A Swedish museum has unveiled a new Taiwanese artwork inspired by a 17th-century connection between Sweden and Taiwan.
The Sun of Zeelandia, created by Taiwanese artist Kao Jun-Honn and a team from National Kaohsiung Normal University, was unveiled at Stockholm’s Museum of East Asian Antiquities on September 17.
The artwork was selected from more than 100 submissions in an international competition held ahead of the museum’s reopening after more than two years of renovations.
Its design is based on floral patterns found on a shield that belonged to Fredrik Coyet, a Swedish-born official who was the final governor of Dutch Formosa, the name used for Taiwan under Dutch rule.
The artists also worked with students from Ximen Experimental Elementary School in Tainan. The students drew plants introduced to Taiwan during the Dutch period, as well as plants linked to the Makatao people. Their drawings were then used in the artwork.
Taiwan’s representative to Sweden, Ambassador Phoebe Yeh, attended the unveiling alongside Britta Söderqvist, director-general of Sweden’s National Museums of World Culture.
The Museum of East Asian Antiquities reopened to the public on September 19. The museum said the artwork brings together Taiwan’s contemporary art and cultural history with its own historical collection.
