Guimet Museum
The Guimet Museum (full name in French: Musée national des arts asiatiques-Guimet; MNAAG; abbr. 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 in December 2013 | |
  Location within Paris | |
| Established | 1879 |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 48°51′55″N 2°17′38″E |
| Type | Asian art |
| Website | www |
The museum has one of the largest collections of Asian art outside of Asia.
History
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 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 Buddhist artworks.
Some of the museum's artifacts, originating from Cambodia, are connected with the studies conducted by the first scholars to be interested in Khmer culture, Louis Delaporte and Etienne Aymonier. They sent examples of Khmer art to France at a time when museums were not existing in Southeast Asia, with the agreement of the King of Cambodia, to show to Europe the high level of the ancient Khmer culture.
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
Wine-drinking and music, Hadda, 1st–2nd century CE
A Corinthian capitol with a Buddha at its center, 2nd century, Surk Kotal, Afghanistan
Scene of the life of the Buddha. 2nd–3rd century. Gandhara
Portraits from the site of Hadda, 3rd century
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
Han Dynasty Horse (1st–2nd century)
Buddha triad, Eastern Wei (534–550), China
Tang dynasty Foreign Merchant
Northern Qi depiction of Sogdians.jpg.webp)
One of the Group of glazed pottery luohans from Yixian, c. 1000
A sitting celadon lion, dated 11th to 12th century, Song dynasty
A porcelain vase with design of men fighting on horseback, from the Jiajing reign period (1521–1567), Ming dynasty
A round sancai dish from the Tang dynasty, 8th to 9th century
Painting Bodhisattva Who Leads the Way from Mo-kao caves, 900–950 A.D.
Indian art
An aniconic representation of Mara's assault on the Buddha, 2nd century, Amaravati style, eastern India
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.jpg.webp)
Vishnu, Madhya Pradesh, 11th–12th century.jpg.webp)
Rishabhanatha, 11th–12th century, Orissa
Southeast Asian art
Agastya, c. 8th–9th century Central Java, Indonesia
Brahma 10th century, Khmer art, Cambodia%252C_stile_di_transiz._tra_my_son_A1_e_thap_mam%252C_Xi-Xii_sec%252C_01.JPG.webp)
Shiva from Vijayapura, Vietnam
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Ganesha, Siem Reap, Cambodia, c. 12th–13th century
A Cambodian Buddha, 14th century
Bodhisattva Lokiteśvara, Cambodia 12th century
See also
Notes
- History of the Museum (in French).
- 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.
External links
- Musée Guimet
- Musée national des arts Asiatiques Guimet, special issue of art magazine Connaissance des Arts, available in French and English