Feb 8, 2025

In 1923–24, Fogg Museum curator and Harvard professor Langdon Warner led the First Fogg Expedition to China, returning with fragmentary artworks removed from Caves 320, 321, 323, 328, 329, and 335 at the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang. Collected to expand the teaching collection of Harvard University’s Fogg Museum, these fragments have been studied and exhibited for 100 years. In this talk, curator Sarah Laursen and conservator Angela Chang will discuss the history of their removal and display, efforts to conserve them and understand their materials and construction, and the fragments’ ongoing role in museum education. They will also share recent developments in their study and display following a visit to the Dunhuang Academy last summer, which include a 3D digitization project and reinstallation in the Buddhist gallery.