Asian Collections at Museo Orientale "Umberto Scerrato"

Chiara Visconti

Associate Professor of Archaeology and Art History of China and Japan, University of Naples L’Orientale

Roberta Giunta

Full Professor of Islamic Archaeology and Art History and Islamic Epigraphy, University of Naples L’Orientale

The Museo Orientale "Umberto Scerrato" was opened in 2012. Intended, first and foremost, to collect the cultural and material legacy of the archaeologist Umberto Scerrato, the Museum has been enriched over time by various donations and has become, with the African Society of Italy Collection, part of the University Museum System. Today, the Museum houses a rich collection of artefacts in marble, ceramics, metal, wood, paper, from the Asian continent and with a chronological span extending to contemporary times. The Museum, which is primarily intended for the education of students and is home to numerous workshop activities related to the Department of Asian, African and Mediterranean Studies, this year benefited from significant funding from the Ministry of Culture for a project that focuses on overcoming cognitive barriers through the organisation of virtual tours and digital access to the artefacts.

Today's talk aims to present the objects kept at the Museum and, at the same time, to illustrate its exhibition paradigm and the vision that aspires to make it a dynamic and constantly evolving research and educational structure.

Chiara Visconti. Associate Professor of Archaeology and Art History of China and Japan at the University of Naples L'Orientale. Her main areas of interest are Chinese archaeology from the Tang period, with particular reference to the Buddhist context, and trade between East Asia, the Middle and Near East, and Europe, through the study of metals and ceramic artefacts from archaeological excavations and museum collections. She has participated in excavation and archaeological research missions in several countries in Asia, such as Nepal, China and Oman.

Roberta Giunta. Full Professor of Archaeology and History of Muslim Art and Islamic Epigraphy at the University of Naples L'Orientale. Since 1993 she has carried out archaeological and epigraphic research in many Asian countries; since 2004 she has been deputy director of the Italian Archaeological Mission in Afghanistan and since 2020 co-director of the Italian Archaeological Mission in al-Balid (Dhofar, Oman). She is the author of three monographic studies and numerous articles published in national and international journals.