Chinese history books refer to emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sending Zhang Qian on his first westward journey to the Great Moon Clan as "chiseling the void", and since then there has been the "Silk Road". The Silk Road runs west from the middle reaches of the Yellow River, crosses the Pamir Plateau, passes through Central Asia and West Asia to the Mediterranean Sea, and then connects Europe and North Africa, becoming the main artery of transportation in Eurasia.
The world-famous ancient civilizations are distributed along the Silk Road, which is the road of commercial trade between the East and the West, the road of diplomatic envoys, and the road of cultural exchanges and integration between the East and the West.
Shanxi is located at the eastern end of the ancient Silk Road, the Northern Dynasty to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Pingcheng and Jinyang are bustling international metropolises, during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Jin merchants along the Silk Road to trade the world. Shanxi is an important station of Silk Road civilization.
Recently, "From the Mediterranean Sea to China: Pingshan Yufu Silk Road Art Museum Collection cultural relics exhibition" was exhibited at the Shanxi Museum. The exhibition features more than 190 artifacts, covering a wide area around the Mediterranean, the Two Rivers Basin and Iran, as well as Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. There are 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., reproducing the exchange, collision and integration of ancient Silk Road civilizations.
Unit 1 Circum-Mediterranean Region
The mediterranean sea is quite unique in its geographical location, surrounded by three continents: Asia, Africa and Europe, and is a region where diverse civilizations meet and integrate. Greece and Rome were the most central civilizations in the region. The Mediterranean rim region has a number of good natural ports, long-term maritime exchanges have been very close, its complex and diverse civilization process has promoted the development of human society, and has made extremely important contributions to world civilization.
Single-ear geometric cocoon-shaped pot
pottery
Cyprus
Circa 8th century BC
Height 32 cm
Marbled long-necked bottle
glass
Eastern Mediterranean region
1st century AD
Height 8.1cm width 6.3cm
The figure is 23.5 cm tall around 1800 BC in Syria
Female portraits
Syria
2000 BC
Height 14.4cm width 5cm
Black-painted wine mixer pottery in Athens, Greece at the end of the 6th century BC height 49.5 cm wide 48 cm
Unit II The Two Rivers Basin and the Iranian Region
The two river basins, the Euphrates and Tigris rivers (in present-day Iraq), called "Mesopotamia" in Greek, means the land between the two rivers, and is one of the earliest birthplaces of human civilization. The two rivers of civilization spanned from around 4000 BC to the 6th century BC, affecting from the Aegean Sea and Egypt to the Iranian plateau in the east. In 538 BC, the last Neo-Babylonian kingdom of the Two Rivers civilization was destroyed by the Persian Empire. From 550 BC to 651 AD, the Iranian region entered the Persian Empire. The splendid Persian civilization, along the developed Silk Road network, connected the culture and trade of the East and the West, and profoundly influenced the far East.
The first half of the 1000 BC bronze pinnacle of the pterodactyloid stripe is 20.5 cm high 15 cm long and 22 cm wide
Ox-shaped toutolum northwestern Iran 10th to 8th century BC height 28.5 cm wide 30.5 cm
It is 28 cm tall around 1200 BC to 800 BC in northwestern Iran
Greenland sacred tree double deer pattern weft brocade (partial) fabric Central Asian 8th to 9th century AD height 16.2 cm width 71.4 cm
Unit III Afghanistan, Pakistan and India
Northwestern India (present-day northern Pakistan), the Peshawar Valley near the confluence of the Indus and Kabul Rivers, and the region of present-day northeastern Afghanistan, known to the world as the ancient Gandhara region. Located in the heart of Eurasia, Gandhara has a core area of just over 200,000 square kilometers, but it was one of the trade centers of the Silk Roads and one of the religious centers of the Buddhist world. The Gandhara region is the hub of central Asia, West Asia and the Mediterranean, where multi-civilizations of India, Persia, Greece, Rome and even extending to Central Asia have long converged. Gandharan Buddhist art, which mixed Greek, Roman, Persian and Indian artistic expression techniques, was extremely three-dimensional and realistic, and thus spread eastward across the Green Ridge (i.e., the Pamir Plateau), profoundly influencing the development of East Asian Buddhist art.
Bunsen Story Relief Burning Lamp Buddha's Teachings Schist Gandhara 2nd to 3rd century AD height 42.8 cm width 33 cm
The buddha's head is 37 cm high and 23 cm wide in the 2nd to 3rd centuries AD
The Buddha statue of Gandhara is 109 cm high and 36 cm wide in the 2nd to 3rd centuries AD
The head of the child provider clay Gandhara is 18 cm high in the 4th and 5th centuries AD
Lianzhu wild boar head pattern pottery pottery in northern Afghanistan 6th to 7th century AD height 13.1 cm width about 10.5 cm
Unit 4 Dream back to Dunhuang
Dunhuang is the gateway of China's Hexi Corridor to the western region, and has a pivotal historical status and influence, where Chinese and Western civilizations meet and merge. Mr. Hirayama Yufu has a deep friendship in Dunhuang. In 1979, Pingshan Yufu came to Dunhuang for the first time, and under the inspiration and encouragement of Dunhuang art and Xuanzang spirit, he visited Dunhuang many times and created a large number of Dunhuang-themed works, making important contributions to the promotion of Dunhuang culture. In 1990, Hirayama donated $1 million to establish the UNESCO Silk Road Fund to fund Dunhuang studies. In 1994, he donated another 200 million yen to establish the "China Dunhuang Grottoes Conservation and Research Foundation". Hirayama Iseo is passionate about the creation of silk road and Dunhuang art themes, publishing "Silk Road Sketch Collection" and "Dunhuang: Historical Journey", etc., achieving high artistic achievements and making outstanding contributions to Sino-Japanese cultural and artistic exchanges.
Pingshan Yu holding the lotus bodhisattva statue Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes Cave 260 Northern Wei 1979 39.5 × 31.3cm
Pingshan Yu Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes 1991 31.5 × 24cm
Pingshan Yu Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes 1994 33.5 × 26.2cm
The Silk Road is the core channel linking the essence of human civilization, and it is also the main road for the exchange and integration of Eastern and Western civilizations. Although the number of more than 190 cultural relics exhibited in the exhibition is small and not necessarily systematic, these bits and pieces of ancient cultural relics and artworks reflect the Mediterranean region on the Silk Road west of China; the two river basins of West Asia and the Iranian region; the glory of the famous ancient civilizations in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India in Central Asia, which is the empirical evidence of the ancient prominent and temporary civilizations, presenting the characteristics of culture, art, religion, craftsmanship, customs and folklore in the above regions, as well as the exchange and integration, mutual reference and mutual absorption of these civilizations. Mutual influence.
The exhibition runs until March 3, 2022.
Source: Fine Arts Newspaper