Exhibition at Suzhou's Museum of Wu explores gold's role in East-West exchange

(ECNS) -- The annual cross-border exhibition "Gold: The Treasured Metal Linking Eastern and Western Civilizations" opened at the Museum of Wu in Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, on Wednesday.

The exhibition brought together 195 sets (over 200 individual pieces) of precious artifacts from the Palazzo Madama – Museo Civico d'Arte Antica in Turin, Italy, as well as several Chinese institutions including the Xizang Museum, the Shanxi Museum and the Gansu Provincial Institute of Archaeology.

Gold is one of the earliest metals recognized and treasured by humans. It has shaped dynastic glory, religious sanctity and artistic brilliance, while also witnessing the continuous material exchange, technological transmission and cultural interaction between East and West along the Silk Road.

In the exhibition hall, European Christian icons and a reclining Buddha statue from Myanmar are both adorned with gold ornaments. A basket-shaped earring from the Lombard period in Italy and a Siba culture gold earring from the Huoshaogou site in Yumen, Gansu Province, gleam side by side. Pearl roundel patterns, originating from the Persian region, appear on artifacts from both Europe and China.

The exhibition runs through Jan. 6, 2027, during which academic lectures, museum courses and study tours will be held.

(By Tang Yuxian)