We went last week to see an exhibition of Chinese prints at the British Museum. The older prints were intricate and delicate while the more modern ones were vivid, colourful and were more representational.
The one thing which struck me was that there were explanations of Buddhist terms and I was happy to see the translation of the name Amitabha – Immeasurable Light. Generally it is treated as a name and its etymology is not given.
Apart from the prints there were some ceramic creations too. The most interesting ones were a set of four conch shells. Shells are naturally so close in appearance to ceramics that at first glance one can easily mistake ceramic ones for natural ones.
We walked into the next room where there some Japanese exhibits. There was an attractive recreation of a tea- house in almost life size. It made us nostalgic about our trips to Japan.
The Chinese invented printing. Would they have ever thought how the world would be transformed by this technique?
