Chinese Art
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In the years leading up to World War I, Sir William Burrell’s collection had already taken the kind of shape to make even national collections envious. His concerted efforts to acquire the finest Chinese works available started in 1911, and for the next few years it was this area that interested him most. Starting in 1911 (and continuing to his death in 1958), Burrell kept meticulous records of every purchase, and for the first few years of this new system, he devoted most of his time to Chinese bronzes and ceramics. The results are staggering. With the keen eye he had already trained on European paintings, medieval tapestries, stained glass, furniture and Persian rugs, Burrell set about collecting Chinese art with typical zeal. One ceramic plate he bought – pale and white, covered in spidery, powder blue – formed the basis for countless replicas made in the Middle East a couple of centuries later, borrowing the same techniques (the Burrell Collection’s Islamic Art section contains one of them). Later in life – in 1944, the same year he bequeathed his collection to Glasgow – Burrell made one of his finest acquisitions: a near life-sized Ming dynasty ceramic figure of a seated luohan (a Buddhist disciple). More than 500 years after it was made, it still sparkles with beauty. Burrell’s collection of Chinese bronzes, meanwhile – which ranges from musical instruments to water vessels – is one of the largest and most important outside of China, comprising 184 pieces.