The Ethnographical Museum of the city of Neuchâtel possesses one of the most varied and interesting collections of East Asian objects in Switzerland. These are primarily objects collected by or related to Aimé Humbert (1819-1900), among them more than 2500 pieces from Japan. Apart from this assemblage, there is a big number of not yet researched objects from China, Japan, and Korea that were brought to Switzerland since the 19th century.
The University of Zurich work closely with the museum team in Neuchâtel in a number of survey projects. Three separate excursions were organized in the recent semesters to see the museum’s storage area and the current exhibitions. There are also individual student research projects related to the museum’s collection.
In September 2014 a week long workshop in Neuchâtel was organized in cooperation with the Institute of Art History at the University of Tokyo, where KGOA students got the opportunity to work with the collection together with the experts and benefit from their expertise and advise. In the end of the workshop, a one-day conference was held in order to present the results of the research.