Gull in the Gulbenkian

15/12/2018 Seamus Comments 0 Comment

Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon

Grey stone statue of large eagle with man in suit and tie sitting on pedestal in front of it, on grass with trees behind. Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, Portugal

Ever since I spotted his statue from the top of a tour bus, he has been ‘the man with the bird’ to me. It is this statue that endeared him to me in the first place. Any guy with a fondness for birds is a friend of mine. Anyway, it took me a while to get my beak around his real name. Well, Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian is a bit of a beakful. But I can tell you that once you visit the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, this is one name you are not likely to forget.

Born in 1869, of Armenian origin, Gulbenkian became one of the richest men in the world after amassing a huge fortune in the oil business. He earned the nickname ‘Mr Five Percent’ from his habit of keeping 5% of shares of all oil companies he helped to develop. When it came to his private art collection, though, I must say he gave 100%. I have been around a good few museums at this stage, but this one stands out for the quality of the collections. You can see that he was a man who would settle for nothing but the best.

Glass display gase full of chinese vases in various colours, pair of far eastern style dogs, Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, Portugal

A priceless collection of eastern, classical and European art – paintings, sculpture, tiles, carpets and tapestries, ceramics, illuminated manuscripts, furniture, jewellery – it just goes on and on. The famous names read like a ‘Who’s Who’ of the art world. Rubens, Rembrandt, Romney, Renoir, Rodin… And those are just the ‘R’s.

Curved gold piece of jewellery with decoration of trees by Rene Lalique, Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, Portugal

Another ‘R’ caught Her Ladyship’s eye. René, as in René Lalique, a particular favourite of hers. She almost had kittens when she spotted the Lalique glass ceiling panel in the Serralves Villa in Porto. You should have seen her reaction on entering the room dedicated entirely to Gulbenkian’s collection of Lalique glass and jewellery!

The museum which was opened in 1969, 14 years after Gulbenkian’s death, was built especially to house his priceless collection of well over 6,000 pieces. The whole complex, which also includes a modern art gallery, is situated in a beautiful 7.5 hectare garden. So much to see, so little time…

Seamus the Seagull in front of poster for Gulbenkian Museum, Text: Gulbenkian Museum. Crossing Cultures Crossing Time

I think I just found another reason for the Mr Five Percent nickname. I reckon it’s only possible to take in about 5% of the Gulbenkian collection at a time. This is already our second visit. We’ll be back.

Museum of the Orient

What a relaxing way to spend an evening! First we took a ride on the suburban rail into Alcântara against the rush hour traffic. After a leisurely stroll around the dockland area, we sat outside a café by the quays, enjoying the evening sun and views of the 25th April Bridge from yet another angle. Then around 7pm, we made our way to the Museum of the Orient. Yes, the Oldies, always up for a freebie, were taking advantage of free admission (on Friday evenings from 6pm to 10pm).

Glass display case of three manequins, two males, one female, dressed in elaborate costume in oriental style with false beards and headresses, Museum of the Orient, Lisbon

The Chinese Opera Exhibition is quite an experience. The elaborate costumes are a feast of colour. I can’t imagine how many hours of intricate needlework went into each piece. The masks are also colourful, if a little scary. But the music was the scariest part of all. As a seagull, I am used to high-pitched shrieking, but this is definitely not my cup of tea. So much for our quiet evening…

Having said that, one of the most interesting parts of the exhibition was the video on Chinese opera during the Cultural Revolution. The interviews with the stars were fascinating – and thankfully the clips from the films were quite short so we were only subjected to small doses of singing. The ‘educational’ messages were quite clear though, I can tell you. No language barrier there!

Intricately carved mother of pearl depicting old sailing ship with three men on working board, on stand, with black background, Museum of the Orient, Lisbon

Apart from the opera singing, the museum was extremely quiet at that late hour and we were able to peruse the main collections at our leisure. The exhibition based on Portuguese presence in Asia is full of stunning treasures from Macau, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Sri Lanka and India.

Small antique box in wood and black material, opened on side showing four tiny drawers inside with carved ivory handles with ring attached to each, string coming from side lid, Japanese inro, Museum of the Orient, Lisbon

I was delighted to see another great collection of Japanese inrō and netsuke. I’ve developed quite a fondness for these tiny antique ‘man bags’ since first having seen them in the Gulbenkian Museum. The collection of puppets and shadow theatres from the Kwok On Collection were adorable too. The Japanese weapons, Samuri suits of armour and some of the collections of masks were rather horrifying however.