The Bishop White Gallery of Chinese Temple Art is among the galleries in the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). This is dedicated to the Chinese art and archeology. It is a symbol of one of the most significant collection of the Chinese temple art globally. It involves three Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368 AD) temple wall paintings from Shanxi Province that decorate the three walls of the Gallery and a number of wooden sculptures showing bodhisattvas since 12th to the 15th centuries. These make the most iconic structure in the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum, 1959).
The gallery is named in respect of Bishop William Charles White (1873-1960). This was an Anglican missionary, schooled at Wycliffe College in the University of Toronto and was a Bishop within 1909-1934 in Honan Province China (Walmsley, 1974). He is known to be the man in charge of building and understanding the ROM’s Chinese collection during his days (Royal Ontario Museum, 1964). He did to enable acquisition of Buddhist wall painting particularly on the north wall of this gallery. He is recognized as the initial keeper of the East Asian galleries (1934-1948) and the creator of the School of Chinese Studies which was later called East Asian Studies Department in the University of Toronto.
The group of this Gallery is often to be Buddhist and the wall painting on the north wall of the Gallery. We have the Paradise of Maitreya and wooden statues (Royal Ontario Museum, 1959).The remaining painting comprises an illustration of the Homage of the initial leaders originating from Daoist tradition.
Paradise of Maitreya (1298AD)
This is a wall painting showing Maintreya often assumed to be Buddha of the anticipated and descendant of the ancient Buddha, installed in heaven and just waiting his manifestation on earth. After he arrives to the earth, he will save the spirits of lost individuals (Royal Ontario Museum, 1964). The maiteya is the positioned at the central point. He is also joined by others who are also holy but of a lower bodhisattvas and monks. Taking into consideration the Indian Buddhist, a Maitreya ought to be born into the empire of Ketumati. In this painting both the king and queen of this empire are shown here at the both ends and their heads shaved. This is a clear indication of their modification into Buddhism.
The Paradise maitreya measures about 16 feet in height and 36 feet in width. Its origin is not well known. However, it is assumed to have originated from Monastery of Joyful Conversion. This is located in the Southern Shanxi province (Royal Ontario Museum, 1959).This part has since be destroyed since it fell into bad practices. It is believed that the paintings remained in undisturbed on their locations. When unrest aroused in China and temples were being destroyed, the Buddhist monks hid the painting and later sold them. Bishop bought them and reinstalled it into original pictures and was put on the museum.
The Sculpture (12-15th Centuries)
The Buddhist sculptures are bodhisattvas. This word describes holy beings who have still on earth instead of going into heaven. The remaining of these holy individuals is to assist the unenlightened individuals to change and become holy. These statues origin is Shanxi Province. This is usually not similar to all the temples as it is for Paradise of Maitreya. Their main aim was to symbolize the presence of the divine. On the other hand, the wall painting signified the background. The well known of these scultures include the Guanyin and Dashili (Royal Ontario Museum, 1959).If one is not careful, he or she is likely to confuse the two. The only difference is between the two is the crowns the put on. The assumption about their creation is around 1195. One of the features about the structures of Bishop White Gallery is that they have an opening at their back. This is an indication of a place where the congregations would put their offerings. What was expected include printed prayers, small images or minerals of value such as gems.
Homage to the First Principle
The original measurement of these paintings is thought to be about 10 feet in height and 34 feet in width. The assumption behind their origin is that they came from a Daoist temple located in the southern Shanxi. The assumption is based on another painting found in a similar temple in Shanxi Daoist temple, referred o as Yongle Gong (Royal Ontario Museum, 1959).The painting hand similar characteristic are, therefore, believed to have originated from the same workshop and dating around 14th century.
Design of the Bishop White Gallery
The Bishop White Gallery is placed in its initial side of the ROM, build in the year 1914. This has stayed here since the walls were built in the 1930s. Despite the maintenance of the same design over years, there have been dramatic modifications of the same. For instance to start with there was the prosaic exhibition of the objects along the periphery of the room. As time went by this changed into a fairly posaic display of the objects along the periphery of the room and later in the 1980s, there was a proper temple set up. Currently, this receives an open concept display.
At the start of 1980s, the Bishop White Gallery was re-engineered to accommodate Chinese traits and beliefs of a Buddhist temple of the 14th century (Royal Ontario Museum, 1964). This was an attempt to maximize the space to accommodate artifacts into a integrated unit. This was done using an imitation of some characteristic of Yongle Gong temple complex. The alternative for the temple environment was appropriate since the wall paintings and sculpture were used in, therefore, before in the temples.
References
http://www.rom.on.ca/en/exhibitions-galleries/galleries/world-cultures/bishop-white-gallery-chinese-temple-art
Royal Ontario Museum. (1959). Annual - Art and Archaeology Division, Royal Ontario Museum. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum.
Royal Ontario Museum. (1964). Guide to the Royal Ontario Museum. Toronto: University of Toronto.
Walmsley, L. C. (1974). Bishop in Honan: Mission and museum in the life of William C. White. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
