Guanfu Museum

Guanfu Museum 观复博物馆

Established	1996 in Beijing
Location	Beijing China
Type	Art museum, History museum
Curator	Ma Weidu (马未都)
Website	http://www.guanfumuseum.org.cn/

Guanfu Museum (Chinese: 观复博物馆; pinyin: Guānfù Bówùguǎn) is an art museum in Beijing. It was founded by Ma Weidu in 1996,^[1] and it was among the first private museums established after the foundation of the People's Republic of China.

History

The museum's old building was located on the Liulichang Street, and mainly exhibited unearthed relics from the Ming and Qing dynasties. The museum was then moved to Nanxiao Street and again to Dashanzi in 2004, where the museum is currently located.

Exhibition Halls

Ceramics Hall

Inside the Ceramics Hall

The Ceramics Hall exhibits artifacts that span 1,000 years, between the Song and Qing dynasties. Many of the ceramic pieces represent the most typical features of five famous kilns at that time, which were the Ru kiln, Jun kiln, official kiln, Ge kiln and Ding kiln.

Furniture Hall

Chinese ancient study room

China has a long history of furniture-making. Furniture from the Ming and Qing periods in many ways represent the culmination of Chinese furniture-making skills, and they have various different features. Ming furniture features simple, smooth, and flowing lines, and plain and elegant ornamentation, fully bringing out the special qualities of frame-structure furniture. Influenced by China's burgeoning foreign trade and advanced craftsmanship techniques, furniture of the Qing Dynasty period turned to rich and intricate ornamentation, along with coordinated engraved designs. Because of the high level of development of Chinese furniture in the Ming and Qing dynasties, most Chinese furniture design today follows in the tradition from these two periods.

The Furniture gallery in Guanfu Museum contains 6 smaller exhibiting halls and a special Chinese ancient study room, displaying over 500 pieces of furniture designed during the Ming and Qing periods.

Doors and window frames

On the second floor there is an exhibition of finely carved doors and windows, as well as a collection of modern Chinese oil paintings and sculptures.