The very political return of the Guimet museum’s golden eagles to China
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WHO BENEFITS FROM THE PILLAGE (5/5)? – He had charmed Jacques Chirac and François Pinault: the treasure of Gansu spent 15 years in French collections, before being returned discreetly. Or almost.
It’s the kind of file you don’t like to find on your desk when you arrive. And yet, it will have to be managed well. Just appointed head of the National Museum of Asian Arts Guimet, Sophie Makariou went to Beijing in 2013. An art historian specializing in the Middle East, the former director of the Islamic arts department at the Louvre, wanted to settle there what she described as “difficult case”. Even of a “irritant” between France and China.
The folder ? A treasure ! A set consisting of 32 fabulous gold plaques. They would come from the Dabaozi mountains, from the tomb of a high dignitary of the Eastern Zhou dynasty, buried in the VIIIe century BC, not far from the highlands from Tibet. Possibly one of the Dukes of Qin, ancestors of the First Emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi. The Qin plates are only kept at the Musée Guimet for about fifteen years, having arrived there through Jacques Chirac. They delight the public but embarrass…
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