Stoneware on the Silk Roads

The Timothy S. Y. Lam Museum of Anthropology (formerly Wake Forest University's Anthropology Museum) is a departmental museum with student-created rotating exhibits. As did many museums during the pandemic, the Lam Museum of Anthropology worked hard to create online content to stay engaged with their visitors. Currently, they host 13 online exhibits (https://lammuseum.wfu.edu/exhibits/virtual/). Stoneware on the Silk Roads: Ceramics from the Changsha Kilns (https://lammuseum.wfu.edu/exhibits/virtual/stoneware-on-the-silk-roads-ceramics-from-the-changsha-kilns/, accessed March 4, 2021) is an interesting exhibit to highlight from their collection of digital exhibitions for several reasons. The physical exhibit ended March 16, 2020, the same day the museum closed due to the pandemic (https://lammuseum.wfu.edu/2020/03/covid-19-update/, accessed February 5, 2022). The recently donated ceramic collection should be a note of pride for the museum as they have the largest collection of Changsha Ware outside of Asia (more than 625 pieces). Changsha Ware, a type of stoneware, is a classic example of three-color sancai ware. The exhibit created an opportunity for engagement with a wider community and enhanced global partnerships. These partnerships included creating connections between the museum, the 2SR Library Special Collections & Archives, Charlotte and Philips Hanes Art Gallery, and the Changsha Museum in Hunan, China. Both the physical and the online iterations of Stoneware on the Silk Roads are split into five sections: Archaeology, Changsha Ware, Tongguan kilns, Belitung Shipwreck, and the Palace of Nishapur. Through these sections, the exhibit takes a historical approach to the study of Changsha Ware. The exhibit plots the history of Changsha Ware from the discovery of the first sherds in 1935 at the Palace of Nishapur by archaeologists to the 1956 archaeological discovery of the ninth-century Tonggnan kilns located in modern-day Hunan Province, where the pottery was mass-produced. Finally, the exhibit turns to the ninth-century Arab Beltung Shipwreck discovered by fisherman in 1998. This shipwreck aided in establishing that Changsha Ware was shipped to ports in the Persian Gulf (Flecker 2010), suggesting its importance as an exotic commodity item tailored to the influences of Islamic Persian porcelain (Renke et al. 2015). The online version of the exhibit relies upon photography of the physical exhibit, which allows visitors the opportunity to experience the in-person displays. The use of diorama presentation is admirable given the university museum's likely small budget. This presentation of the objects in their place of creation, use, and ultimate discovery visualizes the life-history of these objects to the visitors. However, labels for both versions of this exhibit were lacking vital information. The simplistic labels focused on form name (i.e., bowl, figurine, box, pot) could have been improved to give interested viewers more detailed background about the pieces. For example, including provenience, possible dates the piece was created, or explanation of significance of color, patterns, or figures would have helped situate the works. The lack of labels for the objects included in the Belitung Shipwreck diorama is akin to a presentation of objects in a cabinet of curiosity, lacking context. Although there is no single perfect reference for creating labels, general guidelines do exist to guide in their creation (Serrell 2015:118). The fact that such guidelines were not utilized for this exhibit was possibly due to minimal professional direction of exhibit planning and execution, as Silk Roads was likely an exhibition created to train students. Although exhibitions such as this are incredibly useful, in this case the presentation of the objects could be detrimental to the care and stewardship of the collection normally expected at a university museum. It was difficult to see vessels resting on sand in the shipwreck diorama because direct contact causes unnecessary abrasion to the glazes and surface of the ceramics, thereby resulting in irreparable damage. Although the underlying mylar is visible in some of the displays for some of the ceramics, it was not used at all for every artifact. This is a definite concern for any collections manager. Still, the selection of pieces in the exhibition is a positive attribute. The variety of forms, applique elements, and under-glaze painting techniques are spectacular. Items chosen are aesthetically pleasing to viewers who may not have an archaeological appreciation for ceramics. The Tonggnan kiln diorama does an excellent job of demonstrating the standardization and the occasional experimentation of form for which the ware is known. Sadly, the online exhibit did not take advantage of the online format to give artifacts additional space for appreciation; rather, photos from when the objects were on display were used. In most cases, no detail or captions were provided. The presentation of these objects could have benefited from photographs following the in-person exhibition. The web format allows visitors to dive deeper from the comfort of their homes, but in the case of Silk Roads, a deeper dive into their online catalog only produces only two Changsha ceramics with detailed information. In an ideal online exhibit, linkage to the museum's online catalog records would enable a visitor to explore information further. The students’ experience could be improved with increased funding and more direction by professional museum staff on exhibition design and artifact care. If the museum were to adopt a standard format for labels, more information would be conveyed to visitors and students would have more guidance in terms of future expectations of other museums. Many museums that faced closures early in the pandemic shifted from in-person to digital in a very short time—much like the Lam Museum of Anthropology. This shift allowed museums to stay relevant, remain seen, and stay a part of people's lives in an otherwise tumultuous time. This exhibit, and most small museums, should be praised for utilizing their archives of past exhibits in the context of a global pandemic. Online exhibits enable us to innovate and expand upon the original presentation with additional information about objects, history, supplemental readings, and links to other institutions that provide information of the exhibition topic (Kim 2018). As we begin to embrace the “new normal,” we should all consider the online versions of an exhibit as more than simply an archive of a physical exhibit

Archaeology · Art · Exhibition · Kiln · Visual arts · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · Geographies of human-animal interactions · History · Museums and Cultural Heritage

• Exhibit Labels

  Molly Phipps•Visitor Studies•2018

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• Comparative Historical Study of Changsha kiln Ware

  Renke He, Mohsen Jaafarnia et al.•التصميم الدولية•2015

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• Virtual exhibitions and communication factors

  Soyeon Kim•Museum Management and Curatorship•2018

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• A ninth-century AD Arab or Indian shipwreck in Indonesia

  Michael Flecker•World Archaeology•2001

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