Home » Musings » Ni Hao Shanghai… Again! With A Beauty Trip Around The Shanghai Museum

Ni Hao Shanghai… Again! With A Beauty Trip Around The Shanghai Museum

33 Comments

Alrighty ladies, I’ve just about settled back down into the rhythm of things and getting back into the blogging groove. I was away for about 9 days where I had little access to the internet and spent 9 quite glorious blog free days… that when I returned, I found it so hard to get back to blogging! Scary 😛

Anyway, I was in Shanghai (again) with my family this time, and on the days I was there, it was either rainy as heck or hot as heck. I swear I’m about a foundation shade darker from the sun and I broke out something awful. I can’t say I’m not glad to leave and return back here to KL 😛 I’m not going to bore you with more stories about Shanghai though but I’m going to take you on a small little visit with a twist.

Jade belt buckles/brooches from a distant era possibly 400-500BC

This trip, I paid a visit to the Shanghai Museum, partly because I had the luxury of time, and because it was a very rainy day and we just wanted to get out of the wet. I ended up being pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed it tremendously! I do highly recommend that you visit it if you are there. It is centuries of Chinese art and culture distilled into 16 rooms. Very enlightening and inspiring 🙂

Being a beauty buff, I spotted a couple of items in the museum that are beauty related, and which would be nice to have around the home in the present day. Do hop along for a quick beauty tour of the Shanghai Museum 🙂

The jade belt buckles or brooches (I forget which) pictured above were possibly from the period of the Warring States 400-500BC although I stand corrected. I do think they would still make gorgeous brooches or scarf pins today, won’t they? Speaking of brooches, here is another jade belt buckle that I do think would make a lovely brooch.

Can you imagine the hours of back breaking labour it must have taken this craftsman to make such an intricate carving? Bear in mind they had to do this all manually back in the BC era. No machines or lasers to help them along!

This one’s a vanity table complete with cosmetics box and a stand for a bronze mirror. I believe it may be Tang Dynasty, but again I can’t remember. I was too busy marvelling over the intricacy of the carvings and the delicacy of the make.

vanity table

Again, I could see this being part of a modern day home couldn’t you? Or how about this cabinet? Wouldn’t you like it to store all your vanity goodies?

I loved the look of this one definitely. It would be such fun to have it in my room or even as a display set in the living room. It could hide a multitude of junk 😛

Speaking of junk storage, I loved this jade (I think) octagonal box. It was stated to be a Hindustani box as the coloured inlay was inspired by the Hindustani. There was avid trade between India and China back in the day and this is one of the influences. I could see this one as a lovely jewellery box. Again, no idea which era it is from but we’re talking early AD.

These are 2 tea cups from the Qing dynasty Daoguang Reign between 1821-1850. Designs of plum blossoms and peaches signifying spring and longevity are common traditional designs on tea cups and we see this even today. This was not from too far in the past so many are still around … or at least their replicas 😛

I thought this interesting, so here is a piece that I challenge you to tell me what its for.

Pottery from Jin Dynasty 1115-1234AD

Here are 3 items makeup artists and beauty fans can appreciate – a brush holder! Chinese calligraphy uses brushes and they need a holder for them just as we do our makeup brushes so with the rise in the ceramic industry in China, came these lovely looking brush holders for scholars.

Famille Rose Brush Holder with Stone Grain Pattern with Pebbles – Qing Dynasty Qianlong Reign (1736-1795AD)

This is the famous blue and white pottery from the Ming dynasty, between the 1400-1600s. I used to have a blue and white chopstick holder at home that we later used for holding pens. It wasn’t from the Ming dynasty of course, but it would be nice to have my brushes in this one.

This one captivated my imagination totally. It is a carved jade brush holder from one of the ancient dynasties, which I failed to capture with my camera. Just look at that intricate carving on a soft stone like Jade. I cannot imagine how many pieces the carver had to toss before finally achieving this piece, can you? 😛

And that’s er… it. There are loads more stuff I snapped but I don’t want to bore you further. I hope you enjoyed the quick virtual tour through the Shanghai Museum with a beauty slant. I do promise you its a good way to spend a wet or hot afternoon in Shanghai if you have the time 🙂 I’ll get back to some proper beauty blogging soon, promise 🙂

Paris B

Answer: The pottery item is a pillow! You will never want to just fall into bed on this one!

33 Insightful comments ... Read or JOIN THE DISCUSSION

33 comments ... Read or JOIN THE DISCUSSION

  1. I can’t imagine myself sleeping on that ‘pillow’! It must be incredibly uncomfortable :s my grandmother has one of those old vanity tables, only hers doesn’t look as new and shiny as the one you saw in the museum! 🙂

    Reply

    • I would agree. But back in the day, that was the only “pillow” they had! I saw another one which was made to look like a house. At the base was even an open door with a lady standing in front of it. I couldn’t get a good picture though because it was all white porcelain but it was really nice! And guard your gran’s vanity table with your life! Some day you’d want it 😛

      Reply

  2. wish i had the jade brush holder! it’d be the most expensive item on my dresser *dream*

    i can imagine my head bleeding when i fall onto the pillow after a long day at work

    Reply

    • Same here I loved the jade one too! Guess back in the day, the ladies of leisure didn’t have much to do so they probably weren’t as tired as we are 😛

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    • That’s what my parents said. They remembered their grans using a wooden carved pillow too! The trip was alright – couldn’t wait to come home though.

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  5. The pillow hurts! LOL Thanks but no thanks! 😛

    I’ll go for the ceramic brush holder for my make-up brushes!!! and Calligraphy brushes! LOL COMBINED together 😛

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  7. the carvings on that jade brush holder are perfect! oh, i like the ceramic brush holders too!! and that cabinet is lovely!

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  9. Gorgeous pieces! Figures, the ones I want are the ones that keep and hide things. The cosmetics box and cabinet would be very handy too keep all my beauty junk! 🙂

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      • Hahahhaha I wonder if that’s where our penchant for bolsters came from too 😛

        Btw, love the reply of comment notification! 😀

        Reply

        • Oho! Thank you so much for letting me know it works! I wasn’t sure 😀 And yes I think bolsters are definitely a relic of our past need to cling onto something soft er… yeah 😛

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  13. Fantastic walkthrough! Your photos are gorgeous. I’d love a gorgeous brush holder like that instead of my embarrassing excuse…which is a dingy pencil holder.

    Reply

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