Artworks from the collection of Taiwan’s National Palace Museum are being shown at the Musee du quai Branly in Paris starting Nov. 18 as part of the Taiwan Culture in Europe 2025 initiative.
Running until March 1, 2026, the exhibit, entitled “Dragons,” brings together items from the first depictions of the mythical creature on jade and antique bronzes to the most popular modern forms. Among the highlights are Qing dynasty (1644-1911) creations such as a vase decorated with two dragons chasing pearls through the clouds, and a basin decorated with a fish transforming into a dragon.
NPM Director Hsiao Tsung-huang, Deputy Director Yu Pei-chin and Hsiao’s counterpart Emmanuel Kasarhérou opened the exhibition, with Hao Pei-chih, head of the Taipei Representative Office in France, and French dignitaries including Marie-Noëlle Battistel, chair of the French National Assembly’s Taiwan Friendship Group, in attendance.
Speaking at the event, Hsiao said the NPM has been cooperating with French museums since 1990, adding that the current exhibition follows one hosted at the NPM’s south branch in 2019 that featured masks from the collection of the Musee du quai Branly. He further expressed appreciation for exceptional support from the host museum and other participating institutions.
Yu introduced the structure of the exhibit, which explains the place of dragons in culture throughout history and explores modern society’s relationship to the creature and what it symbolizes. She described works like an 11th-century jade plate with dragon patterns and a collection of poems written by emperors, seen as human incarnations of dragons.
According to the NPM, the exhibition also offers glove puppetry performances and an interactive painting to give visitors a variety of ways to explore the mythical creature’s impact. (YCH-E)
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