Why East Asian objects in Slovenia became “orphaned” : four “orphaning” processes

Vampelj Suhadolnik, Nataša (author)

What lies behind the impoverishment of the identity of East Asian objects in their tran-sition from the private to the public sphere? This article looks at the various develop-mental processes that have led to the “orphaning” of East Asian objects in Slovenia and discusses the challenges of provenance research for such objects, proposing a new research approach. Objects of East Asian origin became “orphaned” in various ways, either being sold by aristocrats, confiscated by Nazi occupying forces or the socialist government in-stitutions during or after WWII, or given or sold to persons who did not preserve their history. All processes were poorly documented and only sparse notes were made. This makes it extremely difficult for researchers to trace the biographies of these objects and identify their past ownership. Many other records, such as photographs of interiors and other object documents, have also been lost due to the complex socio-political situation and the mobility of the objects between the private and public spheres.

• Language: English
• Keywords: East Asian objects, orphaned objects, confiscation, provenance research, Slovenia
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 01.01.2025
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 15-43
• Numbering: Vol. 13 (29), issue 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-178201
• UDC: 069.5(292.57)
• ISSN on article: 2232-5131
• DOI: 10.4312/as.2025.13.1.15-43
• COBISS.SI-ID: 223154947
• Publication date in RUL: 21.01.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Asian studies
• Publisher: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 2232-5131
• COBISS.SI-ID: 265206272

Licences

• License: CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Description: This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Zakaj so vzhodnoazijski predmeti v Sloveniji »osiroteli« : štirje procesi »osirotenja«

Abstract

Kaj je v ozadju osiromašenja identitete vzhodnoazijskih predmetov v tranziciji med zasebno in javno sfero? Ta prispevek obravnava različne procese, ki so vodili k »osirote-nju« vzhodnoazijskih predmetov v Sloveniji, ter izzive pri raziskovanju provenience teh predmetov, pri čemer predlaga nov raziskovalni pristop. Osiroteli vzhodnoazijski pred-meti so posledica različnih procesov, predvsem prodaje plemiškega inventarja, med-vojnih in povojnih zaplemb, spominske narave podedovanih ali podarjenih predmetov in drugih povezanih dejavnikov. Vsi procesi so bili skopo dokumentirani, pri čemer so zapisi precej splošni. Zaradi tega sta raziskovanje biografiji teh predmetov in identifika-cija njihovih preteklih lastništev precej otežkočena. Tudi številni drugi dokumenti, kot so fotografije interierjev in druga dokumentacija, so bili zaradi kompleksne družbeno--politične situacije in mobilnosti predmetov med zasebno in javno sfero v veliki meri izgubljeni.

• Keywords: vzhodnoazijski predmeti, osiroteli predmeti, zaplembe, raziskovanje provenience, Slovenija

Projects

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: J6-3133-2021
• Name: Osiroteli predmeti: obravnava vzhodnoazijskih predmetov izven organiziranih zbirateljskih praks v slovenskem prostoru

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: J6-4618-2023
• Name: Življenje Skuškove zbirke: od dnevne sobe do virtualnega muzeja