Plates with Southern Chinese Landscapes, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722), porcelain with famille verte overglaze enamels, © The Trustees of the British Museum.

LONDON.- Discover the beauty and culture of south-east China in this selection of paintings dating from the 6th to the 19th centuries. The display includes the famous Admonitions Scroll (from 5 June) and examples of rare porcelain from the region. 

The Yangzi River runs through an area of south-east China known as Jiangnan (literally ‘south of the river’) that has been one of the country’s most prosperous and culturally productive regions. The paintings and ceramics in the exhibition reflect the diverse life of its inhabitants, such as the elegant literati scholars and wealthy merchants, as well as fishermen and farmers. Landscape paintings from along the Yangzi River show lush, fertile fields and rolling hills and highlight the region’s famous gardens. Paintings and ceramics from Jiangnan show a regional style and taste that have shaped in great part our image of traditional China. 

Jiangnan is also a region where some of the finest examples of the Chinese concept of the three arts – poetry, calligraphy and painting – were produced. It is the home of China’s patriarchs of calligraphy and painting, including Gu Kaizhi (c. 344–406). 

The famous Admonitions Scroll, traditionally attributed to Gu Kaizhi, is an early example for the combination of the three arts. It is one of the most important Chinese paintings to survive anywhere in the world. Due to its fragility and for conservation reasons, it is rarely shown and will now be on display in the exhibition between 5 June and 16 July. After this you will be able to see a digital version of the scroll on an interactive touchscreen. 

Banner of a bodhisattva standing under a canopy on a lotus. Tang dynasty, 851-900. Dunhuang,Qian Fo Dong (Caves of the Thousand Buddhas).  Painted in ink and colours on silk. © The Trustees of the British Museum

After Gu Kaizhi (344-405), Nüshi zhen (Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies)-The Admonitions Scrol, Tang dynasty-Six dynastes. Handscroll painting in nine scenes (originally eleven). Inscriptions by Emperor Huizong ( 1082 - 1135), inscriptions by Emperor Qianlong (1711 - 1799) 1711 - 1799)

Painting of Avalokitesvara, standing on lotuses supported by clouds, holding a banner and censer. Five dynasties, 901-950 (circa)  Ink and colours on silk. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Incense burner with dragon shaped handles. Made of Longquan, celadon, grey-green glazed stoneware. Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279), © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279), Fan-shaped album leaf. Landscape with pavillions. Painted in ink and colours on silk. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

School of Zhao Boju, 12th century), Fan leaf. Palace. Ink and colours on silk. Inscription. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Ma Hezhi (fl. c. 1131-1162) , Illustrations to the Odes of Chen, Southern Song dynasty. Handscroll  and calligraphy in standard script, probably written by a court calligrapher in the emperor's style.  Painted in ink and colours on silk. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Bowl. With inscription 'bao yong' (precious for use). Made of Guan green glazed stoneware. Yuan dynasty (1279-1368) © The Trustees of the British Museum.

School of: Han Huang, Oxen, Yuan dynasty (1279-1368). Handscroll. Painted in ink on silk. Seals and colophons at end. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

The thirteenth arhat, Ingada, painted in Ningbo, Yuan dynasty, 1345. Hanging scroll. Painted in ink and colours on silk. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

School of Huang Quan, Yuan dynasty, 12th-14th century, Hanging scroll. Bare trees, swans and other birds. Painted in ink and colours on silk. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Porcelain stem cup with underglaze blue decoration. This robust stem cup has a rounded bowl and a tall hollow flared stem. It is painted beneath the glaze in a vivid cobalt blue which has smudged in places. At the bottom of the bowl there is a double-edged roundel encircling a design of a large fish leaping from waves to the sun. Lotus flowers are arranged in a zigzag border around the rim. Outside the bowl is decorated with fish in different attitudes, leaping from a pond with water weeds and clumps of flowering lotus above a lappet border. The stem is painted with stylized rocks, waves and bamboo. Inside the stem is glazed. Ming dynasty, Jiajing period, 1540-1566 (circa). © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Attributed to Shen Zhou (1427-1509), Landscape of the Peach Blossom Spring, Ming dynaasty. Handscroll,, with inscriptions and colophons. Ink and colours on paper. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Tang Yin (1470-1523), Thatched Cottage in the Western Mountains, Ming dynaasty. Handscroll. Landscape and inscriptions and colophons. Ink and colours on paper. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

You Qiu (16th century; active), Ge Hong Moves House, Ming dynasty. Handscroll. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

School of Chen Jiru (1558-1639), Plum blossom, Ming dynasty. Hanging scroll. Painted in ink on silk. Inscriptions and seals. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Xiang Shengmo (1597–1658), Reading in the Autumn Mountains, Ming dynasty, 1623, © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Claimed to be by Wu Wei (1459 - 1508), Painting a Dragon, Ming dynasty. Hanging scroll. Three men in landscape watching flash of a dragon. Painted in ink on silk. Spurious signature and seal. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Wen Zhengming  (1470 - 1559), Wintry Trees,  Ming dynasty, 1543.  Hanging scroll. Painted in a very dry style. Inscriptions and seals. Ink on paper © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Chen Chun (1483 - 1544), Zhoujintang (Name of a scholar's studio), Ming dynasty, 1544. Handscroll. Calligraphic frontispiece. Painted in ink on paper. Signed. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Zhu Bang (1522 - 1566), Fishermen in a River Gorge, Ming dynasty. Hanging scroll. Zhe school. Landscape with fishing boats in a river gorge. Ink and colours on silk. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Porcelain dish with underglaze blue decoration. This dish is thickly potted with rounded sides and a broad low foot. In the centre in a bracket-lobed cartouche are three characters: 金 山 寺 'Jin Shan Si' [Jin Shan Monastery, or Monastery of the Golden Mountain]. This inscription is bordered by Y-diaper and by a ring of stylized waves and mountains. Outside are two branches of flowering prunus growing from the rim. The base is unglazed. Ming dynasty, probably Wanli period, 1573-1620 (circa). © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Sheng Maoye (1575 - 1640 circa), Evening View of Lake Shi, 1623, Ming dynasty. Hanging scroll. Ink and colours on silk. With accompanying calligraphy by Rai San'yo © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Chen Hongshou (1598 - 1652), Flower Vase, Ming dynasty, 1635. Hanging scroll. Painted in ink and colours on silk. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Porcelain bowl inscribed with a poem and decorated in underglaze blue. Heavily potted and standing on a broad 'bi'-disc foot ring, this blue-and-white bowl has an unusual profile. It has rounded sides which turn inwards before flaring out at the brown-painted rim. Inside in the centre is an underglaze blue apocryphal four-character Yongle reign mark, written in the style of the court calligrapher Shen Du. Surrounding this and repeated around the inner rim is a border showing spindly flowers separated by spirals on a striped blue ground. Inside the foot is an illegible four-character seal mark in underglaze blue. Outside an abbreviated version of the Northern Song dynasty prose poem 'Chi bi fu' [Rhapsody on Red Cliff] by Su Shi (1037-1101) is transcribed in clear 'kaishu' script in underglaze blue. At the end of the prose poem is an image of a boating party. Beneath the boat's canopy are three men, two seated at a low table with wine cups and another approaching them with a wine cup. A boatman stands beside a woman at the back of the craft and steers the shallow boat with a pole. The image represents Su Shi, also known as Su Dongpo, the intellectual poet and wit, with his guests on an excursion, drifting beneath the Red Cliffs down the Yangzi River near Su Shi's exile home of Hangzhou in the summer of 1082. Ming dynasty, Tianqi-Chongzhen period, 1620-1644 © The Trustees of the British Museum

A porcelain shallow dish with rounded sides which slope inwards at the rim, and stands on a low straight foot ring. Decorated in underglaze blue with a snowscape showing a man, wearing a short robe and trousers, carrying a hu-shaped wine jar and running towards another man half-appearing at the door of a pavillion at the edge of a river. The outside covered with a blue-white matte glaze. The base with a six-character mark. 1643, Ming dynasty, Chongzhen mark and period © The Trustees of the British Museum

Priest, Qing dynasty, 1600s, Hanging scroll. Portrait. Priest. Ink and colours on silk. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Kuncan (1612 - 1673) and Shi Qi (17th century active), Landscape, Qing dynasty, 1666. Album leaf mounted in handscroll form. Made of ink and colours on paper. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Shi Lin (17th Century, active), Qing dynasty, 1650. Album leaf. Landscape. Man sitting on rocks surrounded by trees. Inscription and colophons. Ink on paper. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Shitao (1641 - c.1717), early Qing dynasty. Album, Eight leaves. Landscape. Ink and colours on paper. © The Trustees of the British Museum

School of Yu Zhiding (1647–1716), Xie An Plays Wei Qi, Qing dynasty. Hanging scroll. Painted in ink and colours on paper © The Trustees of the British Museum.

School of Jiao Bingzhen (1680-1726), Imperial Inspection Tour to the South, Qing dynasty. Painted in ink and colours on silk. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Gao Fenghan (1683-1749), The Ancient Pine of Dongmou, Qing dynasty, dated 1727. Ink on paper, © The Trustees of the British Museum

Zou Yigui (1680 - 1766), Pine and juniper trees, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period. Painting in black ink of trees in a landscape. Signed and sealed. © The Trustees of the British Museum

Group Portrait of a Family in a Garden, Qing dynasty, 18th century. Hanging scroll. Painted in colours on silk © The Trustees of the British Museum

Luo Ping (1733 - 1799), Portrait of the poets Wang Shizhen and Zhu Yizun, 1773, Qing dynasty. Hanging scroll with inscriptions and colophons. The latter surround the painting, becoming an integral part of the composition. Painted in ink on paper © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Yin Ti, Qing dynasty,  19th century. Hanging scroll. The broken tryst. Ink and colours on silk. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Ren Xun (1850-1893), Flora of the Four Seasons. Hanging scroll. Four seasons. Ink and colours on paper. © The Trustees of the British Museum

Seal. Brass. Engraved on two sides with texts. Made of engraved brass. Qing dynasty, 19th century. © The Trustees of the British Museum.