The Oriental Art Museum of Venice is located inside Ca' Pesaro in the
Santa Croce district, near Campo San Stae.
Since December 2014,
the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities has managed it through
the Veneto Museum Complex, which in December 2019 became the Regional
Directorate of Museums.
The Museum of Oriental Art in Venice is one of the largest
collections of Japanese art of the Edo period (1603-1868) in Europe.
It has been located since 1928 on the third floor of Ca' Pesaro
thanks to an agreement between the State, owner of the collection, and
the Municipality of Venice, owner of the building.
The collection
is due to Prince Enrico of Bourbon, Count of Bardi. From 1887 to 1889,
during a long round-the-world trip made with his wife, Adelgonde of
Braganza, and a small following, he visited Indonesia, South-East Asia,
China and spent about nine months in Japan, buying over thirty thousand
works.
Upon his return to Venice, the Prince arranged the
collection on the second floor of Palazzo Vendramin Calergi, which he
occupied above all in the winter months.
Upon his death in 1905,
the collection passed into the hands of the Viennese firm Trau, which
began its sale until the outbreak of the First World War, which led to
the seizure of the assets of the Austrian firm.
At the end of the
conflict, the patrimony was recognized to the Italian Government, in
reparation for war damages. In 1925 the State and the Municipality
stipulated an agreement to place the collection at Ca' Pesaro.
Eugenio (Nino) Barbantini had the difficult task of setting up the new
museum of oriental art in a historic Venetian residence with stuccos and
frescoes. In three years Barbantini provided for the transfer of the
collection from Palazzo Vendramin Calergi, the adaptation of the
headquarters and the preparation of the museum, of which he was Director
until 1950. On May 3, 1928 the museum was inaugurated: an exhibition of
Japanese art of the period Edo (1603-1868), with a Chinese and an
Indonesian section.
In 2017 work began on moving the museum to
the former church of San Gregorio.
The layout by Nino Barbantini is still recognizable despite the fact
that the exhibition has been remodeled during various maintenance
interventions, to obtain new storage and work spaces.
In the
rooms dedicated to Japan you can admire parade weapons and armor that
belonged to the feudal lords and samurai of the Edo period, saddles and
stirrups in parade lacquer, a rare sedan chair for ladies, paintings on
paper and silk, dresses with precious embroidery. Two rooms are
dedicated to lacquer objects from the wedding outfits of the daughters
of rich merchants and feudal lords, made with the makie technique, the
golden lacquer using gold powder and foil. Musical instruments are
excellent pieces of art used for the performance of the main genres of
traditional Japanese music.
The pieces mainly belong to the Edo
period (from the name of the capital, Edo, today's Tokyo) or Tokugawa,
from the name of the shogunal house that ruled the fate of the country
for over two hundred and fifty years guaranteeing the archipelago a
period of relative peace characterized by almost complete isolation, but
there are also older works, such as a pair of wooden statues from the
Kamakura period (1185-1392) or blades from the Muromachi period
(1392-1568).
The Chinese section exhibits jade and porcelain of
various manufactures. In the room dedicated to Indonesia there are rare
kriss, batik fabrics and leather figures from the wayang, the Indonesian
shadow theatre.
For conservation reasons, some more delicate
objects, such as clothing, are subject to rotational display.
Accessibility: 90% of the exhibition space for the physically
handicapped
Cafeteria, bookshop, cloakroom
Upon request,
itineraries and tactile games for the blind and visually impaired
Multimedia guide accessible in English and Italian sign language
(QRcode)
Hall cards in Italian, English and French
Video
on the history of the collection The Bardi collection from private
collection to state museum (13') and on the Japanese lacquer Makie, the
golden lacquer. Technique and restoration (9') in Italian and English
Tea ceremony video
Java shadow theater video (wayang kulit)
Physical characteristics of the site
It includes ten exhibition
areas with an area of 628 m2. The total area, including the deposits, is
1380 m2, 90% of the exhibition space is accessible to the physically
handicapped.