The Metropolitan Museum’s engaging “Recasting the Past” exhibition looks at the antiquarian spirit in China since the 12th century.
Chinese bronzes made from the 12th to the 19th century are an important but often overlooked category of Chinese art. In ancient China, bronze vessels were emblems of ritual and power. A millennium later, in the period from 1100 to 1900, such vessels were rediscovered as embodiments of a long-lost golden age that was worthy of study and emulation. This “return to the past” (fugu) was part of a widespread phenomenon across all the arts to reclaim the virtues of a classical tradition.
Drawing on about 200 objects—roughly half from The Met and half from major lenders across Asia, Europe, and the U.S.—the show places bronzes alongside painting, calligraphy, ceramics, lacquer, and jade to tell a sweeping story of tradition.
On view through September 28, 2025, at The Met Fifth Avenue, Galleries 209–218.
Cover image: Incense burner in the shape of a goose. Source: metmuseum.org