KALENDARIUM:
Arrangör: Östasiatiska Museets Vänner
Föredrag av Dr Arnaud Bertand, lördag 14 mars kl. 14.00 i Östasiatiska museets hörsal
Archaeology at the Heart of South-Korea: Excavating the Silla Kingdom Legacy (57 BCE–935)
From this vibrant territory emerged the Silla kingdom (57 BCE–935), one of the most brilliant civilizations of East Asia. Long known primarily through medieval Korean chronicles, Silla has been dramatically re-illuminated by archaeological discoveries since the late 19th century. Excavations of it tombs, temples, pagodas and ancient capital, have revealed extraordinary assemblages of iron weapons and armor, gold regalia, jeweled ornaments, sophisticated figurative stoneware, elegant flying horse image, and Buddhist iconography – corpus of material that has transformed our understanding of the kingdom’s technological mastery, ritual practices, and socio-political structure. These finds also demonstrate that Silla was far from an isolated polity: material analyses, stylistic parallels, and imported goods show that it was deeply embedded in complex maritime and overland trade networks extending from Japan in the east to Central Asia and even the Mediterranean world in the west. The archaeology of Gyeongju thus provides a key vantage point for exploring the flows of objects, ideas, and technologies that shaped the emergence of one of East Asia’s major early states. While, for the first time in Europe, the Musée Guimet, through a collaboration with the Gyeongju National Museum, is preparing a major exhibition on this kingdom for May 2026, this conference will revisit the major archaeological discoveries that have defined our current knowledge of Silla and consider how new research continues to reshape our understanding of its place in the wider ancient world.
About Dr. Arnaud Bertrand
Dr Arnaud BERTRAND is Curator of the Korean and Ancient Chinese Collections at the Musée Guimet (National Museum of Asian Art, France) since 2023. He co-curated the exhibitions Gold Ming: The Splendours and Beauties of Imperial China and Tang China: A Cosmopolitan Dynasty and is preparing two exhibitions on ancient and premodern Korea for the 2026 celebration of 140 years of Franco-Korean diplomatic relations.
An archaeologist and sinologist, he is a member of the ArScAn “Central Asian Archaeology” team and of the CREOPS research centre. He has taught at the Institut Catholique de Paris since 2018 and at the École du Louvre since 2024, where he offers the first course on premodern Korean arts. Dr Bertrand has participated in archaeological missions in Uzbekistan and in China with the Dunhuang Academy, working extensively on ancient fortifications. He co-founded the Asia Collections Network – Europe in 2021 and holds a PhD in History and Sinology from the École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE). His research focuses on cross-cultural exchanges through the contextual study of artworks and historical sources.
Övriga evenemang:
Nu - 22 november 2026: Utställning ”Yokai - Japanska väsen” på Etnografiska museet. Människan har i alla tider sökt förklaringar till underliga fenomen, märkliga drömmar eller känslan av en osynlig närvaro. Inom japansk folktro pratas det då om Yokai. Yokai är japanska väsen – älskade, fruktade och en del av populärkulturen genom flera hundra år. Från Edo-periodens (1603–1868) rullmålningar, träsnitt och böcker - till dagens tv-spel, filmer och manga.
Nu - 9 mars: Utställning ”Manga. An art of its own!” på Musée national des arts asiatiques - Guimet, Paris.
3 februari - 4 maj: Utställning ”Samurai” på The British Museum, London: Discover the reality behind a millennium of myth at this sweeping exhibition on the legendary Japanese warriors.
14 - 19 mars: TEFAF Maastricht is widely regarded as the world’s premier fair for fine art, antiques, and design, bringing together 7,000 years of art history under one roof. Featuring over 260 prestigious dealers from some 20 countries, TEFAF Maastricht is a showcase for the finest art works currently on the market. Alongside the traditional areas of Old Master paintings, antiques, and classical antiquities that cover approximately half of the fair, you can also find modern and contemporary art, photography, jewelry, 20th century design, and works on paper.
15 mars kl. 13.00 - 14.30: Föredrag på Etnografiska museet: Vad är Haiku? Noriko Takei-Thunman, Professor emerita vid Göteborgs universitet, berättar om genren och låter oss ta del av några verk av japanska och svenska haiku-poeter. 100 kr med årskort, 160 kr utan årskort inkl. entré till museet. Plats på museet: Hörsalen