Uploaded September 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
In this panel discussion, experts discuss Berlin’s recently rediscovered Ernst Fritzsche Gallery collection and its importance to the field of provenance.
The Fritzsche Gallery was one of the first art dealers specializing in East Asian art and one of the most popular galleries in Berlin’s Tiergarten district during the interwar period. When the Nazi party came into power, the gallery profited greatly from the expulsion and murder of Jewish collectors and dealers by selling their looted collections. The Allied bombing raids of Berlin in 1943 destroyed the gallery, and parts of its inventory were presumed lost. But in 2023, archaeologists discovered the gallery’s cellar along with more than 3,000 damaged objects.
The panel features experts who work with the city of Berlin to document and research the newly unearthed cellar. Together, they consider questions raised by the discovery and the necessary conservation measures to secure it.
The online series Unpacking Provenance: Retracing the Histories of Asian Art (https://asia.si.edu/whats-on/events/e...) brings together cross-disciplinary specialists to discuss provenance research processes and share resources. Discussions focus on a single object, exploring a variety of innovative, strategic, and collaborative approaches to inquiry.
Unpacking Provenance is part of a larger collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz that seeks to cultivate the global network of provenance researchers and promote exchange. Previous programs include Hidden Networks: The Trade of Asian Art (2020–22) and Provenance and Asian Art: A Collaborative Workshop and Symposium (2023).
Generous support for the museum's provenance research and object histories program is provided by the David Berg Foundation and the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.
Speakers include
Marie Hartmann
Olivier Joumarin
Nathalie Neumann
Facilitated by
Joanna M. Gohmann, National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, DC
Christine Howald, Zentralarchiv/Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz
In this panel discussion, experts discuss Berlin’s recently rediscovered Ernst Fritzsche Gallery collection and its importance to the field of provenance.
The Fritzsche Gallery was one of the first art dealers specializing in East Asian art and one of the most popular galleries in Berlin’s Tiergarten district during the interwar period. When the Nazi party came into power, the gallery profited greatly from the expulsion and murder of Jewish collectors and dealers by selling their looted collections. The Allied bombing raids of Berlin in 1943 destroyed the gallery, and parts of its inventory were presumed lost. But in 2023, archaeologists discovered the gallery’s cellar along with more than 3,000 damaged objects.
The panel features experts who work with the city of Berlin to document and research the newly unearthed cellar. Together, they consider questions raised by the discovery and the necessary conservation measures to secure it.
The online series Unpacking Provenance: Retracing the Histories of Asian Art (https://asia.si.edu/whats-on/events/e...) brings together cross-disciplinary specialists to discuss provenance research processes and share resources. Discussions focus on a single object, exploring a variety of innovative, strategic, and collaborative approaches to inquiry.
Unpacking Provenance is part of a larger collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz that seeks to cultivate the global network of provenance researchers and promote exchange. Previous programs include Hidden Networks: The Trade of Asian Art (2020–22) and Provenance and Asian Art: A Collaborative Workshop and Symposium (2023).
Generous support for the museum's provenance research and object histories program is provided by the David Berg Foundation and the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.
Speakers include
Marie Hartmann
Olivier Joumarin
Nathalie Neumann
Facilitated by
Joanna M. Gohmann, National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, DC
Christine Howald, Zentralarchiv/Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz
