George Manginis
BENAKI MUSEUM, Benaki Museum, Department Member
In May 1936 eleven small objects that had arrived a few days earlier at the port of Piraeus aboard the ‘Sorrento’ were added to the Benaki Museum inventory book with the numbers 2411 to 2420 and 2910. They were part of a donation of 452... more
In May 1936 eleven small objects that had arrived a few days earlier at the port of Piraeus aboard the ‘Sorrento’ were added to the Benaki Museum inventory book with the numbers 2411 to 2420 and 2910. They were part of a donation of 452 ceramics, mostly Chinese, from the collection of George Eumorfopoulos (1863–1939), a British collector of Greek origin. Back in 1929, Eumorfopoulos, the most celebrated East Asian art collector of his generation, had offered 341 ceramics to the Greek nation and two years later these were included in the founding collection of the museum that Antonis Benakis (1873–1954) created in memory of his parents. The eleven ceramics of the 1936 donation, dated to between the eleventh and eighteenth centuries, were of Korean manufacture; they had already been published in 1928 in the lavish Eumorfopoulos Collection catalogue. This book examines these eleven ceramics as works of Goryeo and Joseon art but also as collector's items in the 20th century and as museum objects in the 21st century.
https://www.benakishop.gr/en/new-arrivals/keramiki-apo-tin-korea-sto-mouseio-mpenaki-sullogi-georgiou-eumorfopoulou-ceramics-from-korea-at-the-benaki-museum-the-george-eumorfopoulos-collection-bmm471.html
A book published on the occasion of the ‘Ceramics from Korea’ exhibition at the Benaki Museum / Pireos 138 in autumn 2021 (23 September – 7 November), celebrating 60 years of friendship between Korea and Greece (1961–2021).
https://www.benakishop.gr/en/new-arrivals/keramiki-apo-tin-korea-sto-mouseio-mpenaki-sullogi-georgiou-eumorfopoulou-ceramics-from-korea-at-the-benaki-museum-the-george-eumorfopoulos-collection-bmm471.html
A book published on the occasion of the ‘Ceramics from Korea’ exhibition at the Benaki Museum / Pireos 138 in autumn 2021 (23 September – 7 November), celebrating 60 years of friendship between Korea and Greece (1961–2021).
Research Interests: History of Collections, Collecting and Collections, Museum Collection history, Korean Art, History of Collections (Archaeology), and 11 moreHistory of Collecting, Art collectors and connoisseurs, Private Collections in Public Museums, History of Collecting and Antiquarianism, Collecting, Museum Collections (Research), Goryeo, History of Korean Ceramics, Korean Ceramics, Goryeo Celadon, and Joseon Dynasty, Korea
The Benaki Museum was founded by Antonis Benakis, a visionary collector and cosmopolitan Greek patriot born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt. Since opening to the public in April 1931, the museum has grown into one of the most innovative... more
The Benaki Museum was founded by Antonis Benakis, a visionary collector and cosmopolitan Greek patriot born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt. Since opening to the public in April 1931, the museum has grown into one of the most innovative cultural organisations in Europe, and today includes several branches: a museum dedicated to Greek culture from prehistory to the 1940s; a gallery on modernism in Greece; a museum of Islamic art; a twentieth-century sculptor’s studio; a collector’s home; a museum of toys from around the world; a celebrated writer’s seaside retreat; a passementerie factory; and an exhibitions centre. Across this network of venues all over Athens – and beyond – diverse cultures from all historical periods meet contemporary art movements, enabling ‘the Benaki’ to situate the Greek world within a global context.
https://scalapublishers.com/benaki-museum/
Highlights
- One of the most innovative cultural organisations in Europe, with venues all over Athens, and beyond.
- Contains 39 treasures selected and described by the Museum's academic director George Manginis.
- The first Greek institution in the Director’s Choice series.
https://scalapublishers.com/benaki-museum/
Highlights
- One of the most innovative cultural organisations in Europe, with venues all over Athens, and beyond.
- Contains 39 treasures selected and described by the Museum's academic director George Manginis.
- The first Greek institution in the Director’s Choice series.
Research Interests: Mythology And Folklore, Folklore, Photography, Museum Studies, Islamic Art, and 12 moreByzantine Studies, History of Toys and Play, Modern Greece, Greek Archaeology, Modern Greek Studies, Museum and Heritage Studies, Byzantine art, Islamic art and architecture, Nobel Prize, Islamic art and archaeology, Museum Studies and Cultural management, and Nobel Prize in Literature
In May 1936 the steamship Sorrento sailed into the port of Piraeus, Greece. Aboard were sixteen crates with 452 items of Chinese pottery, destined to join another 341 already on display at the Benaki Museum in Athens. Over the past nine... more
In May 1936 the steamship Sorrento sailed into the port of Piraeus, Greece. Aboard were sixteen crates with 452 items of Chinese pottery, destined to join another 341 already on display at the Benaki Museum in Athens. Over the past nine years the museum’s founder, Antonis Benakis, had been in contact with their donor, Greek-origin British businessman George Eumorfopoulos. His Chinese art collection was one of the most extensive the world had ever seen. In bestowing this gift, Eumorfopoulos wanted to introduce Greeks to the art of China through its best-known medium at the time, ceramics.
The years after the collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1911 witnessed an ‘opening up’ of China and the first archaeological excavations of its ancient cultures. A circle of enthusiasts and scholars, among which Eumorfopoulos was pivotal, grasped the opportunity to evaluate anew long-held preconceptions on Chinese civilisation. Situated in London, a centre of imperialist power and global finance, they acquired, assessed, and interpreted previously-unseen and fascinating objects. In addition, Eumorfopoulos acted as an intermediary between the contemporary art scene and Chinese antiquities, inspiring modern artists and ‘studio potters’.
China Rediscovered: The Benaki Museum Collection of Chinese Ceramics traces the roles ceramics assumed in this cultural interplay within the context of earlier encounters between China and the rest of the world. A selection of 88 items from the Benaki Museum are perceived as ‘actors’ within constantly evolving ‘sets’, as players in a game of knowledge, taste, and power.
https://www.benakishop.gr/en/books/world-cultures/china-rediscovered-the-benaki-museum-collection-of-chinese-ceramics-387.html
https://www.hauspublishing.com/product/china-rediscovered/
The years after the collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1911 witnessed an ‘opening up’ of China and the first archaeological excavations of its ancient cultures. A circle of enthusiasts and scholars, among which Eumorfopoulos was pivotal, grasped the opportunity to evaluate anew long-held preconceptions on Chinese civilisation. Situated in London, a centre of imperialist power and global finance, they acquired, assessed, and interpreted previously-unseen and fascinating objects. In addition, Eumorfopoulos acted as an intermediary between the contemporary art scene and Chinese antiquities, inspiring modern artists and ‘studio potters’.
China Rediscovered: The Benaki Museum Collection of Chinese Ceramics traces the roles ceramics assumed in this cultural interplay within the context of earlier encounters between China and the rest of the world. A selection of 88 items from the Benaki Museum are perceived as ‘actors’ within constantly evolving ‘sets’, as players in a game of knowledge, taste, and power.
https://www.benakishop.gr/en/books/world-cultures/china-rediscovered-the-benaki-museum-collection-of-chinese-ceramics-387.html
https://www.hauspublishing.com/product/china-rediscovered/
Research Interests: Chinese Studies, Chinese Art, Chinese Language and Culture, Modern Greek History, History of Collections, and 33 moreCollecting (Art), Collecting and Collections, Chinese archaeology, Collecting and Display, History of Collecting, Modern Greek Studies, Patronage and collecting, material culture, silk road, Islamic and Chinese ceramics, Collectors and Collecting, History of Collecting and Antiquarianism, Chinese and Southeast Asian Art History and Archaeology, Collecting, Chinese Pottery, Chinese art history, The Art and Culture of Anchient Chinese Porcelain, Chinese Porcelain in Foreign Countries, Chinese Ceramics, Art Collecting, Chinese Porcelain, Collecting and Collections History of Collecting, Arab inscriptions on Chinese porcelain, History of Art Collecting 19th/20th Century, Chinese Antique Porcelain, Chinese Art and Culture - Ming and Qing - France / China Trade XVIIe-XVIIIe - Landscape Painting - Porcelain - History of French Collections, Museums and Collecting Practices, Chinese Ceramics Shipwrecks, History of Chinese Ceramics, Chinese export porcelain, Chinese export porcelain teapots, Mistakes on Chinese export porcelain, Silver decoration on Chinese export porcelain, History of Chinese and Japanese Ceramics, and Consumption of Chinese porcelain
Mount Sinai: A History of Travellers and Pilgrims examines the history of Hagia Koryphē (in Greek) or Jabal Mūsā (in Arabic), a mountain peak above the Monastery of St Catherine at South Sinai in Egypt, known for centuries as the place... more
Mount Sinai: A History of Travellers and Pilgrims examines the history of Hagia Koryphē (in Greek) or Jabal Mūsā (in Arabic), a mountain peak above the Monastery of St Catherine at South Sinai in Egypt, known for centuries as the place where Moses received the Ten Commandments from God, as described in Exodus. The book explores the ways in which the landscape of the summit was experienced and transformed using textual criticism, historical analysis, art history, and, for the first time, archaeological interpretation. Beginning in the third century, when the identification with the biblical ‘Mount Sinai’ was established, the narrative extends through to the early twentieth century. Covering the natural environment, the Bedouin and early Christians, the importance of Mount Sinai in Muslim tradition, the cult of St Catherine, pilgrimage, as well as the scholarly, artistic and tourist phenomenon of the nineteenth century, Mount Sinai: A History of Travellers and Pilgrims is a comprehensive and complete history of this remarkable place.
https://www.hauspublishing.com/product/mount-sinai/
‘Lucid and original; a veritable feast of interesting stories about Mount Sinai’s extraordinary past.’ - Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads
‘As a traveller and pilgrim to Sinai on numerous occasions and now a Trustee of the St Catherine's Foundation, I greatly enjoyed George Manginis's Mount Sinai and learnt much from it…The book is a learned and delightful companion to God-trodden Sinai.’ - Richard Chartres, Bishop of London
‘This book is an absolute mine of riches, reflection, and information… would strongly encourage anyone to pay a visit to this remarkable place of history, holiness and tradition. I recommend this book highly.’ - Vincent Nichols, Cardinal of Westminster
‘This book gives an invaluable insight into the evolution over two millennia of Mount Sinai as a sacred site and a place of spiritual quest.’ - H.R.H. Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan
‘George Manginis has trawled archives and published accounts to create the biography of the mountain, telling the story of the devout, the scholars and the tourists who have helped shape its history. His book is likely to stand as the last word on one of the world's most enduring places, unless an angel appears to tell the divine side of the story.’ - Anthony Sattin, author of Young Lawrence
https://www.hauspublishing.com/product/mount-sinai/
‘Lucid and original; a veritable feast of interesting stories about Mount Sinai’s extraordinary past.’ - Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads
‘As a traveller and pilgrim to Sinai on numerous occasions and now a Trustee of the St Catherine's Foundation, I greatly enjoyed George Manginis's Mount Sinai and learnt much from it…The book is a learned and delightful companion to God-trodden Sinai.’ - Richard Chartres, Bishop of London
‘This book is an absolute mine of riches, reflection, and information… would strongly encourage anyone to pay a visit to this remarkable place of history, holiness and tradition. I recommend this book highly.’ - Vincent Nichols, Cardinal of Westminster
‘This book gives an invaluable insight into the evolution over two millennia of Mount Sinai as a sacred site and a place of spiritual quest.’ - H.R.H. Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan
‘George Manginis has trawled archives and published accounts to create the biography of the mountain, telling the story of the devout, the scholars and the tourists who have helped shape its history. His book is likely to stand as the last word on one of the world's most enduring places, unless an angel appears to tell the divine side of the story.’ - Anthony Sattin, author of Young Lawrence