"The Glory of the Silk Road: Art from Ancient China"
2003-02-08 until 2003-05-11
Dayton Art Institute
Dayton, OH, USA

Imagine a journey through some of the world's highest mountains surrounded by hostile deserts and treacherous terrain. Caravans heading towards China carry gold, ivory, glass, and precious metals and stones. Other caravans leave China, filled with such treasures as silks, ceramics, jade and objects made of bronze. The world's oldest and most historically important trade route, the Silk Road spanned 7,000 miles from China, linking Central Asia, India, and Arabia with Rome. Connecting the East to the West, the Silk Road became significant not only for the trade of goods, but for the exchange of ideas, religious beliefs and art.

This historically significant exhibition will showcase materials that have been buried deep within the sands, hidden in intricate caves on the sides of mountains, or recovered from ancient tombs along the Silk Road. The phrase "Silk Road" was first coined by Baron Ferdinand von Richtofen in the mid to late 19th century.

The term is somewhat misleading as the Silk Road consisted of many roads and paths and much more than silk was traded. 176 rare treasures will be on display, including objects made of gold, silver, gilt bronze, jade, clay, silk and paper, with forms ranging from sculptures, ceramics and paintings to textiles and manuscripts. These works include some of the most powerful and groundbreaking archaeological finds in northwestern China. This is the first time that most of these objects will be shown in the United States. These rare and ancient works, most dating from the 6th-9th centuries, are drawn from collections in museums and archaeological research institutes in Beijing, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, and Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China. Discovered along the ancient Silk Road, these treasures provide a comprehensive overview of 500 years of history of the Silk Road, which stretches from Kashgar in northwestern China through the Taklamakan Desert to Turfan, Dunhuang, and Xi'an.

THE GLORY OF THE SILK ROAD: Art from Ancient China includes Chinese works of art as well as works of art brought into China along the Silk Road from ancient India, Greece and the Roman Empire. The exhibition explores the themes of cross-cultural exchanges and influences among China, Central Asia and the West, with an emphasis on China. The presentation focuses on several aspects of the art of the Silk Road: the spread of Buddhism; the early presence of Christianity and other religions; silk and other textiles from China and Central Asia; rare religious and non-religious manuscripts from Turfan; changing styles of gold and silver work; as well as cross-cultural influence in dance and music. According to Alex Nyerges, Director and CEO of The Dayton Art Institute, "This exhibition is the result of more than four years of intense research and scholarship. Working with more than twenty museums in three provinces and in Beijing, we have assembled a spectacular show that is sure to fascinate our visitors. We expect visitors literally from around the world to come to Dayton to see it." The collecting of art and artifacts from the Silk Road in China has a century-long history. During the first quarter of the 20th century, a great number of Silk Road treasures were removed from Xinjiang and Dunhuang during the expeditions led by Sven Hedin, Aurel Stein, Albert von Le Coq, Gruwedel Albert, Paul Pelliot, Langdon Warner, and Otani Kozui. In the late 1920s, Chinese archaeologist Huang Wenbi conducted a number of expeditions in Xinjiang. Unfortunately, significant portions of the Huang collection and the Le Coq collection were destroyed by fire during World War II. The works that survived have thus become even more important and valuable sources for the study of the Silk Road and Central Asian art.

THE GLORY OF THE SILK ROAD is organized by The Dayton Art Institute and the National Museum of Chinese History and is curated by Li Jian, Curator of Asian Art at The Dayton Art Institute. The exhibition is presented by NCR Corporation with additional support from Mrs. Virginia W. Kettering, The Dayton Art Institute Docent Organization, Dayton Marriott Hotel and by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue, written by an international team of curators and scholars, including Valerie Hansen from Yale University, Angela Sheng from Canada, Katherine R. Tsiang from the University of Chicago and Wang Binghua from the Xinjiang Institute of Archaeology. An international symposium on the exhibition is scheduled in March 2003.

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