The special exhibition, Body on Display: Exploring the Mystery of the Human Body through Historical Images’ first period will be open at the National Palace Museum until June 8. Opening in celebration of the National Health Insurance implementation’s 30th anniversary, ancient Chinese artifacts, artwork, and documents featuring the human body in forensics, medicine, bedroom arts, and more will be on display in an 18+ area.
Through four themes titled Perspectives on the Body, Body Training, Body Variations, and Body Discipline, the exhibition explores views of human physicality in different cultural contexts. Important artifacts include the earliest extant and most influential forensic medicine monograph Washing Away the Wrongs, Edited by the Bureau of the Code (律例館校正洗冤錄), “The Cultivation of Romance” (修真演義) illustrated text on the art of sex, the Yuzuan yizong jinjian (御纂醫宗金鑑) Qing Dynasty medical compendium, and others.
The National Palace Museum hopes to urge re-examination by exploring past understanding and imagination of the human body, especially with the constraints of politics and etiquette. The Body on Display, located in Gallery 104, will be shown in two parts featuring different displays. The first period will continue until June 8, with the second showing from June 13 to August 31.