Ongoing
Researching and documenting the provenance—ownership history or life story—of an object can be a tedious, time-consuming pursuit. This type of research compels the researcher to constantly oscillate between the general and specific, simultaneously exploring the broad historical contexts surrounding an object’s movement as well as the specific mechanisms, circumstances, and individuals that influenced that object’s trajectory. It also requires expert knowledge in a diverse number of areas, including economic and artistic histories, specialized archival repositories and research centers, cultural and religious practices, conservation science, and frameworks governing international and local protocols. Indeed, one person cannot master all this knowledge. The successful understanding of an object’s history depends on an international network of researchers and specialists that collaborates, freely exchanges information, and engages in creative problem solving.
Unpacking Provenance: Retracing the Histories of Asian Art illuminates how a diverse group of experts can work together to systematically research the provenance of Asian artworks. During each one-hour webinar, a panel of specialists from different fields will unpack the obvious and possible provenance history of a single object, identify open research paths, and discuss different research approaches. Each program explores the research process rather than the research outcomes. Unpacking Provenance not only works to promote the exchange of knowledge and resources; it also seeks to demonstrate how to think innovatively, strategically, and collaboratively when pursuing challenging lines of inquiry.
This series is part of a larger collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (SPK) that seeks to cultivate the global network of provenance researchers and promote the exchange of information. Since 2020, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art and SPK’s Museum für Asiatische Kunst and Zentralarchiv have worked jointly to foster the work of the global community of Asian art provenance researchers by hosting both a dynamic series of webinars, Hidden Networks: The Trade of Asian Art (2020–2022), and an international convening, Provenance of Asian Art: A Collaborative Workshop and Symposium (2023). The institutions are now launching another series of programming. While the Hidden Networks series focuses on the networks of actors circulating Asian objects, Unpacking Provenance will foreground the questions elicited by single objects.
Questions and comments about the series may be directed to Joanna Gohmann and Christine Howald at AsiaProvenance@si.edu
Generous support for the museum’s provenance research and object histories program is provided by the David Berg Foundation and the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.
