Around 400 artefacts from Italian and Chinese museums on display, open until 31 October
The exhibition The Bearers of Bronze – Metalworks across Eurasia, which compares the traditions of bronze working in the great civilizations of the Mediterranean and ancient China, was inaugurated on 8 July at the Henan Museum in Zhengzhou, central China.
The exhibition, open until October 31st before continuing in other Chinese locations, brings together approximately 400 finds from three Italian museums – the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia, the Royal Museums of Turin and the Egyptian Museum of Turin – and from nine Chinese museum institutions.
The exhibition itinerary traces the evolution of bronze metallurgy from ancient Egypt to Etruria, from Greece to Rome, up to China, highlighting the role of this metal alloy in technological development, commercial exchanges and relations between distant civilisations. Bronze was used for tools, weapons and everyday objects, but also as a material for the religious and ritual sphere.
In ancient China, in particular, bronze artefacts were symbols of prestige and instruments of legitimation of political and religious power.
The exhibition is organized by the Arteficio company and is hosted in the Henan Museum in Zhengzhou, one of the main museum centers in China, known for its collections of bronzes, jades and terracottas. Located in the province of Henan, considered the cradle of Chinese civilization and populated by almost 100 million inhabitants, the museum can welcome up to 15,000 visitors a day during the busiest periods, by reservation only.
