By: Marcia Abramson
Mr. Belz told me that he and his wife started collecting jade and ivory while in Los Angeles after a happenstance visit to an Oriental collector's gallery in their hotel in the very early 1970s. "On this first trip we acquired an intriguing carved stone ball in ball, a pair of carved ivory horses and an ivory chess set. Then on a later trip to New York, we purchased our first pair of jade carvings and additional ivory and today we have literally thousands of ivory and jade figures which we wanted to share with the public," he said. I saw some marvelous examples of Manchu art represented in Qing carvings that dated from 1644-1911 in what is now Manchuria. The dominant use of blue and green from the Qing era with the occasional use of rich gold and imperial yellow set the tone in the Belz collection. The use of these colors particularly the blue and green brought back memories for me of my recent trip to China's Imperial Palace in Beijing and the Summer Palace outside of the capital where these colors are painted on the wooden architraves. I was dazzled by the lavish decoration and superb technique illustrated in Qing art. I don't recall seeing anything like the Belz's Memphis carving collections of nephrite, jade and ivory and the hard stone carvings of malachite, tiger eye, agate, coral, turquoise, lapis lazuli in all the Chinese cities I visited. The Belz's are very knowledgeable about jade. They provided me with a wealth of knowledge. I learned from them that jade is harder than steel and is very brittle. It cannot be chiseled, and must be worked by Chinese carvers by grinding with abrasives. After the shape is achieved it is polished with finer abrasives and buffers to bring out the luster. The circular disc, which I bought in China on a red silk cord I found, was a symbol of Heaven and good luck. Jade has been used for amulets for symbolism and beliefs and includes objects for burials to protect the body from decay and promote immortality. Also, the splendid silver Judaic religious items added another dimension to the Peabody Place Museum and are definitely worth putting on your itinerary when in Memphis. In my quest for culture in this Mississippi Delta City, I was rewarded by a magnificent performance by the Ballet Memphis in the gorgeous Orpheum Theatre. The ballet company takes particular pride in being the first-ever Memphis arts organization to appear on a main stage in New York City at the Hunter College Kaye Playhouse to accolades from the New York Times. I experienced an unbelievable moving performance "soul stirring spiritual journey through movement and music featuring 'South of Everywhere' by Ballet Memphis Associate Artistic Director Karl Condon to music by singer/songwriter Kate Campbell." Incidentally, I could listen to Kate Campbell's melodic music and voice forever. The program told the story of Memphis' Civil Rights successful struggle in music and dance as well as the snake worshipping religious cults that determined guilt or innocence of an alleged culprit by placing their hand in a venomous snake's cage. This was a great evening of ballet and music. Next on my agenda was the National Civil Rights Museum, an outstanding inter-active museum with a moving display of people like Martin Luther King, Jr. There is a replica of the bus and Rosa Parks' seat with the voice of the conductor telling her to get to the back of the bus as we entered the bus. (The original bus was sold at auction for $450,000 to the Detroit Civil Rights Museum - a bit too costly for Memphis). There were many other inspiring developments portrayed in the Afro-American struggle for Civil Rights in the South. Just across from the museum is the Lorraine Motel, an adjunct to the main museum in whose parking lot Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot. I went into the Spartan room from which the assassin fired the fatal shot. It left me with an eerie feeling of remorse for this horrendous killing of a true leader. There are a few more things of interest I will have to defer to my next column such as the music of B.B. King, the Gibson Guitar Factory Tour, The Rock n' Soul Museum, et al.
© Copyright by Marcia AbramsonE-mail: mascribe@aol.com
