National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA)

When you mention the ancient Silk Road to most people, they usually think of the Eurasian trade routes spreading from Chang'an, today's Xi'an and the capital of Shaanxi province, toward Central Asia out through the deserts of Northwest China.

Dunhuang, Gansu province, served as a pivotal crossroads on this network of routes for over a millennium. It's also an ideal place to gain an insight into the prosperity that those trade routes brought when you visit the nearby Mogao Grottoes. This complex of hundreds of caves features a host of exquisite statues and murals in a mix of artistic styles from a diverse range of civilizations.

A major new exhibition of cultural relics held in Dunhuang will remind visitors that the Silk Road extended to a much wider area than first believed, covering the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and all the way up to the Himalayas.

This is the story being told through the 120 or so artifacts on loan from 30 institutions and collectors worldwide at Cultural Exchange Along the Silk Road: Masterpieces of the Tubo Period (7th-9th Century), a show currently being held at the Dunhuang Caves exhibition hall at the foot of the Mogao Grottoes.

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According to David Pritzker, co-curator of the exhibition, the event aims to display only the highest quality objects, both in terms of aesthetics and historical importance, to reflect the cultural interactions between the Tubo regime and its neighboring regions.

"To start with beauty is the best way to draw the general public into history," the curator says.

The exhibition hall is a glittering world. A burial mask with engraved animals, a figurine of a rider on horseback, a brooch inset with turquoise, amethyst and aquamarine - all made of gold - all demonstrate, not just the prosperity of that ancient era on the plateau, but its different facets.

Gilded silver ornamental artifacts provide one of the highlights of the exhibition. Six pieces depicting celestial deities playing Chinese lutes remind visitors of the popularity of music at that time, while an arched plaque also tells people of the Tubo people's admiration for the phoenix.

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A gilded silver wine rhyton in the form of an antelope's head demonstrates the aesthetics of the Sasanian Empire (224-651), located in today's Iran. A gilded bronze standing Buddha bearing strong Greek influences is believed to have originated in what is currently Kashmir.

Six ewers from the period reflect the common influences shared across the different cultures along the Silk Road, and one of them, a 50-centimeter-tall gold ewer, represents a tasteful blend of their styles. It is believed to have been made by the Sogdian people for a customer looking for a piece that combined Tang, Sasanian and Central Asian influences.

"When you put them side by side, you can see their shared cultural influences, since they employ similar shapes and images," Pritzker says. "Patterns similar to the ones found on the ewers can be seen in some of the silk pieces on display. Some similar images can also be found in Cave 158.

"They are closely related, but this is the first time that they can be seen together," he adds.

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"When we started, the (ancient) Greek and Roman cultures and Renaissance were really well understood in the West, and there was no new ground to be broken," Thomas Pritzker, 69, tells China Daily.

"But here we discovered a lot of new ground to cover," he says. "Tubo studies were in their infancy then, and we could do things that are really exciting."

Thomas Pritzker began to work with the National Cultural Heritage Administration and Sichuan University in 1996 and he later published a series of relevant academic papers following research in the west of Tibet. His son David also nurtured his passion for archaeology during that time.

"One step follows the other, and we've kept going," he smiles. "We're still 'amateurs', but it's good to see David turn into a real professional."

In 2017, when he was asked by the National Cultural Heritage Administration if he would consider exhibiting his family collection in China, he agreed.

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His sentiment was echoed by Wang Xudong, the then director of the Dunhuang Academy, who spent over a year contacting institutions abroad and around China to contribute to the exhibition.

The Pritzker Art Collaborative brought 35 artifacts to the exhibition in Dunhuang. It is joined by key Chinese institutions, such as the National Museum of China, the Palace Museum and the Shaanxi History Museum in Xi'an, as well as several other major overseas collections, including the Al Thani Collection owned by the Qatari ruling family, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and Hirayama Ikuo Silk Road Museum in Japan.

Article 34 The results of archaeological investigation, prospecting and excavation shall be reported to the administrative department for cultural relics under the State Council and to the administrative department for cultural relics under the people's government of the relevant province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government.

Excavated archaeological relics shall be registered, preserved properly and, in accordance with the relevant regulations of the State, turned over for collection to the administrative department for cultural relics under the people's government of the relevant province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government or to the State-owned museums, libraries or other State-owned institutions for the collection of cultural relics designated by the administrative department for cultural relics under the State Council. Upon approval by the administrative department for cultural relics under the people's government of the relevant province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government, or under the State Council, institutions engaged in archaeological excavation may retain a small amount of unearthed cultural relics as samples for scientific research.

No units or individuals may take excavated archaeological relics into their own possession.

Article 36 Museums, libraries and other institutions for the collection of cultural relics shall classify the cultural relics in their collection into different grades, compile files for the relics kept by them, establish a strict system of control, and submit them to the competent administrative department for cultural relics for the record.

The administrative department for cultural relics under the people's governments at or above the county level shall compile files for the cultural relics in the collection of cultural institutions in their own administrative areas; and the administrative department for cultural relics under the State Council shall compile files for grade-one cultural relics of the State and for the cultural relics in the collection of State-owned cultural institutions under its charge.