Il Museo was established in 1901 in the Missione Estere building. Its formation originated from the collection of objects coming from mission lands, gathered since the late 19th century for educational purposes by the initiative of Bishop Conforti. The Chinese art section, which has been increased over time by regular contributions continuing until the 1950s and then by occasional donations, provides an overview of Chinese culture and customs over a long period. The second section consists instead of ethnographic materials from Japan, Indonesia, Brazil, and Africa. The Chinese collection displays bronzes, ceramics, paintings, and coins, including ritual vases dating from the 11th century BC to the 13th century AD, realistic portraits of monks from the 6th to the 9th centuries, statuettes, mirrors. Among the rich series of funerary terracottas is a sculpture from 200 BC, depicting a turtle with a snake, considered the oldest dated example. Numerous porcelains produced from the 10th to the 13th century up to our days; among the stoneware objects are porcelain-like artifacts and ceramics of various types. Notable: the blue and white cup from the Husuan-Te period, from 1426 to 1435, the vase of the Chia Ching era, between 1522 and 1566, the K’ang-Shi cup, datable from 1662 to 1722, and some imaginative manufacturing from the 17th-18th centuries. 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 essays of calligraphy, prints, and casts from engraved stones. The heritage finally includes almost nine thousand coins from the 13th century BC to 1911 and smaller cores of jades, ivories, stone and wood sculptures, snuffboxes, pewters, enamels, and amulets. In the ethnographic section are exhibited tools and weapons from China, Japanese prints, Indonesian utensils, weapons from Oceania, artifacts from Congo, Pakistan, Australia, Amazonia.
Information about the Chinese and ethnographic Art Museum
Viale S. Martino, 8,
43121 Parma (Parma)
0521 257 337
mail@museocineseparma.org
Source: MIBACT
