When in Suzhou, you cannot miss the Suzhou Museum. It is the final work of Mr. I.M. Pei, the famous Chinese architect, and also a superb Internet-famous tourist attraction. As you walk into the museum, you will be greeted by the impressive style of Jiangnan. In addition to the beauty of the new Chinese garden with white walls and black tiles, the museum's collection of treasures is not to be missed.
What is the most precious treasure in the Suzhou Museum? It is the "Olive Green Porcelain Lotus Bowl from the Five Dynasties". The lotus bowl is a world-famous national-level cultural relic, although after a thousand years the bowl is still as lustrous as new.
The lotus bowl consists of the bowl and saucer. The bowl’s surface has three groups of relief lotus as decoration, and the glaze is light and glossy, elegant and soft, made of the finest and purest greenware with few pores. The entire bowl looks sturdy and stately with smooth curves, just like a blooming lotus, and is the masterpiece of the Yue kiln from the Five Dynasties. Olive green porcelains are very rare because of their superior quality, each of these are considered a national treasure.
It is said that the Olive Green Porcelain Lotus Bowl was found on the third floor, the Heavenly Palace, of the Yunyan Temple on the Huqiu Mountain, Suzhou in 1957. Upon its discovery, there was not enough evidence to prove that it is "olive green porcelain", so it was named "Yue kiln celadon lotus bowl". Later, after scholars and experts observed and discussed the artifact closely, they finally concluded that this artifact in Suzhou Museum can serve as a reference artifact of olive green porcelain.
Subsequently, the bowl was recorded in the book "Yue Kiln, the Olive Green Porcelain" edited by Wang Qingzheng, and was officially named "Olive Green Porcelain Lotus Bowl with Lotus Saucer from the Five Dynasties". From then on, the importance of this treasure is officially identified, and its stately beauty is presented to the public. The Olive Green Porcelain Lotus Bowl indisputably becomes the most valuable exhibit out of more than 1300 in Suzhou Museum.
