A journey through history and across waters
Exhibition of porcelain relics sheds light on colonial South America's trade and cultural links with imperial China
In a small but influential museum in the north of Argentina, a porcelain exhibit takes visitors back five centuries and around the world, bringing to life Chinese culture and its nuanced and multifaceted influence on South America.
The History Museum of the North in the city of Salta opened Millennial Porcelain: A Journey from China to Salta, an exhibition that puts the spotlight on Chinese porcelain that made its way from imperial workshops in the Middle Kingdom all the way to Spain's colonial settlements in South America. Visitors can explore the cultural phenomenon of porcelain collecting, and its historical significance along the ancient Silk Road, and also all the way to colonial South America.
At its most basic, the exhibition highlights the reality that "there were commercial and cultural ties between the Americas and China (going back many centuries)," says Maria Virginia Gunther, a researcher at the museum who headed up research for the exhibit. "We want to highlight the early connections between the Americas and China, showing how porcelain serves as tangible evidence of these exchanges.
