The promised gift of a striking collection of ancient Chinese artifacts has catapulted the Portland Art Museum into "the major league for Han dynasty artworks," according to former Seattle Art Museum curator Jay Xu.

The collection — now on view under the title "Mysterious Spirits, Strange Beasts, Earthly Delights" — was assembled by Portland patrons Arlene and Harold Schnitzer, long known in the region as collectors of Northwest art. Arlene Schnitzer said she made her first purchase of Chinese art in 1974 and has since given a number of the major pieces to PAM; the rest will eventually be transferred as well.

The Schnitzers' purchases of Chinese art focus on a narrow period of history. But within that focus, the collection is comparable in quality and size to that of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, or what's on display at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, Xu said from his office at the Art Institute of Chicago. Because PAM has no Chinese curator on staff, Xu (pronounced Shu), a renowned scholar, was asked to write a catalog essay. He also presented a sold-out lecture at PAM in May.

There's a lot to be learned from reading the catalog, but you don't need any special expertise to appreciate the beauty and power of the objects. They date from the Warring States period through the Han dynasty, 481 B.C.-220 A.D., a period Xu describes as "one of the most glorious periods in China's history." We know it was glorious because of the ancient Chinese obsession with the afterlife: Their excavated tombs brim with treasures. Much like the early Egyptians, the Chinese believed that the dead needed food and lavish representations of their worldly goods to assure their status in the afterlife. Some of those finely crafted objects appear in "Mysterious Spirits," from the classic lines of Han dynasty horses and exotic beasts exquisitely crafted in clay, to bronze wine vessels and graceful carved-wood figures.

A large ensemble of earthenware musicians with racks of bells and chimes is one of the highlights of the collection, demonstrating the importance of music in Han culture.

Often in exhibits of Chinese art, we only see individual objects removed from their context: one horse out of dozens in a tomb, or one soldier plucked from the rank of hundreds. Here we get a sense of the intricacy of the tomb displays with an entire tableaux of figures and their instruments. "In terms of visual magnitude, the ensemble with bells is quite wonderful," Xu said.

Even in a collection as carefully assembled as the Schnitzers', however, there is the danger of acquiring artworks that are not authentic.

Xu and another expert who examined the artworks recommended thermoluminescence (TL) testing be done on some of the pieces. TL helps establish how long ago clay objects were fired and is an important tool for determining authenticity. It turned out that one of two guardian figure earthenware pillars, previously dated as 25-220 A.D., tested as new.

Arlene Schnitzer said she purchased the piece years ago from a West Coast dealer and has since given it to the museum. "We had it tested because a couple people looked at it and felt it wasn't quite right," she said by phone from her Portland office.

After learning the results, Schnitzer said she phoned the dealer, who insists the piece is genuine and should be retested. In the meantime, it remains in the exhibition, labeled as contemporary.

Sheila Farr: sfarr@seattletimes.com