Launch of a new guide

We are pleased to invite you to the launch of our new publication "Tracing Loot from the Boxer War in China. A Research Guide for Public and Private Collections".

The history of many museums is a history of colonial entanglements, also with China. During the so-called Boxer War (1900–1901), eight nations –Britain, France, the German Empire, the United States, Japan, Russia, Austria-Hungary and Italy – participated in the international military intervention against the anti-imperialist Yihetuan movement, in Western literature known as the “Boxers”. In the course of the war, countless works of art and cultural objects from private households, public institutions, and imperial collections were brought abroad — often as a result of violent appropriation and looting.

The critical examination of the colonial history of collecting is an important part of contemporary museum work. To facilitate the entry into provenance research on objects looted during the so-called "Boxer War" for interested stakeholders, museum professionals, and decision-makers, a research guide has been developed as part of the Sino-German project Traces of the ‘Boxer War’ in German Museum Collections – A Joint Approach. 

The research guide provides:

• a concise description of the “Boxer War” 
• an introduction into the places, actors, and mechanisms of the looting
• cases studies of objects in German collections
• practical advice for initiating provenance research
• an extensive appendix providing important research tools.

This guide was produced in cooperation with the following museums:

• Museum Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt am Main 
• Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin 
• Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin 
• Museum Fünf Kontinente, München 
• GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Leipzig 
• Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg 
• Museum am Rothenbaum Kulturen und Künste der Welt, Hamburg

under the direction of Zentralarchiv, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, and in collaboration with the Palace Museum of China.

We warmly invite you to two events to mark the launch of the guide:

Digital launch via Zoom
Wednesday, September 16 from 2-3 pm CET / 8-9 pm CST / 8-9 am EDT 
The event will be held in English with Chinese interpretation.
Further information can be found here: https://kulturgutverluste.de/en/events/international-launch-tracing-loot-boxer-war-china-research-guide-public-and-private 

In-person event at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin
Friday, September 25 at 5:00 p.m.
The event will be held in German.
Further information can be found here: https://kulturgutverluste.de/en/events/launch-tracing-loot-boxer-war-china-research-guide-public-and-private-collections 

To the project "Traces of the ‘Boxer War’ in German Museum Collections – a joint approach"