Golden Renaissance of the Ancients

Anyone interested in archeology--or jewelry--is probably aware that the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana is showing a resplendent group of gold, silver, shell and stone objects from the royal tombs of Ur.

Ur was a sophisticated city-state near the Persian Gulf that thrived in 2500 BC, a good 500 years before the first boulders in Stonehenge were laid.

Organized by the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology, this small, glittering exhibition recalls the select quality of the King Tut exhibition, a crowd-pleaser two decades ago at the Los Angeles County Museum.

Perhaps the single most irresistible object in the Ur show is that of a male goat standing on its hind legs to reach a large flowering plant (known popularly as “Ram Caught in a Thicket”). Rows of shells--they resemble sunflower seeds--form the animal’s fleecy coat; his baleful blue eyes and twisting horns are made of lapis lazuli.

Nestled against the fanciful golden blooms, the inquisitive goat--traditionally known for its virility--is a vital symbol of the life force. The combination of precious and commonplace materials seems especially apt in this context.

The utilitarian arrangement of the objects in the show is a feature of its restrained, scholarly approach. (A wall panel explains, for example, that an alluring sculpted head of the Ur Queen Puahi made in the 1920s by the wife of tomb discoverer Leonard Woolley can’t be used to display the queen’s jewelry because it was based on sheer fantasy.)

But the installation of “Treasures From the Royal Tombs of Ur” lets viewers down when it comes to the small pieces--the fanciful jewelry and the tiny cylinder seal impressions, with their extraordinary, rhythmic scenes of festivities and hunts.

Several visitors rightly noted in the guest book how hard it was to match the objects with the confusing and inconveniently located wall labels describing each piece. The cylinders also would benefit from being at eye level and accompanied by magnifying glasses.

Traveling shows from other museums come with their own labels and explanatory text panels. But the Bowers, which tends to vacillate between flashy and pedantic displays, might have put more creative effort into showcasing the objects and figured out how to identify each object more clearly.

* “Treasures From the Royal Tombs of Ur,” through Jan. 3 at the Bowers Museum, 2002 N. Main St., Santa Ana. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Wednesday and Friday-Sunday; 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Thursdays. Admission: $6 general; $4 students and seniors, $2 children 5-12. free for kids under 5. (714) 567-3600.

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“The Art of Ancient China: Sculptures and Vessels From Chinese Tombs,” a small but utterly captivating show at the Orange Coast College Art Gallery, offers a lesson in how to present antiquities in a lively way.

Earthenware sculptures of snorting camels, galloping horses, fierce warriors and plump matrons from the Han and Tang dynasties give the tiny gallery a vivacious air.

Director Irini Vallera-Rickerson and her architect husband, Robert, completely transformed the boxy space into a tantalizing leaf-green grotto with orange-red detailing.

Curving niches and platforms are surrounded by thick, waist-high sloping walls that suggest tomb architecture. Sloping outward, the walls also keep viewers at arm’s length from the precious sculptures--lent by private collectors--without requiring intrusive plexiglass boxes.

Lighting clearly illuminates such splendid pieces as the straw-glazed Tang horse, a luscious lemon-color steed with a ridge of finely incised lines picking out its mane. The saddle, now faded to a vague green, is sculpted into crisp, wave-like patterns.

The period covered by this show extends roughly from 206 BC, the beginning of the Han dynasty, to AD 906, the end of the Tang dynasty. Both were peaceful epochs (with a period of instability in between), and each had a distinctive artistic style.

Han art is known almost entirely from the contents of tombs stocked with images of people, animals and buildings from the living world that would accompany the dead into the afterlife. By the end of the dynasty, artisans had learned (probably from Persians encountered by Chinese silk merchants on the caravan route) how to fire-glaze earthenware in kilns to create lustrous glazes.

Han figures are invariably plump creatures with a low center of gravity. The animals have bold, simplified silhouettes accented by a few incised lines indicating a facial expression or an ornamental detail.

“Entertainer With Hand Drum” is so vivacious that you want to beg him to start his one-man show. Sitting with his drum under one curled arm and his stick at a jaunty angle, he fixes viewers with a rubbery grin. One fat foot pokes forward, chipmunk cheeks puff, and curving lines in his brow reinforce his expression.

Another eye-catching piece, from the Western Han period (206 BC to AD 9), is a horse and cart with driver and passenger. The horse, nearly 4 1/2 feet tall, is the main event: large, calm, flattened volumes with a few raised lines to indicate the bridle and unexpectedly lively detailing of the animal’s open mouth.

Sculptures of stubby court ladies with doughy faces, topknots and flowing gowns were a staple of the Tang dynasty (AD 618-907). The exhibition has two of these beguiling figures, one holding a stiff baby.

Horses were another Tang specialty. An upward-gazing hunter, bow and arrow long vanished, and a downward-looking polo player minus his mallet ride so-called flying horses, all legs splayed. A prancing horse extends a leg with the panache of a circus performer, and a mount holds a bearded Uighur Turk and his grinning hunting companion: a big cat.

Too bad the meandering catalog essay by Santa Ana College faculty member Gene Isaacson contains little solid information about Han and Tang culture and the works in the show. The well-illustrated volume looks more like a vanity project than that of an educational institution.

Perhaps Vallera-Rickerson will find the resources to commission comprehensive essays from specialists when the gallery moves as part of a $13-million arts complex designed by Los Angeles architect Steven Erlich, set to open in spring 2001.

* “The Art of Ancient China: Sculptures and Vessels from Chinese Tombs,” through Dec. 10 at the Orange Coast College Art Gallery, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa. Free. 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Wednesday; 10 a.m.-3 p.m. and 7-8:30 p.m. Thursday. (714) 432-5039.