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Musée national des Arts asiatiques-Guimet, Paris


The Maritime Trade Routes Gallery

Musée national des Arts asiatiques-Guimet, Paris

In the context of the renovation of the Musée national des Arts asiatiques Guimet and its re-opening in 2001, Franck Goddio donated a collection of around 200 artifacts related to the inter-Asia trade coming from the underwater excavations he conducted on junk wrecks and European galleons off the Philippines’ shores. This donation enabled curator Jean-Paul Desroches to create within the China department a new gallery retracing nearly seven centuries of trade between China, the Middle East and Europe. Around the year 1000, the silk road lost its appeal and a significant part of it took to the sea, especially ceramics. The artefacts displayed document the cargo from three junks, two Spanish galleons and one English ship.

 Musée national des Arts asiatiques Guimet