The Vibrant Exciting Silk Road Commerce That Changed The World
Movement of objects and ideas via the Silk Road
British Museum Silk Roads exhibition
The British Museum’s Silk Roads exhibition explores the interconnectivity of ancient societies from Japan to Ireland. The exhibit broadens the definition of the traditional route of the Silk Road and narrows the timescale to 500 to 1000 CE to better understand the motives behind the movement of people, objects and ideas across continents.
The details provided by the 300 artefacts on display help better understand the stories of those who traversed the Silk Road(s).
The term Silk Road was first used in print by the German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen in 1877 to label the route from China to Iran, where silk moved. Explorers, archaeologists and later travel authors further popularised the Silk Road moniker with exotic narratives that inspired adventure tourism.
Maritime Silk Road emerged as another route
After World War II, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was established. The organisation promoted the Silk Road as a means of encouraging exchange between countries.
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Soon after, the concept of a Maritime Silk Road emerged. In 2013, China launched the Belt and Road Initiative, which reimagines the historical land and maritime Silk Roads as a major global infrastructure development initiative.
The Silk Road was cross-cultural exchange and connection
The Silk Road was never one road that only carried silk; rather, the term has become shorthand for cross-cultural exchange that emphasises contact and connection rather than depicting societies in isolation. This is the theme of the exhibition.
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The curators chose to focus on the five centuries between the years 500 and 1000, which roughly coincided with the Tang dynasty (618-907) and the newly emerged Islamic states. This was also the time of the rapid spread of Buddhism, Christianity and Islam.
The Silk Road and Buddhism
Scandinavian Vikings landed in Newfoundland in the year 1000, marking the beginning of a new phase of global connectivity and the closing boundary of this exhibition.
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The exhibition moves from east to west beginning in Japan. Beyond mere artefacts, the Silk Roads brought Buddhism from Korea to Japan in the sixth century. This is evidenced by a 1400-year-old Bodhisattva with one leg pendant found in Mount Nachi, Wakayama, Japan. The style and physical properties argue for a Korean origin.
Buddhism in Japan rapidly accepted
The rapid acceptance of Buddhism in Japan can be attributed to its use by the elite to consolidate power. By sponsoring large-scale Buddhist projects, rulers communicated control over resources and their role as protectors of the state through the patronage of Buddhism.
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Unfortunately, the Silk Roads also brought a smallpox epidemic that reduced the Japanese population by thirty per cent in the year 735.
The Korean Kingdom of Silla influenced by Silk Road
A reliquary (an outer container used to store sacred relics encased in glass), with the Four Heavenly Kings guarding each side, is evidence of the Silk Roads’ influence on the ancient Korean kingdom of Silla. Outer container of a reliquary (c.682) was found at a temple in Gyeongju, Korea.
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The practice of creating reliquaries began in India when they housed what represented the cremated remains of Buddha, which monks and pilgrims carried. A similarly designed reliquary made of stone, dated 604, was discovered at Shendesi Temple, Shaanxi province, China.
Silla Korea became an active trade partner with the Tang dynasty, not only trading tangible objects but also culture and learning, going so far as to model the Silla State Academy on the Tang Imperial Academy.
Silk was currency and commodity traded during the Tang dynasty
During the Tang dynasty, silk was not just a commodity traded along the Silk Roads but also currency. A Tang ceramic burial Figure of a camel with sancai glaze depicting a Bactrian camel with two humps carrying coiled silk and folded fabric (c.700-50) supports this claim, as does the upper-class Female figure (c.700-50) clothed in silk.
India influenced Chinese tastes
Beyond Buddhism, India influenced the Tang dynasty’s cosmopolitan tastes, as seen by the tomb Figure of a musician playing a lute (671-730). This type of pear-shaped lute was introduced from India during the Han dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE).
The Maritime Silk Road
A 1,200-year-old shipwreck off the coast of the island of Belitung near Sumatra, Indonesia, with a cargo of over 60,000 pieces of Tang dynasty ceramics and other goods on route to the Islamic empire of the Abbasid caliphate in the Persian Gulf, economically links these two great powers.
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The Belitung Shipwreck indicates both the scale of Chinese ceramic production and the value of maritime trade at the time. The gold Octagonal cup with musicians and a dancer (c.830), now owned by the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore, is one of the more spectacular finds from the shipwreck.
The Standing Buddha figure (600s), made in the province of Bihar, India, and likely found in Tibet, hints at a time when the Tibetan Tubo Empire (618–842) allowed peaceful passage for Tang traders. There is a painting in the Palace Museum, Beijing, depicting the Tang emperor Taizong (626-49) and the Tubo emperor’s envoy seeking the hand in marriage of Princess Wencheng.
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Manuscripts references Buddhism, Christianity and Judaism
For a time (786-848), the Tubo empire encompassed Dunhuang, located at a strategic point connecting Xian, China and Silk Roads routes leading to Central and South Asia. In 1900, a hidden cave called Cave 17 was discovered near Dunhuang, containing 70,000 manuscripts, paintings, textiles, and artefacts dating from the 800s to the 900s.
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Most of these artefacts relate to Buddhism, but there are references to Christianity and Judaism. There are also bilingual phrasebooks, glossaries, and many multilingual documents and images from diverse artistic traditions.
These documents provided the insight traders would have required for successful trans-national negotiations, like Envoys with horse and camel (966), which depicts the type of horse and camel that make for an effective tribute.
The game of chess is believed to have originated in India around the year 500. Initially played by nobility as a means of training military tactics, it spread westward along the Silk Roads and became popular across the Islamic world and Europe. Seven chess pieces (700s) found in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, are believed to be the oldest surviving pieces in the world.
Ivory was a good traded along the Silk Road
Smooth, lustrous and brilliantly white, elephant ivory was the material of choice during the Byzantine Empire. Ivory was both a raw material and a final good traded along the Silk Roads. The mass production of carved diptychs suggests a great quantity of ivory was available at a reasonable price.
However, African elephant tusks were much larger than Indian ones, so they demanded a higher price. The diptych leaf (c.525-50) was made from African ivory in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul, Turkey) and depicts a common Christian narrative.
This brief exhibition survey provides a glimmer of the individual stories from the 300 artefacts on show. The exhibition book Silk Roads, curated by Sue Brunning, Luk Yu-ping, Elisabeth R. O’Connell, and Tim Williams, offers additional details.
Their exhaustive research brings life to otherwise inanimate objects, making it clear that there is a wealth of material when you begin looking for what connects individuals.
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This validates the theme that cross-cultural exchange thrives when there is an emphasis on contact and connection.
Text Martin Wray / Photo Courtesy of the British Museum
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