Silk princess painting

Silk princess painting

Throughout this week, Neil MacGregor has been exploring the world of the late 7th century, with objects from South America, Britain, Syria and Korea.

Today's object is from the 4000 mile tangle of routes that has become known as the Silk Road - that great conduit of ideas, technologies, goods and beliefs that effectively linked the Pacific with the Mediterranean. His chosen object which lets him travel the ancient Silk Route is a fragile painting telling a story of "industrial espionage". It comes from the Buddhist kingdom of Khotan, now in Western China, and tells a powerful story about how the secrets of silk manufacture were passed along the fabled route. The cellist and composer Yo Yo Ma, who has long been fascinated by the Silk Road and who thinks of it as "the internet of antiquity", and the writer Colin Thubron consider the impact of the Silk Road - in reality and on the imagination.

Producer: Anthony Denselow

Episoder(101)

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Silver plate showing Shapur II

Silver plate showing Shapur II

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Gold coin of Kumaragupta I

Gold coin of Kumaragupta I

This week Neil MacGregor is exploring how several of the great religions around the world, less than 2000 years ago, began creating sophisticated new images to represent their beliefs and their deitie...

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Seated Buddha from Gandhara

Seated Buddha from Gandhara

This week the history of the world as told through one hundred objects is looking at how the world's great religions began trying to find the perfect way to visually express the divine, less than 2000...

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Hoxne pepper pot

Hoxne pepper pot

Neil MacGregor's world history told through objects at the British Museum arrives in Britain at the time of the Roman collapse. Throughout this week he has been looking at how different cultures aroun...

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Admonitions Scroll

Admonitions Scroll

Throughout this week, Neil MacGregor has been exploring pleasure and recreation across the world of 200 years ago. Today he arrives in China to explore a painting based on a poem that attempts to defi...

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Ceremonial ballgame belt

Ceremonial ballgame belt

Neil MacGregor's history of humanity as told through one hundred objects that time has left behind. This week he is looking at objects of leisure and pleasure around the world about 2000 years ago. Ho...

26 Mai 201014min

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