The Museum was established in 1901 in the Foreign Missions building. Its formation originated from the collection of objects from mission lands, gathered since the late 19th century for educational purposes on the initiative of Bishop Conforti. The Chinese art section, which has been expanded over time through regular contributions continued until the 1950s and then occasional donations, provides an overview of Chinese culture and customs over a long period. The second section consists of ethnographic materials from Japan, Indonesia, Brazil, and Africa. The Chinese collection exhibits bronzes, ceramics, paintings, and coins, including ritual vases dating between the 11th century BC and the 13th century AD, realistic portraits of bonzes from the 6th to the 9th century, statuettes, mirrors. Among the extensive series of funerary terracottas is a sculpture from 200 BC, depicting a turtle with a snake, considered the oldest dated specimen. Numerous porcelains produced from the 10th to the 13th century up to the present day; among the stoneware objects, glazed porcelain and ceramics of various types are included. Noteworthy: the blue-and-white cup from the Husuan-Te period, from 1426 to 1435, the vase from the Chia Ching era, between 1522 and 1566, the K’ang-Shi cup, dating from 1662 to 1722, and some imaginative 17th and 18th-century manufactures. Interesting are the liturgical vases commissioned by the Jesuits during the 18th century. Among the most significant paintings is a series of portraits, while the collection is completed by calligraphy essays, prints, and casts from engraved stones. The heritage finally includes almost nine thousand coins from the 13th century BC to 1911 and smaller groups of jades, ivories, stone and wood sculptures, snuff boxes, pewter, enamels, and amulets. In the ethnographic section, tools and weapons from China, Japanese prints, Indonesian utensils, Oceanian weapons, and artifacts from Congo, Pakistan, Australia, and the Amazon are exhibited.
Information about the Chinese Art and Ethnographic Museum
Viale S. Martino, 8,
43121 Parma (Parma)
0521 257 337
mail@museocineseparma.org
Source: MIBACT
