When objects go wandering - lost and found objects from the Skušek collection

Motoh, Helena (author)

This paper examines the phenomenon of “wandering objects” through the lens of the Skušek Collection, the largest collection of East Asian objects in Slovenia, which was brought to Ljubljana by Ivan Skušek Jr. and his Japanese wife, Tsuneko Kondō Kawase, in 1920. This collection, which traversed private ownership and eventual institutionali-sation, illustrates the dynamic mobility of artefacts. This study focuses on the movement of these objects both within and outside the family network, exploring how they were dispersed and sometimes reintegrated into the collection. By analysing specific cases, such as the three Japanese screens and other key objects, this paper identifies unique mobility patterns that differ from more common notions of dissociation and “orphaning” in the research of museum collections. The findings highlight the symbolic roles these “wander-ing objects” played in reinforcing social ties and cultural identity. This research contributes to a broader understanding of object mobility and provenance, offering a new conceptual framework for the research of private and institutional collections.

• Language: English
• Keywords: East Asian objects, private collections, provenance research, cultural heritage, Slovenia
• 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. 79-101
• Numbering: Vol. 13 (29), iss. 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-178205
• UDC: 069.5(292.57)
• ISSN on article: 2232-5131
• DOI: 10.4312/as.2025.13.1.79-101
• COBISS.SI-ID: 223214595
• 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: Predmeti na poti : izgubljeni in najdeni predmeti iz Skuškove zbirke

Abstract

Članek obravnava fenomen »potujočih predmetov« skozi prizmo Skuškove zbirke, največje zbirke vzhodnoazijskih predmetov v Sloveniji, ki sta jo v Ljubljano l. 1920 pripeljala Ivan Skušek ml. in njegova žena, Japonka Tsuneko Kondō Kawase. Zbirka, ki je prešla iz zaseb-ne v institucionalno last, ponazarja dinamično mobilnost artefaktov. Članek se osredotoča na gibanje teh predmetov znotraj in zunaj družinske mreže ter raziskuje, kako so se razpr-šili iz zbirke in bili potem nekajkrat celo ponovno vključeni vanjo. Z analizo posameznih posebnih primerov, kot so trije japonski paravani in drugi ključni predmeti, članek identi-ficira specifične vzorce mobilnosti, ki odstopajo od bolj uveljavljenih konceptov disociacije in »osirotelosti« v študijah muzejskih zbirk. Ugotovitve poudarjajo simbolno vlogo, ki so jo ti »potujoči predmeti« imeli pri krepitvi družbenih vezi in kulturne identitete. Ta raziskava prispeva k širšemu razumevanju mobilnosti in provenience predmetov ter ponuja nov kon-ceptualni okvir za proučevanje zasebnih in institucionalnih zbirk.

• Keywords: vzhodnoazijski predmeti, zasebne zbirke, raziskovanje provenience, kulturna dediščina, Slovenija