Dr Luk gave us an insider’s view of the process of co-curating and pulling together a major international exhibition at the British Museum. This is the first time that a co-curatorial team has undertaken an exhibition of this scale, and the scope and span of the subject is really impressive. The British Museum is keen to move in a more thematic direction and this exhibition provides a space for experimenting with the approach and stretching beyond the usual geographic and cultural boundaries. Taking in the period between 500-1000 CE it explores the impact of major polities across Afro-Eurasia including the Tang empire, the rise of Islamic states, the Byzantine and Carolingian empires. It also focuses on the two peripheries of Eurasia, early Japan and England, and of course the Viking world. It is the latter that gives the exhibition its point of departure with the extraordinary Helgö Buddha, in splendid isolation, the first object that we encounter as we enter the exhibition space.
The exhibition was designed as a journey between five themes beginning with three East Asian capitals, Heijō-kyō (Nara), Geumseong (Gyeongju, Silla Korea) and Chang’an (Xi’an, Tang China) very effectively setting the tone by using the ancient place-names. It then proceeds through southeast Asia to the Tarim basin, the central Asian steppes, central Asia and Arabia, Mediterranean connections and finishing in Northwest Europe. In between are case studies exploring the people who undertook the travelling, seafarers in the Indian Ocean, Sogdians in central Asia, Vikings on the austrvegr, the Aksumites and their port city at Adulis and the people of al-Andalus, all providing the means of connecting the Silk Roads. This is a daunting and massive task and the exhibition very skilfully pulls off this challenge.
Dr Luk’s task and focus within the exhibition was to illustrate the east Asian parts of this voyage. It is here that the role and material culture of an expansive Buddhism, as well as Confucianism and Daoism, in establishing a shared cultural tradition is adroitly examined through objects and their context. Distant influences are also foregrounded, for instance the stunning dagger found in the Silla tomb of Gyerim-ro, Gyeongju with its gold and garment decoration probably crafted in the Black Sea area and materially connected to objects found in contexts as far away such as the Sutton Hoo shoulder clasp, displayed in the final theme within the exhibition space. Similarly, glass objects, beads and vessels, demonstrate connections over vast distances; new chemical component research carried out by the British Museum on glass beads excavated from Japanese contexts, from the William Gowland collection, demonstrates West Asian manufacture. It is here that the status and reach of the British Museum in bringing together such geographically disparate objects makes for a unique exhibition experience. As Dr Luk notes, there is a public appetite for stories about the Silk Roads, as demonstrated by the many recent books on the subject.
The Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures’ involvement in the development of approaches to the exhibition was gracefully acknowledged by Dr Luk at the beginning of her lecture. Crossovers between our own Nara to Norwich project in terms of themes, objects and people, particularly the work of Professor Susan Whitfield, are peppered through the exhibition. Again, this reflects a kind of zeitgeist that is also to be found in the brilliant review of the British Museum exhibition by Jonathan Jones in the Guardian and the fact that this is one of two major exhibitions about the Silk Roads on in London currently. The other is at the British Library, A Silk Road Oasis: life in ancient Dunhuang. The Sainsbury Institute also currently has a display exploring the Silk Roads at the Embassy of Japan in the UK until 7th February – you can find more information on this here. If you have not seen them yet treat yourself to a day in the capital and take them all in.
Andy Hutcheson
Research Fellow, Sainsbury Institute