How art keeps its memory

Bunian Tu, a landmark figure painting by Tang Dynasty artist Yan Liben, is another highlight. The work not only established a paradigm for Chinese figure painting, but also serves as an important historical record. In 641, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty received an envoy from Tubo. The Tubo leader Songtsen Gampo later married Princess Wencheng of the Tang Dynasty, helping establish peaceful relations between Tang and Tubo.

Of course, visitors cannot miss a facsimile of Lanting Xu, or Preface to the Orchid Pavilion. The original, created by Wang Xizhi in the 4th century, is perhaps the most famous work in the history of Chinese calligraphy, but its whereabouts are unknown. The exhibited copy is often attributed to Chu Suiliang, an early Tang Dynasty calligraphy icon.

On a bright spring day in 353, a group of Chinese literati gathered in the Orchid Pavilion in present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, for a ritualistic purification ceremony. They composed poems celebrating the harmony of nature and the grandeur of the universe. From that gathering emerged a work that would become a monument in the history of Chinese art.

Nonetheless, further analysis of this exhibited work, including its details and paper, has led researchers to reconsider its identity: it might be a Song "counterfeit" based on Chu's version.

"Whether or not it is Chu's work, this facsimile has its crucial status in history," Jiao says. "It offers an important clue as to how the lineage of Lanting Xu was prolonged."

Many extant paintings and calligraphic works with a long history of collection pose similar puzzles of identity: Are they originals or later facsimiles made by admirers? Which edition are they?

To help clarify such disputes, curators have come up with an idea: introducing artifacts from archaeological excavations, whose dates can be accurately established, so visitors can compare them and draw their own conclusions.

A series of precious Tang silk paintings depicting the Chinese gods Fuxi and Nyuwa were unearthed at an archaeological site in Turpan, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, from 1959 to 1960. Two are now in the Palace Museum collection, and the better-preserved one makes a rare appearance in the exhibition. After decades in storage, the painting provides a tangible reference for understanding the art of the Tang Dynasty.

A group of handwritten Buddhist sutras dating to the final years of the Tang Dynasty offers another example. Present-day researchers may not know exactly who wrote them, but they can clearly see how these unnamed writers learned from the master calligraphers of their time.

There is a Chinese saying that "a piece of paper is blessed with a thousand-year life".

When imbued with the soul of art, however, these works may be able to endure far beyond a millennium.

"Paintings and calligraphic works are witnesses of continuous Chinese civilization," Zhang Yongxin, head of the Palace Museum, says. "They carry fine traditional culture from one generation to another. Reading them, we can also better understand Chinese aesthetics and share them with the rest of the world."