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Glitter ware

The lifestyle of rich culture and artistry led by the upper classes during the Song Dynasty (960-1279) is manifested in the work that went into items of daily use and household ornaments. Nowhere is this sophistication more evident than in the gold and silverware of the era. Man Ting Fang ("Scents Fill the Hall"), an exhibition which runs at the Chengdu Museum in Sichuan province until April 15, is awash in glittering examples of delicate Song gold and silver items. The objects — bowls, hairpins, bracelets, vases and earrings — were discovered in two crypts, one in Hebei province's Yixian county, and the other in Sichuan's Pengzhou. The exhibition offers a glimpse of the prosperity and cultured lives of the period, and the refined taste of the era's upper classes. Some of the objects once decorated clothes, hair and hands, and others were for use during popular pastimes, such as appreciating paintings, smelling incense, arranging flowers, and preparing tea.

9 am-5 pm, closed on Mondays.1 Xiaohe Jie, Qingyang district, Chengdu, Sichuan province.028-6827-7011.