| Transcript |
- Foreword
Acknowledgements
In presenting the exhibition Antique Chinese
Cloisonne, the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
is showing examples dating from the fifteenth
to nineteenth centuries, of a fine art which first
became known to the West in the late nine-
teenth century. Interestingly, cloisonne was ap-
preciated outside China as an art sooner and
more so than in China, where it was considered
a �lesser� art.
In recent generations in the West, questions
have frequently been raised and debated con-
cerning the �dividing line� between arts and
crafts. In the late nineteenth century William
Morris and his contemporaries sought to unite
both in the Arts and Crafts movement. Today,
some argue that if an object is contemporary it
is craft, and if old, art. Others look to materials;
if traditional craft materials are used, it must
be a craft, not an art. Yet another answer con-
cerns itself with the intended use of the object:
if practical for daily household use it is a craft.
Whatever the criteria, Chinese cloisonne must
be seen to fuse any perceived gap between
crafts and art. The cloisonne artists perfected a
long technical process and throughout the four
centuries seen in this exhibition produced high
quality works with many subtleties and intrica-
cies of colour.
Our thanks go to all the lenders and donors
who have made this exhibition possible.
Patricia e. bovey, Director
We would like to express our sincere thanks to
Mr. and Mrs. Reid for their enthusiastic sup-
port and for making available their magnificent
collection of Chinese cloisonne enamels to this
exhibition and publication. We would also like
to thank all the lenders for their generosity in
making their cloisonne available to us.
Special thanks are due to the following staff
members for their help: Antoinette Church,
Brian Patten, Janice Ross and Chris Russell for
his skilful conservation work done on some of
the cloisonne pieces, and to Trevor Mills for his
excellent photography.
Finally we are grateful to the Canada Coun-
cil, the B.C. Cultural Fund and the National
Museums of Canada for financial support of
this project.
b.t. and p.s.
|
|---|
