美国博物馆藏中国藏族民族文物研究——以劳费尔的收藏为例

Research on Tibetan Cultural Relics in China Collected in American Museums

在美国各类博物馆或机构中,收藏有数量众多、类型丰富的中国藏族民族文物,但却鲜为中国学界所知。其中较为突出的是美国自然历史博物馆和菲尔德自然历史博物馆。两馆的馆藏均来自德裔美籍人类学家贝特霍尔德·劳费尔19世纪末20世纪初在中国探险期间所收集的文物,包括中国藏族生活用具、仪式用具、雕塑、唐卡、戏剧用品等。劳费尔对中国藏族民族文物的关注受到美国人类学界文化相对主义的影响,同时也对今日的中国藏族物质文化研究具有深远意义。

There are numerous and rich collections of Tibetan cultural relics in various museums or institutions in the United States.The more prominent ones are the American Museum of Natural History and the Field Museum of Natural History.The collections of the two museums come from the cultural relics collected by the German-American anthropologist Berthold Laufer during his expeditions in China at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century,including Tibetan living utensils,ritual utensils,sculptures,and thangkas,drama supplies,etc.Laufer’s attention to Tibetan cultural relics is influenced by the cultural relativism of American anthropology,and at the same time has far-reaching significance for the study of Tibetan material culture today.