A piece measuring just 19 centimeters is the main attraction for millions of people
The Louvre’s “Mona Lisa”, the British Museum’s Rosetta Stone, MoMA’s “Starry Night” – great museums often have a must-see piece that, in itself, attracts visitors from all over the world.
At the National Palace Museum, in Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, the star is much more humble: a cabbage.
Carved from a block of white and green jadeite, the extraordinarily realistic sculpture of a Chinese cabbage shines as if it has just been plucked from the field, still damp from the morning dew. A tetigonid and a grasshopper hide in its leaves, while the unknown sculptor took advantage of the stone’s natural imperfections to create the illusion of fibers along the stems.
Sitting delicately on a wooden support, the piece is just 19 centimeters high. But it is so popular that it occupies its own showroom. The museum even announces the dates on which the object will be absent on “work trips” – that is, when it is on loan or displayed elsewhere – to avoid disappointing visitors.
Jadeite Cabbage is displayed in a dedicated room at the National Palace Museum in Taipei.
The museum does not record how many of the approximately 2 million annual visitors go specifically to see the Jadeite Cabbage. But the long line of people waiting to take photos suggests that many, if not most, do. “When you see it in photos, it doesn’t look as vivid, but here, in natural light, it’s actually more beautiful,” said Chloe Wang, a visitor from mainland China, during a recent visit to the museum.
Kale’s popularity often leads to it being dubbed Taiwan’s “national treasure,” although the sculpture does not have that official classification. His image appears on all types of products, transformed into soft toys and miniatures, inside and outside the museum store.
Like much of the National Palace Museum’s collection, the Jadeite Cabbage is an imperial relic that was previously kept in the Forbidden City in Beijing before being transferred to Taiwan during the Chinese Civil War. And it’s not unique at all: the Beijing Palace Museum and the Tianjin Museum, both in mainland China, also have cabbages carved in jade. In fact, Taiwan’s own museum has two more.
Why has this – also known as “Jadeite Cabbage with Bugs” – gained worldwide fame?
Hsu Ya-hwei, a professor of art history at National Taiwan University, says the jade’s iridescent colors and the sculptor’s technique help the piece stand out. “The craftsmanship, combined with that specific piece of material, produced an excellent result,” he said.
But kale’s enduring popularity may also be due to its symbolism. Possibly part of a dowry given to the Guangxu Emperor of China by a consort in the 1880s, the artifact has long been associated with female purity, fertility and abundance. While some historians question the belief that the grasshopper and tettigonid represent children — and even whether the piece was actually a dowry gift — the idea has captured people’s imagination, Hsu explained.
“The auspicious messages contained in the artefact are very important and probably a key factor in its appeal to the public,” he added.
Few historical clues
After the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912, Jadeite Kale was found inside an enamel vase in the Forbidden City. It was later exhibited at the Beijing Palace Museum, created by the republican government to showcase the vast imperial collection. The curators decided to display it without the vase for a stronger visual effect, and the piece was an immediate success when it debuted in 1928.
In the 1930s, out of fear that the Japanese imperial army would confiscate the collection, many treasures were evacuated to other cities and spent years in transit, sometimes hidden in temples and caves. After Mao Zedong’s victory in the Chinese Civil War, retreating Republican forces sent hundreds of thousands of boxes of artifacts to Taiwan, where they established the new government.
The Jadeite Cabbage was among the almost 700,000 items that today make up the collection of the Taipei National Palace Museum, opened at its current location in 1965. Three years later, Taiwan’s national post office issued a stamp with the image of the cabbage, printed 3.5 million times, further cementing its presence in the collective imagination.
The cabbage is often referred to as one of the museum’s “three treasures,” along with two other popular artifacts: the Meat-Shaped Stone, a piece of jasper carved to look like stewed pork belly, and the Mao Kung Ting, a ritual vessel with the longest known inscription in ancient Chinese bronze. The three are often described by tour guides as “cabbage and pork hotpot”, a kind of promotional joke.
The familiarity of these objects may help explain their charm. “The close and welcoming image of cabbage instantly creates a connection with the imperial court, which sometimes seems distant and foreign,” wrote Wang Shao-chun, a former researcher in the museum’s antiquities division, in a magazine published this year.
Still, despite Jadeite Kale’s popularity, some art historians and curators remain indifferent. To the trained eye, it is a piece comparable to many other realistic jade sculptures, very common in the Qing dynasty.
“It is one of the most unique, but not the only great work of Chinese craftsmanship,” wrote Chang Li-tuan, also a former researcher at the museum.
Researchers add that the scarcity of written records about the artifact — including who commissioned, carved or owned it — leaves much of its historical context undiscovered.
“There are few historical clues that allow us to talk about the play in depth,” said Hsu. “Or at least they haven’t been found yet.”
Perhaps that is why the Taiwanese Ministry of Culture only classified it as a “significant antiquity”, and not as a National Treasure.
“The proportions between its popularity and its historical value are clearly unbalanced,” Wang told CNN. “Just like in cinema, a blockbuster may not be a masterpiece, and vice versa.”
For the museum’s curators, he added, Jadeite Kale’s fame is a double-edged sword. “We work hard to promote other great plays, but sometimes the only thing people think about is the cabbage. It’s like a singer remembered only for a single hit.”
Celebrate the centenary
The museum attaches great importance to the safety of its most valuable pieces. The Jadeite Cabbage is displayed in a reinforced glass box and secured by wires to protect it from sudden movements, a constant risk on an island subject to earthquakes.
When traveling, it is placed in a specific container, which in turn is placed in a wooden box with additional protection. Police and museum staff usually escort the piece to the airport.
However, it is rarely loaned to foreign museums. Before this year, the last international trip had been in 2014, when it was shown in Japan (along with Stone in the Shape of Flesh). But loans can serve as diplomatic instruments. In August, as part of the celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the Palace Museum, the Jadeite Cabbage was sent, with more than 130 artefacts, to the Czech Republic, a country whose relations with Taiwan have become closer — as relations with China deteriorate.
The Chinese Communist Party, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory despite never having governed it, criticized Taipei for promoting “separatist actions” by participating in the Czech exhibition, on display in Prague until December 31. Taiwanese authorities and museum officials rejected the accusation, describing the event as a simple “cultural exchange”.
At the end of September, the Taiwanese government revealed that it had received an anonymous email threatening “fire, robbery, shootings or terrorist attacks” if the exhibition continued. In a statement, the National Palace Museum said it was strengthening security together with the Czech authorities.
Despite this, the exhibition remains open — with Jadeite Cabbage attracting Czech visitors.
“It dates back to the end of the 19th century, but it is a perfect example of the highest mastery achievable with jade,” exhibition curator Ondřej Crhák told Radio Prague International, describing the loan as “a rare opportunity.”
“It’s his first appearance in Europe,” he added. “Given its importance to the National Palace Museum and Chinese culture, this makes it truly unique.”
