In 1954 the Náprstek Museum gained a collection of objects from Mongolia donated by the Slovak writer Dominik Tatarka (1913–1989), containing the ritual equipment of the female shaman Bariada, who came from the Alak Erdene somon in the Khövsgöl aimag. It is not known how Tatarka came by the items,…

Václav Stejskal (1851–1934), a traveller and collector, is an important donor to the Náprstek Museum. His collection from the Far East and the Southeast Asia contains almost seven hundred items. Václav Stejskal joined the Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal War Navy, and travelled to Asia in…

The traveller and collector Enrique Stanko Vráz (1860–1932) spent the period from 1885 to 1888 on the Gold Coast (present-day Ghana) where he collected zoological and botanical material, hunted animals and photographed. During the same period, Friedrich Louis Ramseyer, a missionary from Basel, spent…

The article introduces, and reproduces 6 Chinese items from the Museum’s collection, which were exhibited at the East Bohemian Gallery of Fine Arts in Pardubice in spring 2009. Among them is the newly discovered manuscript map of Chengde imperial palace, supplemented here with a complete list of its…

The National Museum – Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and American cultures holds in its collections three coffins with mummies from the earliest Austro-Hungarian excavations at Gamhud. Recently, both coffins and mummies have been the subject of multi-disciplinary scientific research. The present…

India has a great tradition of embroidery and different regions have distinctive styles of fine embroidery on cotton, silk and wool fabric. From coverlets to garments, these embroideries have lots of charm and attraction. Of all the regions of the country, the most artistic and picturesque…