Taiyuan, December 17 (Reporter Hu Jian) Persian gold and silverware, laitong in ancient Greek sacrifice ceremonies, glassware in the 3rd century AD... More than 190 cultural relics from the Mediterranean region, the Two Rivers Basin, the Iranian region, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and other places were unveiled in Shanxi on the 17th, interpreting the mutual learning between the Eastern and Western cultures on the Silk Road.
Exhibits on "From the Mediterranean to China: Exhibition of Cultural Relics from the Collection of the Silk Road Art Museum in Hirayama". Photo by Hu Jian
The exhibition, titled "From the Mediterranean to China: Exhibition of Cultural Relics from the Collection of the Hirayama Iruo Silk Road Art Museum", is hosted by the Shanxi Museum and the Hirayama Ikuo Silk Road Art Museum in Japan. As an important station of the Silk Road civilization, Shanxi, which has a history of 5,000 years, also has many cultural relics that have left the artistic characteristics of various civilizations, reproducing the exchange, collision and integration of the ancient Silk Road civilization.
The Yungang Grottoes in Shanxi, excavated in the Northern Wei Dynasty, are one of the representatives of Gandhara Buddhist art, and in this exhibition, buddhist statues from the ancient Gandhara region echo the exhibition panels of the Yungang Grottoes on the side, and the statue style mixes Greek, Roman, Persian and Indian artistic expression techniques, which shows the influence of Gandhara art on East Asian Buddhist art.
The gilded animal-patterned silver goblet unearthed in the Northern Wei dynasty of Datong, Shanxi, is also similar to a bear-patterned plate of imperial hunting during the Sassanid Dynasty in Iran exhibited this time. "It is evident from the two artifacts that they depict scenes of imperial hunting, and they show the symbol of justice in Persian Zoroastrianism, which is enough to prove that in the Northern Wei Dynasty, the exchange of the Silk Road once again reached a peak." Zhao Jia, a docent at the Shanxi Museum, introduced.
The exhibition is divided into four units: "Mediterranean Rim Region", "Two River Basins and Iranian Regions", "Afghanistan, Pakistan and India Region", and "Dream Back to Dunhuang", these cultural relics were collected by the Japanese painter Ikuo Hirayama (1930-2009) who visited countries and regions along the Silk Road.
The cultural relics of the Gandhara region echo the Yungang Grottoes in Shanxi. Photo by Hu Jian
Zhao Zhiming, vice president of the Shanxi Museum, said that the exhibition is an important exhibition to promote international cooperation and cultural exchanges along the "Belt and Road", and more than 190 cultural relics exhibited in the exhibition include Greek faience and reliefs, Roman and Persian glassware, Persian gold and silverware, Silk Road gold and silver coins, Central Asian brocade and Indian Buddhist statues, etc., presenting the civilization creation of cross-regional, cross-era and cross-cultural cultural exchanges between the East and the West. (End)