From dustbins to showcases: recent studies on textiles from Dunhuang

Bannière aux cinq couleurs.
MG 26460.
copyright Musée Guimet, Paris.
Dist.RMN.A/Th. Olivier.

Thursday November 17th Conference by Mme Laure Feugère, chargée de mission honoraire au Musée Guimet. The collection brought by Pelliot in 1909 to the Louvre museum included many pieces of silk, hemp and linen. Some of them were for religious purpose ( sutra covers, offering table cloth, long blue, red or yellow silk rolls to decorate monasteries during festivals).

Many banners were in poor conditions and were dismounted, the central part being kept, side ribbons and lower part being thrown away in a box "A jeter" written on it.

It is only on 2010 that all textiles were completely cleaned, measured and registered in the publication of the book "Textiles of Dunhuang (October 2010) under the direction of Zhau Feng, Director of the National Silk museum in Hangzhou.

Pelliot did not care about these fragments, although they were the first archeological testimony. Fortunately, in 1964, Krishna Riboud was appointed by Jeanine Auboyer to study these pieces with the help of Gabrel Vial, a first book was published in 1970, a very technical study with, unfortunately, black and white photos. Mrs Riboud, in the Kodansha 2nd volume, published a study of many of these items with beautiful colour prints, which allowed to appreciate their beauty.

18/11/2011 22:00

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