The Suzhou Museum

About a year ago, Theresa and I were watching TV and saw a show on PBS about the Suzhou Museum.  At that time we knew that we were likely to be moving to Suzhou.  But we knew nothing about the city.  Absolutely nothing.  So we watched the documentary, all the while looking in the background for clues as to what the city had in store for us.

What we were watching was an episode of the American Masters series.  A documentary.  The subject was not so much the Suzhou Museum, but rather its architect I.M Pei.  The plot line, in essence, was about a world-famous architect who, in the twilight of his life, returned from exile to the city of his youth to design one, last masterpiece in a labor of love.    At the time we were watching, all I knew of I.M. Pei was a.) he designed the glass pyramid at the Louvre and b.) he was a frequent question in response to answers on Jeopardy.  But since then we've learned that he has a legitimate and profound connection to Suzhou.   He actually lived as a boy in the Lion's Grove Garden.  I'm sure that will come up again in a future post.

So, when I stumbled across the Suzhou Museum it was a bit like deja vu.  I can reassure you that PBS, at least in this one instance, does not try to pass off fiction as reality.  The Suzhou Museum is really here.   I've been two or three times now.   And every time I catch a view that I've seen before on a television 8000 miles away.

The Suzhou Museum is not large....at least not in comparison to the Smithsonian or the Louvre or Chicago's Field Museum.  But it is a fine Museum in it's own way.  The collection is mainly of small artifacts from the Suzhou area.  Many of the artifacts date back to the Bronze and Iron Ages.  For example, the statue appearing as the second photo was excavated from the area around Tiger Hill.  It dates back to around 500 B.C. or so....about the time that Suzhou first gained prominence as the kingdom of Wu during the Zhou dynasty.

Other artifacts more recent...but still old.  Above is a vase dating back to the Ming Dynasty - a true Ming Vase.   Below is an entire elephant tusk from....I don't know when.... that has been carved with intricate figures in scenes of war and peace

 The museum has a nice collection of porcelains and jades and ivories and textiles and all other forms of Chinese craftsmanship over the last 2500 years or so.   More stuff than I can convey in six photos and eight paragraphs of rambling text.  But not so much that you have to spend an entire day there.  A two hour leisurely stroll will allow you to see most everything.

Below is a porcelain bowl about which I know nothing...other than it is several hundred years old and I like the red dragon pattern against the blue and white background.   I wonder what kind of people were involved, so many years ago, in making it.   Today, this would be a piece of cake to make by the thousands using automated equipment. But this was done by hand by people that had to rely upon only their craftsmanship and creativity.

But the best thing about the museum is that the price is right.   Every time I've shown up the admission has been free.  Just line up and go through the security check.  It's free.   It's air-conditioned too.   So if you've spent the better part of a hot summer day humping it around historic Suzhou, then there is no better place to finish your afternoon than at the Suzhou Museum.  You'll just have to step over the hundreds of others that are inside cooling off in the A.C.

One final photo.  Above is a birdcage that is made of mahogany.  If you like woodworking, then you have to respect this.  Imagine working, 300 or 400 years ago, with nothing other than knives and chisels and saws.  To create something this delicate and finely constructed is nothing short of a miracle.   The bars of the cage are spaghetti-like rods of wood.  They are fitted to thin wooden strips that have been precisely drilled and mortised and joined to form the completed cage.  It looks like wire, but it's all of wood.  You've got to tip your hat to the folks that did this.