Collection of the sinologist Robert van Gulik gifted to the Rijksmuseum
Publication date: 06 April 2021 - 07:00
The Rijksmuseum has been gifted a remarkable collection belonging to Robert van Gulik by his family. Robert van Gulik (1910-1967) was a sinologist and diplomat in China and Japan, and an acknowledged Chinese literatus, or scholar-official. The gift comprises 54 objects: a unique collection of 50 Chinese seals, a 13-metre scroll of seal prints, two calligraphies and one painting.
This unique collection of Chinese seals and seal prints on a 13-metre scroll that also features calligraphies and paintings, forms an important document of an era that has great symbolic value. The Rijksmuseum’s Chinese collection is the ideal home for this common cultural asset.
Thomas van Gulik, on behalf of the Van Gulik family
This gift constitutes more than an addition to the collection: it changes the image held in the West of Chinese art. It shows that someone from the Netherlands was able to contribute to Chinese literati culture and art at the very highest level.
Ching-Ling Wang, Curator of Chinese Art at the Rijksmuseum:
Gift
Seal carving is one of the four great Chinese literati arts, alongside calligraphy, poetry and painting. Robert van Gulik had a great talent for seal carving. Van Gulik’s family is donating his entire collection of seals and the accompanying scroll on which, from 1928 to 1966, Van Gulik collected prints from seals made by himself and by the Chinese literati and Japanese artists with whom he associated – in a number of cases the seal print is accompanied by a personal dedication. The result is a unique document of an era, which, in combination with the seals, embodies the essence of literati art: Yaji, an ‘elegant gathering’. It was common practice among literati to gather together to appreciate one another’s artworks, and to exchange them.
Van Gulik was gifted in the art of calligraphy, through which he also manifested his talent as a poet. The Rijksmuseum has received a pair of calligraphy couplet by his hand, both bearing prints of his personal seals. His family has also donated to the museum a scroll painting from their extensive collection: this work from the late 17th to early 18th century was made by Luo Mu (1622–1706), a painter, poet and prose writer born in Jiangxi. He is renowned for his landscapes, especially of mountains, and for what would later become known as the Jiangxi School.
Robert van Gulik
Upon completion of his Sinology studies, Robert van Gulik (1910-1967) entered the diplomatic service and held various posts in China and Japan. To this day, he is the sole European to have been recognised as a literatus in China. He embodied the Chinese ideal of the scholar-official through the practice of calligraphy, the playing of the classical Chinese musical instrument the Qin, and the making and collecting of art. Robert van Gulik was also well known as an academic with many publications to his name on subjects as diverse as Tibetan equestrian culture to Chinese scroll paintings – his interests were exceptionally broad. Robert van Gulik was a major influence on Sinology, Chinese art history, and contemporary Chinese culture. He is best known to the broader public as the author of the Judge Dee detective book series.
KVVAK Robert van Gulik Symposium
The Royal Asian Art Society in the Netherlands, or KVVAK, is holding an online symposium on Robert van Gulik on 9 and 10 April 2021. The symposium will devote time to the recent gift to the Rijksmuseum, Van Gulik’s influence and many talents, and the ways in which his work lives on. It will include a lecture by Professor Emeritus Willem van Gulik, the former director of Museum Volkenkunde in Leiden.
There are currently two exhibitions on Robert van Gulik running in the Netherlands. On 10 April, the KVVAK online symposium will be holding video tours of both exhibitions, at the Rijksmuseum’s Asian Pavilion and at the China Cultural Center in The Hague. The symposium is open to all, free of charge. For the full symposium programme, please visit kvvak.nl
Essential support
The Rijksmuseum has been hit hard by Covid-19. It is clearer now than ever before that the museum cannot survive without its patrons. Government subsidies, corporate contributions and support from funds, as well as donations, legacies and Friends are, and will remain, essential to the Rijksmuseum.
