Joint China-France exhibition on use of gold in clothing to kick off in Chengdu

A joint exhibition between China and France tracing the use of gold in clothing across civilizations from North Africa to East Asia will make its global debut in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province in late November, highlighting ancient trade and cultural connections between the East and the West along the ancient Silk Road, according to a press release sent to the Global Times by the Chengdu Museum on Tuesday.

The exhibition will feature over 200 artifacts from seven French cultural institutions, including the Musée du Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, the National Archaeological Museum and the National Museum of Natural History. All items, including gold-adorned garments and accessories, will be shown in China for the first time, the document noted.

"Gold is a golden gift from the universe to humanity, while silk is China's precious tribute to the world," Wei Min, director of the Chengdu Museum's Curating and Research Department, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

"When gold, symbolizing eternity and passion, met the resilient and gentle silk thread on the Silk Road, it transformed into a flowing golden bond in the crucible of civilization," she added.

The exhibition aims to showcase this fusion as visitors will see a range of items, including a gold-encrusted kaftan from the Maghreb region of Africa, Egyptian wedding attire and mules where gold thread wove "dreams of immortality" and Byzantine silks dyed using purple snails and embroidered with gold to proclaim imperial authority.

It will also feature pieces from the Arab world, where gold thread brought tales from One Thousand and One Nights to life and Persian brocades depicted golden Trees of Life.

From China, the exhibition will present exquisite silks and embroideries that represent the pinnacle of integrating gold-woven textiles with silk, the document noted.

The collaboration stems from a growing partnership between the Chinese and French institutions.

Wang Li, director from Communication and Promotion Division at the Chengdu Museum's Publicity Department, attributed the choice of Chengdu as the debut stop to the museums' sisterhood and broader China-France ties.

"The director of Musée du Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac led a delegation to China, and we later visited their museum during a Chengdu delegation trip to France. These exchanges led to our sister-museum partnership," she said.

"We then traveled to France the third time to select exhibits and finalize the exhibition's theme."

The timing aligns with the China-France Year of Culture and Tourism and the 2024 Paris Olympics, which "welcome guests from around the world," Wang noted, adding that Chengdu's reputation as a "city of fashion" was the key reason for the collaboration and for choosing the city as the inaugural venue.

The exhibition is expected to deepen cultural understanding between China and France, and illustrate how civilizations "inspire each other through exchanges and rise together through integration," Wei said.

It will also incorporate pieces from leading Chinese museums, including the China National Silk Museum, the Liaoning Provincial Museum, Shandong Museum and Gansu Provincial Museum, to present a complete narrative of East-West artistic exchanges.

Organized in partnership with the Musée du Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac in Paris, one of France's four national museums, the exhibition will run from late November till March 2026 at the Chengdu Museum.

Wang noted that exquisite cultural relics such as a bright red silk robe embroidered with Chinese unicorn and phoenix patterns across the shoulders from the Shandong Museum and a golden hairpin in the shape of a flowering tree from the Western Jin Dynasty (from the Liaoning Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology) will be displayed alongside the precious gold-made artifacts in the exhibition, creating a visual feast of East-West dialogue for visitors.

"Both sides have their own strengths in exhibition organization. There are differences in exhibition presentation effects and spatial layout, which means there is much to learn from each other," Wang added.