Treasures of Japanese Emperors exhibition. Exhibition in the Kremlin “Treasures of Imperial Japan of the 19th-20th centuries”

30.06.2019

On July 5, 2017, the exhibition “Beyond Imagination. hidden treasures imperial japan XIX - early XX centuries from the collection of Professor Khalili." For the first time in Russia, part of a unique collection will be shown, the basis of which was laid in the 1970s by the world-famous British scientist, collector and philanthropist Nasser David Khalili.

Vase

Japan, around 1910
Presumably made in the workshop of Ando Jubei.
Enameling using the cloisonné technique

The Assumption Belfry and the exhibition hall of the Patriarchal Palace will display enamel products, a significant part of which were created by craftsmen who were official suppliers to the court of the Japanese emperors, as well as numerous varieties of world-famous Japanese kimonos, magnificent examples of Japanese silk embroidery, artistic metal and porcelain.

The formation of Professor Khalili's collection initially had a clear goal - acquisition throughout the world in the name of preservation for posterity and comprehensive study of the best examples of Japanese decorative and applied art from the reign of Emperor Mutsuhito (1868-1912), who took the name Meiji, which means "enlightened rule" . It was this period that was marked by Japan’s refusal of self-isolation and its emergence as a world power.

During the existence of Professor Khalili’s collection, which gained fame as the best in the world, its exhibits were exhibited in the UK, France, USA, Germany, Japan, Spain, Holland, Australia, and the United Arab Emirates. All the items that will be shown at the exhibition in the Moscow Kremlin Museums have recently become part of the collection and are being shown for the first time.

Visitors to the exhibition will be able to see about 90 exhibits, a significant part of which will be works that clearly demonstrate traditional Japanese styles and techniques of working with metal, which were used to create new types of products. Their design was aimed not only at the domestic but also at the foreign market. No less significant are the works of Japanese enamellers, who are among the best in the world and are widely represented in the Khalili collection. During the Meiji era, the art of enamellers flourished, enriched with new technologies while maintaining traditional High Quality and unrivaled attention to detail. Among the exhibits of the exhibition are decorative compositions and interior items, including a variety of vases, incense burners, screens, trays and boxes. Most of these things were created for members imperial family or carried out by order of large trading companies. From this perspective this topic, which is one of the priorities for Professor Khalili, has never been presented at exhibitions in Russia before.

Also on display will be never-before-seen kimonos from the Edo and Meiji periods, including ceremonial ones. Designed for women and men, young girls, children and even babies, these kimonos were made from exclusive silk self made Japanese production and highly valued imported fabrics. They are decorated with patterns characteristic only of Japanese traditional art, made using the techniques of batik, stencil painting, hand painting, as well as embroidery with silk and metal threads.

Exhibition Hall of the Patriarchal Palace, Exhibition Hall of the Assumption Belfry of the Moscow Kremlin

05.07.2017 – 01.10.2017

Kimono for a young woman

Japan, 1910-1926
Silk crepe, silk and metal threads; weaving, hand dyeing, embroidery

Paired vases

Japan, circa 1905-1910
Made in the workshop of Hayashi Kodenji.
Silver; enamelling using the cloisonné technique with silver wire partitions

Japan, 1850-1880
Silk satin, silk and metal threads; weaving, embroidery

Outer kimono for a young woman

Japan, 1850-1880
Silk crepe, silk and metal threads; weaving, hand dyeing, stencil painting, embroidery

Goose figure

Japan, circa 1880-1885 Presumably made in the workshop of Namikawa Sosuke.
Enameling using the cloisonné technique with partitions made of silver wire; the beak is made of shakudo alloy, the paws are made of gilded bronze

On July 05, 2017, an exhibition of masterpieces by Japanese court masters of the second half of the 19th century– beginning of the 20th century “Beyond imagination. Treasures of Imperial Japan of the 19th – early 20th centuries.” It is a display of unique items from two collections of Professor Nasser David Halili, which make up the world's second largest collection of Japanese art from the Meiji Dynasty, and will run until October 1, 2017.

Nasser D. Khalili (b. 1945) – professor at the University of London, expert on Arabic art and collector works of art, one of the ten largest billionaire art collectors. Born into a Jewish family in Iran, where he received skills in the art market, secondary education and passed military service. He then studied and worked in the USA and Great Britain. Professor Khalili has citizenship and nationality of these countries. The Khalili Family Trust owns over 35,000 pieces of art the highest level, including masterpieces from the collection “Japanese Art of the Meiji Period” and “Japanese Kimono” exhibited at the Moscow Kremlin Museums. There are eight collections in total.

Professor Khalili, who believes that the power of art will bring peoples closer to mutual understanding and, ultimately, to common citizenship, shows his collections from time to time, but only in best museums peace. Among the selected ones are the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, State Hermitage Museum and Moscow Kremlin Museums. The last exhibition at the Kremlin Museums took place in 2007, however, at that time metal objects from the collection and enamel were available to the public.

In its current form, Professor Khalili’s collection is being shown for the first time. These are about 90 items created for the ruling Meiji dynasty (1868-1912), which proclaimed the “enlightened rule”, its diplomatic gifts, as well as commissioned items for European aristocrats and trading houses.

During the era of change of formation in Japan from medieval (samurai) to capitalist, one of the samurai who remained out of work created a delightful example of enamel, combining European technology and Japanese style. This gave impetus to the development of Japanese enamel, which soon gained worldwide recognition and until the end of the house’s reign retained its importance in world culture, after which it was almost forgotten.

In Professor Khalili's collection we see vases made of copper and alloys, edged with silver and in some cases bearing the mark of the imperial house. Two vases (from the exhibits) were presented to the Russian Lieutenant General Dmitry Leonidovich Horvat (1858-1937), manager of important sections of the CER, a participant White Movement and the head of the Russian emigration in the Far East.

In addition to vases, at the exhibition you can see amazing sculptural groups based on the motifs of revived Shinto beliefs, a decorative lotus tray with a bird looking for bugs, room partitions, boxes, weapons, silk-screened canvases and paintings made with multi-layer enamel. All of the finest author's work, which could take years and even whole lives.

Kimono from the Meiji period and the Edo samurai period preceding it (1602-1867) represents an entire encyclopedia of traditional Japanese clothing. Each item in the Khalili collection is handmade from silk using different techniques. There are kimonos for babies, girls and boys, men and women - and even a kimono for two. The decoration of the kimono - embroidery (at the exhibition you can see a voluminous old catalog with samples of kimono patterns) - are examples of high artistic skill. By the way, the Japanese used labor-intensive and expensive methods to dye fabrics - for example, as the director of the Moscow Kremlin Museums E.Yu. told us. Gagarin, one of these paints could be obtained from many kilograms of rose petals.

The overwhelming number of exhibits of Japanese art presented in the Moscow Kremlin Museums cannot be repeated, as Professor Khalili told us. Therefore, the exhibits of the exhibition “Beyond Imagination. Treasures of Imperial Japan of the 19th – early 20th centuries” are unique in the truest sense of the word. “How do you find things for your collection?” we asked him. “I don’t look for them, these things find me,” Prof. answered us. Khalili.

Exhibition “Beyond Imagination. Treasures of Imperial Japan of the 19th – early 20th centuries from the collection of Professor Khalili” will open on July 5, 2017 at the Moscow Kremlin Museums.

For the first time in exhibition halls The Assumption Belfry and the Patriarchal Palace display works of decorative and applied art from Japan in the 19th and early 20th centuries from the private collection of the world-famous British scientist, collector and philanthropist of Iranian origin, Professor Nasser David Khalili. The exhibition presents in all its splendor numerous varieties of world-famous Japanese kimonos, unsurpassed examples of Japanese silk embroidery, artistic metal, and enamel products, a significant part of which was created by craftsmen who were official suppliers to the court of the Japanese emperors.

At the exhibition, connoisseurs and lovers of Japanese art will be able to view about 90 exhibits, a third of which will consist of kimonos from the Edo and Meiji periods, including ceremonial ones, that have never been shown to the general public before. Designed for women and men, young girls, children and even babies, these luxurious kimonos are made from exclusive hand-woven Japanese silk and highly prized imported fabrics. They are decorated with inimitable patterns, characteristic only of Japanese traditional art, made using the techniques of batik, stencil painting, hand painting, as well as embroidery with silk and metal threads.

The unique combination of tradition and innovation characteristic of the Meiji era is especially evident in the work of outstanding Japanese enamellers and metal artists, whose works are also presented at the exhibition. Products of this kind and level, starting from 1873, were presented by Japan both at national industrial exhibitions in Tokyo and at international exhibitions in Austria, USA, France, Germany, Great Britain and Belgium, were used as diplomatic gifts. For this purpose, items of the highest level were selected, since the state attached great importance development of cultural and economic ties.

All works, without exception, selected for display at the exhibition in the Moscow Kremlin Museums are distinguished by the highest level of execution, not achieved in other periods, as well as the impeccable, refined taste of their customers and creators.

The formation of Professor Khalili’s collection initially had a clear goal - to acquire throughout the world, in the name of preserving for posterity and comprehensive study, the best examples of Japanese decorative and applied art from the reign of Emperor Mutsuhito (1868-1912), who took the name Meiji, which means “enlightened rule.” It was this period that was marked by Japan’s refusal of self-isolation and its emergence as a world power.

During the existence of Professor Khalili’s collection, which gained fame as the best in the world, its exhibits were exhibited in the UK, France, USA, Germany, Japan, Spain, Holland, Australia, and the United Arab Emirates. Most of the items that visitors to the Moscow Kremlin Museums will see at the exhibition have recently become part of the collection and are being shown for the first time.

Professor Nasser D. Khalili, Ph.D., is a world-renowned scholar, collector, and philanthropist, often referred to by leaders of Muslim countries as the “cultural ambassador of Islam.” In 2012, Khalili was awarded recognition - the title of Goodwill Ambassador, awarded by Irina Bokova, general director UNESCO. In 2014 he received the “Dialogue of Cultures” award from the French National Assembly. At the beginning of 2016, he was awarded the title of High Officer of the French Legion of Honor, presented by French President François Hollande at the Elysee Palace.

Sabadash Vladimir from the Assumption Belfry and the Patriarchal Palace.

Photo – Svetlana Yakovleva.

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From May 15 to September 30

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IN Museums of the Moscow Kremlin exhibition opened “Beyond imagination. Treasures of Imperial Japan of the 19th - early 20th centuries from the collection of Professor Khalili". As he himself states Nasser David Khalili, only about five percent of the items in the collection of its “Japanese” section are presented at the exhibition.

Khalili, an Anglo-American of Iranian origin, one of the ten largest collectors in the world, says that he began collecting at the age of thirteen, when, while still living in Iran, he and his antiquarian father visited a major collector, the ex-Minister of Culture. While the adults were talking, he looked at an old carved pencil case and, when asked by the owner what he was doing, he replied: “Eight hundred different faces are carved here, as well as five hundred horses, the movements of each are unique.” The touched collector gave the pencil case to the boy, and Khalili still keeps it.

In 1967, Khalili moved to New York to study, then began working part-time as a dealer in antiques with a focus on Islamic art, and then became interested in other areas represented today in his eight collections. “Basically, I bought twenty items for $5,000, kept the best three for myself, and sold the rest for $40,000.” But he earned most of his capital later on real estate transactions, which allowed him to expand his collections and quickly acquire masterpieces that were still on the market in the 1980s.

Today the collection contains more than 25,000 works, covering 1,400 years of world history. It has eight sections, each of which is still being replenished, after almost half a century of collecting: the art of the Islamic world, japanese art Meiji period japanese kimono, Swedish textiles, Spanish metals, world enamels, Hajj and the art of wandering, Aramaic manuscripts. The collections are managed by the Khalili Family Trust and travel constantly around the world. The professor has already organized two exhibitions in Russia - in 2009 in the Hermitage and in 2014 here in the Kremlin.

Before the opening of the third Russian exhibition Nasser David Khalili told ARTANDHOUSES about the five main principles of collecting, attitude towards contemporary art and your meeting.

How did you assemble your huge collections? Painfully fishing for the most interesting things on the market or buying ready-made collections?

When I began collecting consciously in 1970, I bought several items from one dealer in a variety of art disciplines. You always need to stick to one, but very knowledgeable, ready to run around all the antique flea markets and shops for you - this is my rule. Later, when funds and reputation appeared, I began to buy other entire collections. If, for example, we take the kimonos that I brought to Moscow, they were looking for them for me “in bulk”; I bought entire collections at once.

My advantage is speed. I do not have a selection committee and other bureaucratic barriers, as in major museums. If they offer me something worthwhile, then I can make a decision in a few seconds and pay within a week.

Do you now continue to buy and personally select things?

Yes! Almost every item in my collection was chosen by me personally, both fifty years ago and now. Then, of course, I ask researchers to study it in detail. I have a photographic memory, so I remember and know every item in the collection.

The collecting process cannot be stopped. Of course, I still buy things, but it’s becoming more and more difficult to find real masterpieces.

Do you have any competitors in collecting Islamic art?

Many museums collect Islamic art, but their galleries tend to have a narrow specialization. My collection is different in that it covers all periods islamic art and has more than 25,000 units.

How has the antiques market changed during your fifty years of collecting? Has it become more transparent?

Changed, yes. Today's collectors look at works of art differently: most acquire things for the purpose of capitalization, and not because of the love of art. Unfortunately, for most it becomes a business rather than a passion.

A couple of decades ago, at a reception for a thousand people, I could not find a single collector. Nowadays, when I attend a dinner or a function, almost everyone calls themselves a collector. How can this be? They show on the screens mobile phones the pieces of art they bought show off to each other. Today it's just a financial game!

Antiques have already stood the test of time, we know what we are buying, and in our case everything is transparent. But the contemporary art market today is perhaps the most unpredictable. Collectors buy today at one price, and tomorrow they are told that “the bubble has burst” and your works are worth almost nothing.

How would you characterize a “real” collector?

There are five criteria: you collect, you preserve, you research, you publish research and you exhibit. If you do not share your treasures with others, then you are not a collector, because it is selfish and it is a crime to imprison a piece of art in your home prison.

I heard that not a single work from the collection is in your home. What do you decorate the walls with?

It's true - not a single item from the collection is in our homes: there are no appropriate temperature conditions and light there. In general, I believe that the collection does not belong to me.

At home we hang photographs of the most different authors: for example, there is a famous photograph of Marilyn Monroe. My sons love Tibetan and Chinese sculpture by some modern authors. And if something happens to these things in the house, I believe humanity will not lose anything (laughs).

You told me about your dislike for modern art in an interview three years ago... What would you tell your son if he bought, for example, a painting by David Hockney?

Well, I'll congratulate him if that's really what he wants. Collecting is like food: if you like something, someone else may not necessarily like it. And by the way, I like Hockney (laughs).

Three years ago you announced a large exhibition of enamel at the Museum of Decorative and Applied Arts in Moscow, but it never took place. Why?

There simply wasn’t a room large enough; the museum wasn’t ready.