With the aim of protecting movable cultural relics, the response to oscillation of a freestanding museum cultural relic under earthquake conditions was studied mainly by shaking table tests. A 1∶1scale model of a showcase in the Palace Museum was built. A freestanding ceramic cultural relic was put in the showcase. Using white noise excitation, frequency distributions of the showcase were obtained. Then the seismic responses of both showcase and relic were studied by inputting 3different types of earthquake waves with different intensities. Using simulation methods, finite elemental models for the showcase and relic were built and modal as well as time history analyses were carried out to validate the efficacy of shaking table tests. The results show that prominent frequency ingredients of the showcase are between 29to 35Hz,which were far from those of input earthquake waves; thus the showcase is not damaged seriously, For the relic itself, when input earthquake intensity is low, it is relatively stable, but when earthquake intensity increases, its response to oscillation becomes obvious, and it even overturns under strong earthquake conditions. Thus the simulation results are good in accordance with those of shaking table tests, which proved efficacy of the test method. In real cases, i.e., for movable cultural relics with a large heightwith ratio, measures have to be taken to reduce its amplitude of oscillation.