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Dialogue with the World

The National Palace Museum has been engaging in dialogues with the world since its inception. In addition to welcoming visitors across the globe, the Museum partakes in international exchanges. With each overseas exhibition, the Museum is enhancing cross-cultural ties, and bridging the past and present, the local and the global. Over the past century, the Museum had been through multiple overseas exhibitions. These meaningful events are mirrors of the times, reflecting how the Museum presents itself and how it is perceived culturally on the international stage. Meanwhile, they illuminate the shifting political identity, cultural perspective and the Museum's diversifying role. In the past, these exhibitions represented the Republic of China with cultural diplomacy as its mission, shaping Chinese art as classic and "orthodox" amid the Cold War sentiment. As the world enters the 21^st century, overseas exhibitions are also becoming multi-displinary and evolving with the changing mindset, positioning the Museum's collection as a cultural universal shared by the entire humanity.

Northern Branch
Southern Branch

- Yi Pouring Vessel of a Prince
  Late Spring and Autumn Period (570-476 BCE)
  - Gu Tong 002371
- Fenghua Mallet-shaped Vase in Celadon Glaze
  Ru Ware, Northern Song Dynasty, Late 11^th-Early 12^th Century
  - Gu Ci 017856
- Carved-red Lacquer Round Dish with Hollyhock Pattern
  Ming Dynasty, 15^th Century
  - Gu Qi 000143
Exhibits for the International Exhibition of Chinese Art in London

Yi Pouring Vessel of a Prince, a mallet-shaped vase and Ming lacquer ware from the Xuande reign were on board the HMS Suffolk of the British Royal Navy traveling from Shanghai to London to be displayed at the Royal Academy of Arts. To this day, the exhibition labels are still attached on the bottom.
Bamboo and Shrike
Li Anzhong, Song Dynasty (960-1279)
- Gu Hua 001257 N000000003
Insight Sparked by a Visitor

In 1962, when Chinese Art Treasures toured to the De Young Museum in San Francisco, United States, a lady visited the exhibition almost every day, lingering for hours, utterly captivated by the artworks. She invited several staff members accompanying the exhibition to her home. Among them was then Deputy Director Li Lin-ts'an (1913-1999), who, upon seeing her collection of rare birds, realized that the seemingly serene bird depicted in the painting was not a turtle dove, but a shrike.
Lycium Berries and a Quail
Cui Que, Song Dynasty (960-1279)
- Gu Hua 001239 N000000005
In 1988, artifacts from the National Palace Museum were featured during Tresors Du Musee National Du Palais, Taipei: Memoire d'Empire (Treasures from the National Palace Museum, Taipei: Memory of Empire) in the Galeries nationales du Grand Palais (Grand Palais National Galleries) in Paris, France. To make the exhibition possible, the French parliament passed the law granting the exhibits immunity from judicial seizures.

Lycium Berries and a Quail, one of the artworks shown in Paris, captures a tense moment of life and death in nature as a quail in front of the shrub focuses its gaze at a mole cricket on the ground. The painting is inscribed, "Cui Que, Lycium Berries and a Quail." Cui Que, a Northern Song court painter himself, was the younger brother of Cue Bai (fl. 11^th century), another court painter during the reign of Emperor Shenzong (r. 1067-1085). Bearing no signature or seal from the artist, the painting was dated to the Song dynasty by researchers based on the application of the mogu (boneless) style, which rendered the quail and the mole cricket in ink with varying intensity and a few accents in ochre.
- - Jieji Yongren (Heed Rashness and Have Perseverance)"
    Yongzheng Reign (1723-1735), Qing Dynasty">
  - Jieji Yongren (Heed Rashness and Have Perseverance)"
    Yongzheng Reign (1723-1735), Qing Dynasty">
  Carved Wooden Hanging Panel with Inlaid Enamel Pieces Reading "Jieji Yongren (Heed Rashness and Have Perseverance)"
  Yongzheng Reign (1723-1735), Qing Dynasty
  - Gu Fa 000759
- Palace Memorial for Submitting the Memorial with Imperial Rescripts in Vermillion Ink and in Gratitude for the Reassignment to Gansu
  Presented by Provincial Military Commander and Garrison Commander of Guizhou Ma Huibo on the 19^th Day of the 8^th Day of the 4^th Year of the Yongzheng Reign
  - Gu Gong 021193
Four Words Close to an Emperor's Heart

The 2009 exhibition, Harmony and Integrity: The Yongzheng Emperor and His Times, was the first collaboration between the National Palace Museum and the Palace Museum of Beijing. Bolstered by professional expertise across multiple disciplines, the exhibition, which showcased over 200 pieces of artifacts, marks a significant milestone for inter-museum collaboration. Among the exhibits, those related to the motto, Jieji Yongren (Heed Rashness, Use Perseverance), caught considerable attention. These words were given to Emperor Yongzheng by his father, Emperor Kangxi, as a reminder to exercise caution and prudence. Emperor Yongzheng held the phrase close to heart as a personal and political principle. In addition to having this intricate hanging panel made as a constant reminder, he also motivated court officials with the same phrase when replying to their memorials, a reflection of the inner belief that anchored his political style.
Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains (Master Wuyong Scroll)
Handscroll
Huang Gongwang, Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368)
- Gu Hua 001016
Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains (Master Wuyong Scroll) by Huang Gongwang (1269-1354) is considered a landscape masterpiece of the xieyi style in art history. When the Ziming Scroll became Emperor Gaozong's (1711-1799) collection during the tenth year of his reign (1745), he deemed it the original. In the following year, when the Master Wuyong Scroll arrived, he thought of it as a forged copy. Both scrolls are included in the 1956 publication, Gugong Shuhua Lu (Calligraphy and Paintings from the National Palace Museum), which the Museum published during the Beigou era. In it is an editor's note, which states that the Master Wuyong Scroll is the original.

The Museum gave 20 painting and calligraphy works the designation of restricted display works when it held the exhibition, Select Masterpieces from the National Palace Museum, in October 1984. In 1992, the number expanded to 60, including the Master Wuyong Scroll. In 1650, the scroll was scorched by fire, which was the dying wish of collector Wu Hongyu. Luckily, the scroll was saved by Wu's family, but not before being severed into two. On the beginning of the Master Wuyong Scroll, the longer of the two, restoration marks are still visible. The shorter piece, which is the actual beginning of the painting, is now called The Remaining Mountain and kept in Zhejiang Provincial Museum. In 2011, the two pieces reunited during the Museum exhibition, Landscape Reunited: Huang Gongwang And "Dwelling In The Fuchun Mountains."