Guimet research plan 2026 2030 29

Part 1 → The structuring axes of research at the Villa Guimet

Diplomatic gifts and the

circulation of prestigious objects

between Japan and Europe , 1850 -

1864 : a comparative history of

the reception of Japanese objects

by European courts at the end

of the 19th century

Studying diplomatic gifts and the circulation of prestigious works between Japan

and Europe ( 1850 - 1864 ) follows an exhibition held at the Château de Fontainebleau

as part of the Festival d ' Histoire de l ' art ( 2021 ) and a study day ( 2022 ) . It can be

divided into two parts : a diachronic part internal to France and a comparative part

on a European scale . It is important to remember that the Chinese Museum and the

Salon des Laques at the Château de Fontainebleau are creations of Empress

Eugénie ( 1862 - 1864 ) hosting Siamese and Japanese diplomatic gifts , objects from

Vietnam , as well as Chinese objects of various origins ( royal furniture storage ,

art market , objects brought back by the French armies following the looting of the

Summer Palace ) . Over time , the presentation of these collections has evolved :

under the Third Republic , the ensemble became the first museum of Asian art

created in France , even before the Musée Guimet . Then , in the 1980s , its initial state

as desired by Eugenie was restored in a historicist approach .

Pair of Portable Braziers with Hexagon and Circle shokkō Design Maki e Lacquer on Wood Gold and Silver Leaf and Powders

Silvered Copper Gift of Thanks 1864 Former Collection of the Duke of Morny F1674 C 1 and 2 © GrandPalaisRmn Château de

Fontainebleau Adrien Didierjean

Thus , the project will f irst aim to conduct a study of the museographic evolution by

approaching these Asian collections globally . In doing so , we will question the

representation of Asia that this prestigious national institution ref lects . The other

part will consist of studying the only period of formation of the museum and the

salon by focusing on the collection of Japanese objects and comparing them with

the way in which the other five European courts ( Great Britain , Prussia , the

Netherlands , Russia and Portugal ) received similar gifts and integrated them , or not ,

into the palatial decoration or of fered them to a museum . For both parts of the study ,

the museum acts as a major heritage department .

The main objective of this research group will therefore be to study the works ,

whatever their provenance , and to return them to their original context , in the

perspective of and following the work already undertaken by Estelle Bauer –

in collaboration with Vincent Droguet and Vincent Cochet and a team of Japanese

researchers – and which focused on the diplomatic gifts of fered by Japan to France .

A first extension of this study could be envisaged on a European scale ,

in collaboration with curators of museums and royal collections ( Windsor , Ajuda

Palace in Lisbon , etc . ) , in order to compare the dif ferences in perception and receipt

of these diplomatic gifts received by other European courts around the same period

( 1850s – 1864 ) .

A second extension of the study of Japanese collections could also focus on the

Chinese collections ( Siamese , or even Vietnamese ) gathered at Fontainebleau .

This second project , led by Lia Wei ( lecturer in Chinese history and archaeology at

Inalco ) and Estelle Bauer , at Ifrae ( French Institute for Research on East Asia ) , now

brings together about f ifteen of the best French - speaking specialists in Chinese

art history , museum curators ( Lyce Jankowski , Pauline d ' Abrigeon , Béatrice Quette ,

Claire Déléry , Michel Maucuer ) , academics and CNRS ( Isabelle Charleux , Kunsam ,

Alice Bianchi , etc . ) . In the long term , a major exhibition could be devoted to the

history of diplomatic gifts between Asia and France , or even Europe .

The museum as a constitution

of knowledge

The museum is a central pillar in the construction of knowledge . From an intercultural

comparative perspective , it will therefore be necessary to examine the way in which

this knowledge is formed , often from documents taken out of its original context or

from limited contacts . This will also imply deconstructing these discourses through

a ref lexive analysis of the practices and mechanisms that shape them , in order to

allow for the essential critique . In this respect , the proposed methodology follows

three lines of research : the notion of sacredness ( through the Asian and European

prism ) , memory ( study of written and iconographic corpora as the foundations

of cultures and vehicles for their transmission ) , and staging ( ref lection on the way

in which objects of religious or memorial veneration are exhibited and the

relationship between religious practices and artistic expressions

This angle of study will therefore aim to initiate and nurture a multidisciplinary and

intercultural ref lection on these questions with all the museum s curators and Asian

colleagues and partners