Guimet Museum

The Guimet Museum (French: Musée national des arts asiatiques [MNAAG] or Musée Guimet) is an art museum located at 6, place d'Iéna in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. It has one of the largest collections abroad of Asian art.

The Guimet Museum in Paris, 2005

History

Panoramic view of the library in the Guimet Museum

Founded by Émile Étienne Guimet, an industrialist, the museum first opened at Lyon in 1879[1] but was later transferred to Paris, opening in the place d'Iéna in 1889.[2] Devoted to travel, Guimet was in 1876 commissioned by the minister of public instruction to study the religions of the Far East, and the museum contains many of the fruits of this expedition, including a fine collection of Chinese and Japanese porcelain and many objects relating not merely to the religions of the East but also to those of ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. One of its wings, the Panthéon Bouddhique, displays religious artworks.

Some of the museum's artifacts were collected from Southeast Asia by French authorities during the colonial period.[3]

From December 2006 to April 2007, the museum harboured collections of the Kabul Museum, with archaeological pieces from the Greco-Bactrian city of Ai-Khanoum, and the Indo-Scythian treasure of Tillia Tepe.

Works of art of the museum

Greco-Buddhist art

• 
  Gandhara Buddha, 1st–2nd century CE
• 
  Hellenistic decorative scrolls from Hadda, northern Afghanistan
• 
  Standing Buddha, ancient region of Gandhara, northern Afghanistan, 1st century
• 
  Stone palette of a Nereid sea-goddess riding a Ketos sea-monster, Sirkap, 2nd century BCE
• 
  Wine-drinking and music, Hadda, 1st–2nd century CE
• 
  A Corinthian capitol with a Buddha at its center, 2nd century, Surk Kotal, Afghanistan
• 
  The Greek god Atlas, supporting a Buddhist monument, Hadda
• 
  The Bodhisattva Maitreya, 2nd century, Gandhara
• 
  Scene of the life of the Buddha. 2nd–3rd century. Gandhara
• 
  Portraits from the site of Hadda, 3rd century
• 
  Statuette excavated from the Dharmarajika Stupa site at Sirkap, Pakistan

Serindian art

• 
  "Heroic gesture of the Bodhisattva", 6th–7th century terracotta, Tumshuq (Xinjiang)
• 
  Head of a Bodhisattva, 6th–7th century terracotta, Tumshuq (Xinjiang)

Chinese art

• 
  Han Dynasty Horse (1st–2nd century)
• 
  Buddha triad, Eastern Wei (534–550), China
• 
  Tang dynasty Foreign Merchant
• 
  Northern Qi depiction of Sogdians
• 
  One of the Group of glazed pottery luohans from Yixian, c. 1000
• 
  A sitting celadon lion, dated 11th to 12th century, Song dynasty
• 
  A porcelain vase with design of men fighting on horseback, from the Jiajing reign period (1521–1567), Ming dynasty
• 
  A round sancai dish from the Tang dynasty, 8th to 9th century
• 
  Painting Bodhisattva Who Leads the Way from Mo-kao caves, 900–950 A.D.

Indian art

• 
  An aniconic representation of Mara's assault on the Buddha, 2nd century, Amaravati, Guntur, India
• 
  The Bodhisattva Maitreya, 2nd century, Mathura
• 
  A Buddha, 2nd century, Mathura
• 
  Buddha of the Gupta period, 5th century, Mathura
• 
  Head of a Buddha, Gupta period, 6th century
• 
  Rishabhanatha, sandstone, Madhya Pradesh, Chandela period, 10th–11th century
• 
  Buddha and Bodhisattvas, 11th century, Pala Empire
• 
  Vishnu, Madhya Pradesh, 11th–12th century
• 
  Shiva from Tamil Nadu, Chola period, 11th century
• 
  Rishabhanatha, 11th–12th century, Orissa

Southeast Asian art

• 
  Head of Buddha taken from Borobudur, c. 8th–9th century Central Java, Indonesia
• 
  Agastya, c. 8th–9th century Central Java, Indonesia
• 
  Hindu deity Brahma, Cambodia
• 
  Brahma 10th century, Cambodia
• 
  Shiva from Vijayapura, Vietnam
• 
  Vishnu on Garuda, Champa art, Vietnam
• 
  Ganesha, Siem Reap, Cambodia, c. 12th–13th century
• 
  Mons Wheel of the Law (Dharmacakra), art of Dvaravati, c. 8th century
• 
  A Cambodian Buddha, 14th century
• 
  Bodhisattva Lokesvara, Cambodia 12th century

See also

• List of museums in Paris

Notes

1. History of the Museum (in French).
2. National museum Arts asiatiques – Guimet, Marie-Catherine Rey et al. Paris: Éditions de la Réunion des Musées nationaux, 2001, translation by John Adamson, ISBN 2711838978, Chronology, p. 6.
3. Patrick Howlett-Martin, « Où ira le buste de Néfertiti ? », Le Monde diplomatique, no 700, juillet 2012, p. 27.

External links

• Musée Guimet