Asia: the Land, the Men, the Gods | Part Two

But the woodblocks were also made to portrait the heroes and their deeds, and the wars that involved the Japanese empire in the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. [Fausto Godoy]

The Chinese invented porcelain.
Its prototype first appeared in the Shang Dynasty (1600–1046 bc) as a very hard paste (stoneware). The process evolved until, during the Song dynasty (960–1279 ad) in Zhingdezhen, northeast region of the Empire, they created furnaces that could reach higher temperatures for firing the pieces, using a very thin clay found there—kaolin—which led to development of very strong and translucent pieces. [Fausto Godoy]

During the following dynasty, Yuan (1279–1368 ad), the white and blue decoration trend took place and peaked during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644 ad), when access to the raw materials became a privilege of the Empire. That is when great experiments both in colors (derived from mineral pigmentation) as in forms took place.

From this moment onwards, porcelain spread over the region and into the West, becoming one of the most sought products and one of the main Chinese exports. It became so popular around the globe that its name in English became just “china”. Imitated from then on, it inspired the Delft ceramics in Holland and the Meissen in Germany, among others.

The Qing dynasty (1644–1911 ad) is considered the high point in the history of Chinese porcelain. The court controlled the furnaces to the point that Emperor Kangxi (1662–1722 ad) established workshops inside the Imperial Palace.

Until the 3rd century bc, when a Chinese member of the high nobility died, his servants—army, pets, and his wives and concubines—were put to death and buried with him to entertain him in the afterlife. They believed that life continued after death, as it happened in this plane.
After the rulership of the Emperor Qin Shi Huandi (260–210 bc), the customs have changed, and people and pets were then replaced by their terracotta figurines. The renowned Xian warriors, placed in the tomb of Qin Shi Huandi, around Chang’an (Xian), preserved the life memory in the Middle Empire in that time.
[Fausto Godoy]

That is the case of some of the exhibition’s pieces. They show the importance of horses, especially the ones from the Fergana Valley— which goes from the Uzbek Far East throughout Central Asia—, and what camels used to represent for the circulation of people, merchandise, and consequently for the interchange among civilizations.

Something remarkable is the pair of camels transporting rugs, led by a foreign merchant, certainly an Arab, which is seen by his traces, curly hair, and thick beard. A register of the cultural miscegenation caused by the Silk Road.

The arts of Central Asia, the natural territory of the nomads that stretches from the Caspian Sea to China and from Afghanistan to Russia translate its mobility. Except for the Silk Road’s great commercial posts like Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva, in Uzbekistan, there are not many long-standing structures alongside the road that linked Asia to the West. Consequently, on the great spaces over which steppes are spread, much little remained of the steps of Genghis Khan’s hordes, its main hero—and myth—, and of his successors.


Several ethnicities compose the region’s population mesh: Uzbeks, Tajiks, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Turkmen, Uyghurs, among others. What definitely unites them is Islam, the religion to which most of them claim to belong. However, we find many Christians, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, and Jews there. [Fausto Godoy]

Portability is the main base for a transient life. The jewelry that adorned the bodies of women, men, and their mounts (and still do); the rugs and fabrics that cover the yurtas (tents); and the objects of domestic use and Islamic cult are the main witnesses of the richness and sophistication of a civilization that the West called “barbaric.”
Most pieces of the collection are constituted of Turkmen jewelry, one of the main ethnicities that inhabit the regions of Afghanistan, Iran, Northern Caucasus, and Northern Pakistan. These jewels have many purposes: in addition to adorning bodies, some have lucky charms in them. Others, when placed in front and behind someone, can prevent evil eye curses. Additionally, others are signets to seal signed contracts. [Fausto Godoy]