Guimet Museum

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Guimet Museum
Musee Guimet en 2013 1.jpg
The museum in December 2013
Guimet Museum is located in Paris
Guimet Museum
Location within Paris
Established1879
Coordinates48°51′55″N 2°17′38″E / 48.86528°N 2.29389°E / 48.86528; 2.29389Coordinates: 48°51′55″N 2°17′38″E / 48.86528°N 2.29389°E / 48.86528; 2.29389
TypeAsian art
Websitewww.guimet.fr

The Guimet Museum, full name in French: Musée national des arts asiatiques-Guimet (MNAAG), abbreviated to Musée Guimet, is an art museum located at 6, place d'Iéna in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. Literally translated into English, its full name is the National Museum of Asian Arts-Guimet, or Guimet National Museum of Asian Arts.

The museum has one of the largest collections of Asian art outside of Asia.

History[]

Panoramic view of the library in the Guimet Museum
Musee guimet rdc.jpg

Founded by Émile Étienne Guimet, an industrialist, the museum first opened at Lyon in 1879[1] but was later transferred to Paris, opening in the place d'Iéna in 1889.[2] Devoted to travel, Guimet was in 1876 commissioned by the minister of public instruction to study the religions of the Far East, and the museum contains many of the fruits of this expedition, including a fine collection of Chinese and Japanese porcelain and many objects relating not merely to the religions of the East but also to those of ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. One of its wings, the Panthéon Bouddhique, displays religious artworks.

Some of the museum's artifacts were collected from Southeast Asia by French authorities during the colonial period.[3]

From December 2006 to April 2007, the museum harboured collections of the Kabul Museum, with archaeological pieces from the Greco-Bactrian city of Ai-Khanoum, and the Indo-Scythian treasure of Tillia Tepe.

Works of art of the museum[]

Greco-Buddhist art[]

  • Gandhara Buddha, 1st–2nd century CE

  • Hellenistic decorative scrolls from Hadda, northern Afghanistan

  • Standing Buddha, ancient region of Gandhara, northern Afghanistan, 1st century

  • Stone palette of a Nereid sea-goddess riding a Ketos sea-monster, Sirkap, 2nd century BCE

  • Wine-drinking and music, Hadda, 1st–2nd century CE

  • A Corinthian capitol with a Buddha at its center, 2nd century, Surk Kotal, Afghanistan

  • The Greek god Atlas, supporting a Buddhist monument, Hadda

  • The Bodhisattva Maitreya, 2nd century, Gandhara

  • Scene of the life of the Buddha. 2nd–3rd century. Gandhara

  • Portraits from the site of Hadda, 3rd century

  • Statuette excavated from the Dharmarajika Stupa site at Sirkap, Pakistan

Serindian art[]

  • "Heroic gesture of the Bodhisattva", 6th–7th century terracotta, Tumshuq (Xinjiang)

  • Head of a Bodhisattva, 6th–7th century terracotta, Tumshuq (Xinjiang)

Chinese art[]

Indian art[]

  • An aniconic representation of Mara's assault on the Buddha, 2nd century, Amaravati, Guntur, India

  • The Bodhisattva Maitreya, 2nd century, Mathura

  • A Buddha, 2nd century, Mathura

  • Buddha of the Gupta period, 5th century, Mathura

  • Head of a Buddha, Gupta period, 6th century

  • Rishabhanatha, sandstone, Madhya Pradesh, Chandela period, 10th–11th century

  • Buddha and Bodhisattvas, 11th century, Pala Empire

  • Vishnu, Madhya Pradesh, 11th–12th century

  • Shiva from Tamil Nadu, Chola period, 11th century

  • Rishabhanatha, 11th–12th century, Orissa

Southeast Asian art[]

  • Head of Buddha taken from Borobudur, c. 8th–9th century Central Java, Indonesia

  • Agastya, c. 8th–9th century Central Java, Indonesia

  • Hindu deity Brahma, Cambodia

  • Brahma 10th century, Cambodia

  • Shiva from Vijayapura, Vietnam

  • Vishnu on Garuda, Champa art, Vietnam

  • Ganesha, Siem Reap, Cambodia, c. 12th–13th century

  • Mons Wheel of the Law (Dharmacakra), art of Dvaravati, c. 8th century

  • A Cambodian Buddha, 14th century

  • Bodhisattva Lokesvara, Cambodia 12th century

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ History of the Museum (in French).
  2. ^ National museum Arts asiatiques – Guimet, Marie-Catherine Rey et al. Paris: Éditions de la Réunion des Musées nationaux, 2001, translation by John Adamson, ISBN 2711838978, Chronology, p. 6.
  3. ^ Patrick Howlett-Martin, « Où ira le buste de Néfertiti ? », Le Monde diplomatique, no 700, juillet 2012, p. 27.

External links[]


Retrieved from ""