The Royal Asiatic Society’s Visit to Norwich
Our Director, Dr Alison Ohta, writes:
On the 24th May, the Society visited the Sainsbury Centre at the University of East Anglia and the exhibition held at the Forum library entitled Nara to Norwich: Arts and Beliefs at the Ends of the Silk Roads. The exhibition marked the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures. We were picked up at Norwich Station by coach and driven to the Sainsbury Centre where we were met by Professor Simon Kaner, Director of the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures (SISJAC), who gave us an introduction and a tour of the permanent exhibition, concentrating on the Japanese items. The collection of over 300 artworks, donated to the university by Sir Robert and Lady Sainsbury, includes sculpture and paintings by Henry Moore, Francis Bacon, Modigliani and Giacometti as well as pieces from North and South America, Africa and Asia.
In addition, representatives from the Karyōbinga Shōmyō Kenkyūkai Ensemble (Kashōken) from the Hasedera Temple in Nara performed shōmyō, a form of Buddhist sutra chanting. Their particular style has its roots in the Buzan Sect of the Shingon School of which Hasedera is the head temple.
After an excellent lunch, we then left for the Forum by coach to view the exhibition. During the journey, Professor Simon Kaner gave us an excellent introduction to Norwich. In the atrium of the Forum we were met by a 12 metre giant replica of the Dai Miei Daigajiku Scroll with an image of Kannon Bosastsu, the bodhisattva of compassion and mercy, making an impressive entry to the exhibition. The exhibition which is the result of an international, collaborative research project explored the Silk Roads beyond their current limits of the Chinese and post-Roman worlds. The exhibition is accessible online at https://naratonorwich.org/object/1434861.
Following the exhibition, we made our way to view the South Asia Collection managed by the South Asian Decorative Arts Trust founded in 2010. The collection includes a stunning array of furniture, carved doors and other domestic objects drawn from a variety of communities in South Asia. We were warmly welcomed by Jeannie and Philip Milward, the founders of the Trust and their curator, Mansi Sathyanarayan Rao. We will be inviting Mansi to lecture to the Society later in the year. We were then able to explore the wonderful textiles and other wares for sale in the shop where several purchases were made.
It was a tremendously interesting and full day, brilliantly organised by Professors Susan Whitfield, Simon Kaner and Olivia Butler to whom we offer our grateful thanks.
Next week Dr Ohta will share about the Society’s time in Dublin which included a lecture by Professor Jane Ohlmeyer, Erasmus Smith’s Professor of Modern History at Trinity College, and a special viewing of the Islamic and the East Asian Collections at the Chester Beatty, led by Dr. Moya Carey, Curator of Islamic Collections, and Dr. Ai Fukunaga, Curator of East Asian Collections.
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As archivist, I am continuing to add entries to our new archival catalogue. One recently added was for a recent donation of Letters of Fath-Ali Shah and Abbas Mirza to Sir Gore Ouseley. These were donated by William Robinson in 2024 in memory of his father, Basil W. Robinson. There are three letters sent from the Qajar court to Sir Gore Ouseley in the course of his diplomatic mission. These are:
- Letter from Fath-Ali Shah to Sir Gore Ouseley concerned with the allegiance between Persia and England. This is dated to February 1812. The original letter, handwritten in Persian, has been mounted onto another piece of paper. With it is a handwritten translation into English.
- ‘From His Royal Highness’ – a letter from [Fath-Ali Shah] to Sir Gore Ouseley to thank him for the gift of a ‘elegant crystal candlesticks’ and other articles which were ‘wholly in keeping with our desire’. This is undated. The original letter, handwritten in Persian, has been mounted onto another piece of paper. With it is a handwritten translation into English.
- ‘A Letter from His Royal Highness Abbas Mirza Prince Royal of Persia to the Rt. Honble. Sir Gore Ouseley Bt.’ concerning sending Murza Salih, a scribe of the court, to describe the circumstances at the court. Murza Salih has been chosen as he has previously spent time in England and can therefore talk to Ouseley without the use of an interpreter. Written in March-April 1822. The original letter, handwritten in Persian, has been mounted onto another piece of paper. With it is a handwritten translation into English and a further typed translation.
We are very pleased to have these as part of our collections and look forward to researchers coming to view them.