Cultural Arts

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Treasures from the Other Side of the World
An Exhibition of ‘Silk Road’ Art and Artifacts at the Bowers Museum

By Lydia E. Ringwald

The dark side of the moon, the other side of the world, 150 art and artifacts exhibited at the Bowers Museum ‘ Silk Road’ are brought to light at the Bowers Museum March 27-July 25, giving us a glimpse of culture from the Xinjiang  Uyghur Region in China, at the middle of the Silk Road that traversed from the ancient capital of X’ian all of the way to Istanbul, Turkey and ultimately into Europe.

The Xinjiang Uyghur areas of China adjacent Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan may seem to us obscure now, but once it was the center of the world, a flourishing culture, a   cross-roads of civilization where traders with silk and other exotic wares, from China and the Middle East traversed across the globe exchanging merchandise, culture, inventions and ideas.

The display artifacts from as early as the 2nd century BC exhibited in chronological sequence with objects dating up to the 7th and 8th century AD reveals insights into the various races of people who traversed the road and the level of civilization over a span of a thousand years that they shared.

Several intriguing artworks and artifacts also allude to influences that reflect historical periods both before and after the time sequence represented in the exhibit.

At a press conference tour, Richard Hodges, Director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, pointed out a stunning golden facemask inlaid with rubies from Xinjiang from the 5th to 6th century AD that was reminiscent of the golden facemask of ‘Agamemnon’ from the earlier Mycenaean culture about 1200 BC.

A bronze statue ‘A Kneeling Warrior’ in the exhibit from about 500 BC seemed reminiscent of the bronze work from the earlier ancient civilization of Ur of about 2500 BC. In a network of exchange from the other direction, the invention of silk in X’ian, the ancient capital of China, traveled on the Silk Road to Istanbul where today, vendors in the Istanbul marketplace still display an array of finely woven silk carpets.

Most remarkable in the Bowers exhibit of archeological finds, is a well-preserved mummy of a woman, ‘The Beauty of Xiaoe’ excavated from the tombs of Xiaoe Cemetery. Her frozen beauty dating to 1500-1800 BC seems to have defied decay and her long eyelashes and black hair are amazingly in tact, as she rests timelessly over the eons in a finely woven shroud. Later in time, at about c.8th Century BC is a mummy of a baby, wearing a charming cap, warmly wrapped in a blanket, a baby that must have been cuddled by its mother for the last time before being placed in its grave.

Art and Artifacts of 7th and 8th century AD, intricately designed silk brocades and a clothed mummy reveal highly refined travelers of a later period. A lovely brocade coverlet, with an elegantly woven design, commemorates a wedding with an inscription with a blessing and wish that the married couple produce progeny for countless generations into the future.

When viewing the commemorative artifact, one reflects for a moment wondering if indeed these are the remote ancestors of all that we are now of all that we have become. The technology, innovation, art and culture traversed on the Silk Road ultimately infiltrated Europe and lead to a Renaissance and a flourishing of civilization in Europe that eventually brought us into the technological world. Technological innovations that have changed life as we know it encircle the entire globe shared by all travelers  on an international internet highway.

The Silk Road is evidence of an early Globalism, an attempt in ancient times to cross borders with technology and innovation, that has progressed into the massive high-tech Globalism of today, that wireless and instantaneous network of information and ideas encircling the world and whirling beyond borders of time and space.

At a press conference interview, Dr. Peter Keller, Director of the Bowers Museum commented that the Xinjiang Uyghur Region, perhaps a seemingly obscure area of China to us today, is once again rising into prominence with China’s recent building of new roads and highways through this region connecting China to the Middle East. Merchandise, resources, ideas and inventions and will once again traverse on a modern highway that was once the Silk Road.

The ‘Silk Road’ exhibit at the Bowers Museum gives us a glimpse into a culture and civilization that once flourished and may once again rise and become the center of the world stage.

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For further information, please contact the Bowers Museum at www.bowers.org

Lydia E. Ringwald is the Laguna Journal's  Cultural Arts Columnist and photo-journalist, as well as a Southern California based artist. 

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