Unveiling the provenance : exploring the earliest donations of East Asian objects in Slovenia

Berdajs, Tina (author)

This paper offers an insight into the earliest museum donations of East Asian objects in the area of present-day Slovenia. A special focus is given to the donations of porcelain by noblewomen donors in the first half of the 19th century, notably in the year 1833. It expands on their backgrounds and biographies, as well as tries to determine the circum-stances in which they acquired and were able to donate or bequest Japanese and Chinese porcelain (and in some cases other ceramics of East Asian origin) to museum collections. The earliest donations are presented through in-depth studies of Illyrisches Blatt, a weekly supplement to the paper Laibacher Zeitung, where, in the first half of the 19th century, all donations to the Provincial Museum of Carniola (Krainisches Landesmuseum; today the National Museum of Slovenia) were recorded. Through the identification of Asian objects and donors, a curious situation relating to several woman donors of East Asian porcelain is uncovered. The paper also presents these donors and offers an analysis of the objects they donated.

• Language: English
• Keywords: East Asian objects, porcelain, provenance research, Slovenia
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 01.01.2025
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 227-248
• Numbering: Vol. 13 (29), iss. 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-178209
• UDC: 069.5(292.57)
• ISSN on article: 2232-5131
• DOI: 10.4312/as.2025.13.1.227-248
• COBISS.SI-ID: 223225347
• 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: Razkrivanje provenience : raziskovanje najzgodnejših donacij vzhodnoazijskih predmetov v Sloveniji

Abstract

Pričujoči prispevek ponuja vpogled v najzgodnejše muzejske donacije vzhodnoazijskih predmetov na območju današnje Slovenije. Poseben poudarek je namenjen donacijam vzhodnoazijskega porcelana, ki so ga darovale plemkinje v prvi polovici 19. stoletja, zlasti leta 1833. V prispevku so predstavljeni tudi njihovo ozadje in biografije ter poskus razi-skovanja okoliščin, v katerih so pridobile in lahko darovale japonski ter kitajski porcelan (in v nekaterih primerih druge keramike vzhodnoazijskega izvora) muzejskim zbirkam. Najzgodnejše donacije so predstavljene s poglobljenimi študijami Illyrisches Blatt, te-denske priloge časopisa Laibacher Zeitung, kjer so bile v prvi polovici 19. stoletja za-beležene vse donacije Kranjskemu deželnemu muzeju (Krainisches Landesmuseum; danes Narodni muzej Slovenije). Z identifikacijo vzhodnoazijskih predmetov in donatorjev se je v raziskavi razkrila zanimiva situacija več donatork, ki so muzeju istega leta podarile vzhodnoazijski porcelan. Prispevek te donatorke tudi predstavi in analizira predmete, ki so jih darovale in jih še danes hrani muzej.

• Keywords: vzhodnoazijski predmeti, porcelan, 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: P6-0243-2019
• Name: Azijski jeziki in kulture