Best in show

Most people probably associate the word ‘Ming’, with the early 16th-century, when Europe first saw those distinctive blue and white wares, that first global brand which inspired many folk to change their dining habits and the way they decorated their houses.

But our Ming story shows just how internationally engaged and multicultural China had been some 100 years earlier.

We concentrate on the 1399-1449 period, 50 golden years that saw the movement of the capital from Nanjing to Beijing and the construction of the Forbidden City.

It also featured the rise in China of multiple courts, which established a network of extraordinary trade links around the region and beyond.

Armadas of Chinese sailors set sail for south-east Asia, the Middle East and the east coast of Africa, returning not only with spectacular goods and treasures but also people and their traditions, including Korean cooks, Vietnamese weaponry experts and Muslim astronomers.

This fantastic silk scroll painting of Nanjing – the earliest known and the only one in the world to have survived – encapsulates the power of those courts and their international ambitions.

On the right are the three main halls of the old palace with the yellow roof tiles and scarlet walls, marble columns and bridges that are identifiable with today’s Forbidden City.

We know this is Nanjing because of its asymmetrical city wall with the River Yangtze running alongside.

Nanjing, which was chosen as the capital by the founder of the Ming dynasty, the Hongwu emperor, was a cosmopolitan place, with many foreign dignitaries arriving and departing by boat. This is a recording of one such visit. On the left-hand side, a delegation from Korea can be seen receiving a formal farewell as they begin their voyage home.

There are also other links to objects in the exhibition. Boys can be seen holding gifts – a solid gold ewer and lacquered box – while a group of men are gathered under the pavilion roof playing a game of ‘surround’ chess; we have a board and pieces from a prince’s set found in a tomb dating back to 1389.

This work is displayed adjacent to the British Museum’s own painting of the Forbidden City, a picture that dates from roughly the same period but one which has undergone considerable restoration work here and at the Shanghai Museum.

It features what is probably the earliest-known selfie: a visiting official poses proudly in front of the imperial residence in a display of his own importance.

Jessica Harrison-Hall is a curator of Chinese ceramics at the British Museum, London

Ming: 50 Years That Changed China is at the British Museum until 5 January 2015