Outlines of Chinese Art 1919

The Government Museum at Peking, containing some of the best art treasures of China, is unique among the museums of the world. In architectural design and detail and in historical surroundings, as well as in the examples of art products stored within its walls, this Museum is exclusively and characteristically Chinese. The bronzes and jades, paintings and manuscripts, pottery and porcelain, inks and writing-brushes, all owe their common origin to the genius of the Chinese race. This Museum has not needed to borrow from other nations examples of an earlier art, out of which its own development has directly or indirectly sprung; on the contrary, the art spirit which found its expression in these various forms during the historic period joins hands even with the earliest mythological and legendary traditions of the country...