Within the two rooms of the Garden Gallery both chronology and class distinctions are observed as the viewer moves counter-clockwise through the exhibition. The first cases show us the earliest objects, Yue wares, like everything else in the first room made for use by the court or the elite. Celadon in its many subtle shades had been perfected, and Yue stoneware products, as intended, suggest jade. The most spectacular piece is a circular box probably meant for cosmetics, its lid decorated with two Mandarin ducks whose necks entwine and beaks touch in symbolic marital fidelity, flanked by lotus seed pods to encourage begetting children. The coupling of these ideas with a cosmetics container is both suggestive and practical.
Ding ware in the next case conveys intrinsic elegance from shapes alone.
In work by Yaozhou potters in the late 11th century we see the use of molds to shape and decorate, a technique that also made possible matched sets for state banquets and upper class dining. One of the most breathtaking cases in the exhibition holds Jun wares, which eschew any decoration beyond shape and color. The color itself is gorgeous, a blue that is in fact a celadon but brought into the blue range by iron oxide. It's always more fun below stairs, where the hoi polloi ape their betters but put their own spin on things. In the rear room of the exhibition we see Cizhou wares imitating the aristocratic objects of the first room with another dimension of bold exuberance.