An Inspired Office to Urge Lofty Thoughts

Elise Fitzgerald knows the importance of a good office. She works at home and has filled a back bedroom with a desk, computer and several favorite knickknacks to “pretty up the place.”

“My office is cool,” said Fitzgerald, from Anaheim. Then she sighed, “But I’d trade it in a minute for this.”

Keep dreaming, Elise.

What impressed Fitzgerald is an exhibit at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art that re-creates a “scholar’s study” from China during the Ch’ing Dynasty in the 18th and 19th centuries. Fitzgerald visited the Santa Ana museum recently and found herself lingering by the tableau. The exhibit, in conjunction with the Santa Ana museum’s “Jade: Ch’ing Dynasty Treasures From the National Museum of History, Taiwan” show through March 1, depicts a fairly typical office of a Chinese bureaucrat--a carved rosewood desk and table with a handful of delicate jade artifacts prominently placed. The space may be typical but the man who could have occupied it probably wasn’t.

Janet Baker, Bowers’ curator of Asian art, explained that bureaucrats of the period came from the upper classes and intelligentsia and were expected to both run governments and vigorously pursue their aesthetic impulses. These scholars-administrators, Baker said, might approve plans for city streets one day and spend all afternoon composing a poem or song the next.

The jade objects were symbolic of their roles and were used for reflection and inspiration.

“Civil servants enjoyed social prestige and wealth [and] were expected to do more than just work with the government bureaucracy,” Baker said. “They also had to work at being scholars. That meant they were arbiters of wealth and taste. They wrote poetry or painted or made calligraphy. It was a big responsibility [so] they surrounded themselves with beautiful pieces [to help] refresh the human spirit.”

That might seem like a true luxury to the office worker forced to share a crowded space or live eight hours a day in a cubicle. But the family pictures at one corner of their desk, maybe next to that coffee cup with the stupid saying, serve some of the same purpose.

Of course, most of us aren’t paid to put our feet up, lean back and dwell on existentialism or concoct the perfect stanza of verse. When a boss looks over, it’s not often with an encouraging smile to reflect and refresh.

“Chinese during the Ch’ing Dynasty just appreciated art and beauty so much that type of thing was expected,” Baker said.

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Baker did find a parallel to now. As in China, the most expensive objects turn up in offices of the richest companies in America. Some business leaders acquire costly art, if only to impress everyone.

“Important CEOs certainly have valuable things,” she said. “You might have a Picasso on the wall that is suppose to enrich the environment.”

By far, jade was the most prized material during the Ch’ing Dynasty. Baker said wealthy Chinese were nuts about it, both as carved artifacts and more practical objects.

Desk accessories, from small pots for mixing inks to armrests for writing, were all made from jade. Try finding some of those at Staples.

Baker also noted that period desks, including the displayed rosewood one, are remarkable for their workmanship, which included subtle linking of each carved piece.

“They were ingenious,” she said. “There were no nails, screws or glue used. It was all tongue-in-groove joining.”

What visitors have liked most about the scholar’s study and larger show is the variety of jade displayed. Baker said the range of colors has surprised many people.

“There’s pure white to pale green to spinach-rich green to almost black,” she said. “There’s also lavender shades.”

Fitzgerald, who came to the exhibit with her friend, Jason Downey of Anaheim, said the darker jades appealed to her most because they were so lustrous. But what really got her was the notion of using them to rejuvenate during a hard day at the office.

“I love that, just sitting there with some tea or coffee and dreaming,” she said.

Downey smirked nearby. “I guess,” Fitzgerald continued, “he thinks I wouldn’t get much work done. And he’s probably right.”

“Jade: Ch’ing Dynasty Treasures From the National Museum of History, Taiwan” continues through March 1 at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, 2002 N. Main St., Santa Ana. $2 to $6. Tuesday and Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Friday through Sunday, 10 a.m to 4 p.m. Call (714) 567-3600 for more information.