official inauguration in Taiwan. These new additions have come from transfers from other institutions, donations made to the Museum, and purchases by the Museum, of which the latter two are the most significant.
 
The Palace Museum in Peking and the Preparatory Office of the National Central Museum had begun expanding their collections long before their collections were moved to Taiwan. In 1934, the Palace Museum purchased a weight and measure (excavated in Ch'en-kou-i in Ting-hsi County, Kansu) dating from the Wang Mang Interregnum. After the defeat of Japan, the Museum accepted the donations of ceramics from the family of Mr. Kuo Pao-ch'ang and Shang and Chou bronzes of the German connoisseur, Mr. Werner Jannings. The Preparatory Office of the National Central Museum had also purchased treasured bronzes in the collections of the Liu family's Shan-chai, Yü family's Shuang-chien-i, and Jung family's Sung-chai studios.
 
Since opening in Taipei, the National Palace Museum has never ceased in expanding the scope of its collection. Towards this end, a set of guidelines was drawn in 1969 to facilitate making acquisitions with budgetary funds and to encourage private donations and entrustments. The result has been an impressive total of 46,706 works of cultural and historical significance added to the collection as of November 2007. Of these, 1,651 were transferred from other institutions, 32,320 donated, and 12,735 purchased.
 
Among these treasures in their own right, some more notable examples include the sandalwood furniture from the residence of the Ch'ing dynasty prince Kung-wang, the calligraphic work by Ch'en Po of the Northern Sung, the scroll "Cold Food Observance" by Su Shih of the Northern Sung, the "Spring Thunder" zither of the T'ang dynasty, the Tzu-fan set of bells from the Spring and Autumn period, gilt bronze Buddhist sculptures from the Northern Wei and later, jade tablets used by the T'ang emperor Hsüan-tsung in homage to the God of the Earth, "A Calligraphic Rendition of the Hsi-tz'u Chapter of the I-ching" by Chu Hsi of the Southern Sung, and the painting "Mount Lu" by Chang Dai-ch'ien. The Museum has also acquired a large number of prehistoric jades, Shang and Chou bronzes, ceramics, as well as famous paintings and calligraphic pieces from the reign of the Chia-ch'ing Emperor of the Ch'ing dynasty to the modern era. These acquisitions have all served to fill the gaps in the original collection. 

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項目符號 Categories in the Collection

Display of sandalwood furniture from the residence of Prince Kung of the Ch'ing dynasty.
Display of sandalwood furniture from the residence of Prince Kung of the Ch'ing dynasty.

A Statistical Tabulation of Numbers and Types in the Collection
The objects in the Museum's collection are great in both number and variety. They can be further divided as follows:
Bronzes: 5,996
Paintings: 5,231
Ceramics: 25,407
Calligraphic works: 3,033
Jades: 12,103
Calligraphic model books: 474
Lacquer wares: 707
Tapestries and embroideries: 306
Enamel wares: 2,510
Fans: 1,651
Carvings: 651
Rare books: 176,784
Studio implements: 2,379
Ch'ing archival documents: 386,729
Coins: 6,952
Documents in Manchu, Mongolian,
and Tibetan: 11,501
Miscellaneous objects: 12,294
Rubbings:895
Textiles: 104
 

The category of miscellaneous objects includes such objects as religious implements, costumes and accessories, and snuff bottles. Thus, as of February 2008, the entire collection is composed of 655,707 objects.

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 項目符號 Inventories of the Collection

The collection of the National Palace Museum had experienced frequent movements prior to its reinstallation in Taipei; during the period it had also been subjected to several inventories. The earliest inventory was taken by the Committee for the Disposition of the Ch'ing Imperial Possessions shortly after the last emperor P'u-i had been asked to leave the palace. Years later, when selected treasures were sent to Shanghai for safekeeping, a thorough inventory was taken from 1933 to 1937 under Director Ma Heng's administration. The results became the original inventory of the collection that was moved south, and were taken in later inventories as an indispensable source of information for verifying the names of objects and their quantity and condition.

July 09, 2007 Director Lin Mun-Lee carefully examinedrandomly selected works from the Department of Rare Books and Documents.

July 09, 2007 Director Lin Mun-Lee carefully examined
randomly selected works from the Department of Rare Books and Documents.

In 1951, a special committee was organized to oversee the inventory of the combined collections of the two museums, which were then stored in Pei-kou, Wu-feng, Taichung. Scholars and experts were invited to serve as committee members, charged with the tasks of examining the collection and re-assigning crate numbers. The work was completed in 1954, and the results were compiled into many volumes. The set has since then served as the original documentation of the first inventory of the combined collections after their arrival in Taiwan.
 
Between 1989 and 1991 the National Palace Museum undertook yet another major inventory of the collection. Formed by the Advisory Committee at the approval of the government, the task force, made up of over forty scholars and experts in the field, meticulously examined each and every object in the collection and checked its condition against the descriptions in the records of the two previous inventories. Considering that 35 years had passed since the last inventory, members of the staff also took the opportunity to attach a registration label to each object and examine its condition. Photographs of the entire collection were also taken to further enhance the management of the collection.
 
Starting in 2001, given the increasing number of additions to the collection over the years, the National Palace Museum began implementing a policy of randomly selecting works from the collection for verification and confirmation of the collection contents and the records on file.
 
(Revised December 2007)

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