Achievements and Applications
A Home Theater for You — Films
In the Golden Age of Chinese Craftsmanship
Led by the famous Taiwan director Hou Hsiao-hsien, In the Golden Age of Chinese Craftsmanship shows the extraordinary precision and quality of Chinese craftsmen from the Ming and Ch’ing dynasties via works in the National Palace Museum collection.
In the movie, Hou Hsiao-hsien uses his unique narrative method to present this theme in four sections: "T’ang Ying", "Curio Boxes", "Orchard Workshop", and "Departure Herald and Return Clearing", telling impressive stories of the extraordinary brilliance in the artistic lives of the Chinese craftsmen involved.
[ Six Conjoined Vases in Tea Dust Glaze PC version MAC version ]
[ Departure Herald and Return Clearing--1 PC version MAC version ]
[ Departure Herald and Return Clearing--2 PC version MAC version ]
[ Carved red PC version MAC version ]
[ Ceramics PC version MAC version ]
[ Revolving Footed Bowl PC version MAC version ]
Old is New NPM Image Advertisement
This 90-second film short took the director Wayne Peng almost a year to complete. The contents derive from the National Palace Museum’s famous work of calligraphy Letter on Flower’s Fragrance by the Sung artist Huang T’ing-chien. The native computer-music artist Lim Giong was also invited to act and perform this piece in a completely new interpretation.
In the film short, archaic Hoklo (Taiwanese) is used to chant this classical verse and complemented by Lim’s uniquely contemporary computer music. Not only does it convey the millennium-old quality of the calligraphy, giving flight of fancy in a lively manner on the monitor, it also fuses the ideas of life and cultural aesthetics from a thousand years ago with modern technology to provide a perfect, new model for interpretation!
[ Old is New NPM Image Advertisement PC version MAC version ]
The Passage
How do you shoot a movie with a museum as the setting?
The movie weaves together the story of three people from different backgrounds brought together by The Cold Food Observance, a work of calligraphy by the renowned Sung scholar-artist Su Shih now in the National Palace Museum. In doing so, it alternates with passages from the history of the National Palace Museum using another character, slowly unfolding a story both moving and informative. In the end, The Cold Food Observance not only brings together and brings closure for the main characters, it also shows exactly how timeless and precious, both personally and culturally, such works of art are.
Computer Graphic Animations on Art
Mao-kung Ting Bronze Vessel, Carved Olive Stone Boat, and Ivory Ball are treasures in the National Palace Museum that have always been viewed and presented to us with reverence and respect.
To reduce our distance with these "classics", while also explaining how "old" can be "new", the National Palace Museum specially invited the artist Wang Jun-jieh to explore these works from three perspectives of "point", "line", and "surface". Focusing on these three artworks, the artist created a completely new visual effect. It is hoped that these new reinterpretations of the meaning of these treasures will create a place for dialogue between "history" and "modernity".
[ Ivory Ball PC version MAC version ] [ Carved Olive Stone Boat PC version MAC version ] [ Mao-kung Ting (bronze vessel) of national significance PC version MAC version ]
Behind the Palace．Beyond the Horizon
How do works of art from the distant past provide a spark for artists’ creativity now?
In 2003, the National Palace Museum invited artists and students from the international and domestic scene to come to the Museum and appreciate the works in its collection. Afterwards, they went off on their own to create works inspired by these pieces. Then director Wang Shiao-di was invited to document the process of their artistic creation, which is presented in this movie.
Here, Wang shows how artists and artworks interacted, and how Museum masterpieces before the artists’ eyes both dazzled and inspired. The artists and students took the emotions and ideas inspired by the artworks to create their own pieces in both emulation and inspiration, the entire process being documented in detail here. The film also prods us to rethink the meaning of ancient artworks in display cases at a museum: Are they merely static remainders of some ancient time? Or, given the chance, do they have new life and meaning waiting for us to discover?
3D Animated Short Films on Art
We chose such popular and renowned artworks at the National Palace Museum as Jadeite Cabbage with Insects, Ivory Ball, Mao-kung Ting Bronze Vessel, Revolving Vase with Fish Decoration, and Carved Olive Stone Boat and extracted their unique essence for these film shorts. Who would have known that 3D imaging technology and movies would give these artworks a whole new look? Recreating all the splendor and infinite detail by the master craftsmen who created them, they offer a new visual realm of imagination!
[ Where Dreams Come True: Fights of Fancy at the National Palace Museum - Revolving Vase with Fish Decoration PC version MAC version ]
[ Big Things in Little Packages: Always Something New at the National Palace Museum - Carved Olive Stone Boat PC version MAC version ]
[ Better than the Real Thing: Everything's Fresh at the National Palace Museum - Jadeite Cabbage with Insects PC version MAC version ]
[ Good to the Core: Using your Imagination at the National Palace Museum - Ivory Ball PC version MAC version ]
The three-dimensional animated film Adventures in the NPM is the product of the creativity and hard work of the National Palace Museum’s team of researchers, educators and digital engineers. This 12-minute film has breathed life into three treasures from the National Palace Museum’s collection: the Han dynasty Jade pi-hsieh animal to ward of evil, Northern Sung Pillow in the shape of a recumbent child with white glace, and the Sung dynasty Jade duck. They have become three very lively, humorous and intelligent characters that together experience a night of adventure in the museum. It serves the purpose of introducing the museum to our cartoon-captivated audience of varied cultural backgrounds, making learning entertaining for the young and old.
[ Adventures in the NPM PC version MAC version ]
Inside: The Emperor’s Treasure
It is the best of the Chinese emperor’s art collection, housed in one of the world’s top museums and now the National Geographic Channel has been granted unparalleled access to the imperial treasure trove at Taiwan’s National Palace Museum to tell the incredible story of the Emperor who assembled much of the collection; the courage of the people who protected it from destruction during two wars; and the technology being used to preserve this treasure for future generations. The National Palace Museum is utilizing state-of-the art digital technology to give this magnificent collection z new lease on life.