The National Palace Museum (NPM) is to proudly present “100 Treasures, 100 Stories: Treasures from the National Palace Museum” at the National Museum of the Czech Republic as of September 11, with the opening just one week away. Today (4), the NPM offered a preview of the exhibition highlights. NPM Director Tsung-Huang Hsiao as well as the Chief Curator and Deputy Director Pei-Chin Yu jointly recommend the cutey duo of “Big & Small Cats.” From the painting of lion (the “Big Cat”) to the black jade cat (the “Small Cat”), the featured duo of lovely NPM animals shall trot to the Czech Republic and charm their way into the hearts of European audiences.

For the a-meow-sing highlights of the exhibition in the Czech Republic, NPM Director Tsung-Huang Hsiao specifically recommends Lion. “Suan Ni” is the ancient name for lion in Chinese. Etymologically, the term derived from Sanskrit or other Indic languages and was transmitted to China via the Western Regions. Since a real lion was of rarity to the ancients, the painters depicted lions primarily based on imagination. The male lion depicted in the painting crouches beneath a giant tree by the water, with a full mane, bulging eyes, and a wide-open mouth, presenting a majestic, yet peculiarly humorous, image. Coincidentally, the East regards lion as an auspicious beast for world peace and prowess beyond borders, while the Czech Republic employs the double-tailed lion as its coat of arms, symbolizing fortitude and courage. With this Lion from the NPM collection, the lion kings in the East and the West shall meet in Prague, introducing an opulent delight to the Taiwan-Czech cultural exchange.

The Chief Curator for the NPM Exhibition to the Czech Republic and Deputy Director Pei-Chin Yu recommends another meow representative, Cat Carved from Light-coloured, Tinted Jade, the “NPM Garfield Cat” as she described it. The jade cat was originally a piece in the Qianlong Emperor’s Table-formed Curio Box (Argarwood Portable Folding Curio Table) for his amusement during travel. The work, plump and rounded in form, fits comfortably in a single hand. The dark patina is, in fact, the result of artificial dyeing, as the original blue-white quality of jade can be faintly discerned on the cat’s hindquarters. The cat is chubby from its eyes to nose, cheek, hindquarters, and paws, filled with childlike amusement, as if it is huddling up, waiting for its master.

Deputy Director Yu also shared little stories behind the scenes of the exhibition, i.e., cats are often observed in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, and that writer Franz Kafka once wrote about cats in his works as well. When the Czech curatorial team came to Taiwan for exchange, they especially visited a cat café in Taiwan, which testified to the fact that the feline charm goes beyond borders. Meanwhile, this ancient piece of jade cat artfully connects the shared living delights of Taiwan and the Czech Republic, adding yet another healing sense of humanity to this curatorial collaboration across borders.

The National Palace Museum is to present “100 Treasures, 100 Stories: Treasures from the National Palace Museum” at the National Museum of the Czech Republic from September 11 to December 31. Echoing with “Taiwan Culture in Europe 2025” organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Culture, the exhibition shall showcase the solid and diversified cultural heritage of Taiwan to European audiences. Ten topics are curated to weave out fascinating stories of the NPM artifacts. From the classical “The Jadeite Cabbage” and “Cabinets of Curiosities” of imperial artisanship to “Science in Ancient Art and Craft” of exceptional craftsmanship, from “Landscape in Art, Battle of Red Cliff” and “The Elegant Lifestyle of the Scholar-Official in Ancient China” rich in the elegant amusement of literati to “Everyday Life” that epitomizes commoners’ life, and from “Pets in the Palace” imbued with childlike amusement to “The Lion – Mighty Protector” and “Supernatural Beings” filled with colorful fantasies, as well as “A Strong Carp Heralds Success” rich in profound meanings, the exhibition is set to be the guide for European audiences to a cultural excursion across time and space.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Media Liaison of the National Palace Museum
Emily Wang   +886 2 2881 2021 #68991  Email: emily@npm.gov.tw
Wan-Yu Yang  +886 2 2881 2021 #68900  Email: yuyang@npm.gov.tw