04:33Germany: Project to identify looted art from China underway in Berlin museums
German researchers have begun a project hunting for plundered art from China’s Imperial Palace during the so-called ‘Boxer Rebellion.’
The Central Archives of the State Museums of Berlin began to identify some of the thousands of objects that were looted between 1899 and 1901, in November last year. The research is due to run until 2023 is still in its preliminary phase and until now no objects have been uncovered.
"As a group, we want to examine our Chinese collection holdings for potential loot from the context of the suppression of the so-called Boxer War," Project manager Christine Howald explained in the Berlin Humbolt Forum, which is part of the investigation of the new project, on Thursday.
"This is a portrait that was one of a series of officer portraits that were painted in the Beijing Winter Palace, an imperial palace used by German troops as a base in Beijing. the portraits hung there until the German troops came and then they just didn't hang anymore," she added, referring to the Portrait of the Mongol prince Corgiyamz'an.
The research concerns seven museums in total, including Hamburg, Leizpig, Frankfurt and partners with the cooperation of the Museum of Shanghai.
The ‘Boxer Rebellion’ began in 1899 as an anti-Christian, anti-colonial uprising in China that spread to Beijing. An eight-nation alliance responded by sending troops into China. Germany was amongst the allies, and took part in robbing and pillaging China, including Beijing, before defeating the insurgents.
04:33German researchers have begun a project hunting for plundered art from China’s Imperial Palace during the so-called ‘Boxer Rebellion.’
The Central Archives of the State Museums of Berlin began to identify some of the thousands of objects that were looted between 1899 and 1901, in November last year. The research is due to run until 2023 is still in its preliminary phase and until now no objects have been uncovered.
"As a group, we want to examine our Chinese collection holdings for potential loot from the context of the suppression of the so-called Boxer War," Project manager Christine Howald explained in the Berlin Humbolt Forum, which is part of the investigation of the new project, on Thursday.
"This is a portrait that was one of a series of officer portraits that were painted in the Beijing Winter Palace, an imperial palace used by German troops as a base in Beijing. the portraits hung there until the German troops came and then they just didn't hang anymore," she added, referring to the Portrait of the Mongol prince Corgiyamz'an.
The research concerns seven museums in total, including Hamburg, Leizpig, Frankfurt and partners with the cooperation of the Museum of Shanghai.
The ‘Boxer Rebellion’ began in 1899 as an anti-Christian, anti-colonial uprising in China that spread to Beijing. An eight-nation alliance responded by sending troops into China. Germany was amongst the allies, and took part in robbing and pillaging China, including Beijing, before defeating the insurgents.