The Emperors Babur and Humayun, Folio from the Late Shah Jahan Album, Mughal dynasty, ca. 1640, opaque watercolor and gold on paper mounted on board, Purchase—Smithsonian Unrestricted Trust Funds, Smithsonian Collections Acquisition Program, and Dr. Arthur M. Sackler

For those who are unable to visit the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. in person, the museum's website offers a rich array of online exhibitions and educational materials for enrichment and enjoyment. Two online exhibitions that are currently available explore the art associated with Mughal emperor Babur and the Sogdians of Central Asia.

Writing My Truth: The Mughal Emperor Babur
The founder of India’s Mughal dynasty (1526–1858), Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur (1483–1530), rose from origins as a Central Asian princeling to rule a vast empire stretching across today’s Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. Over the course of his extraordinary life, he wrote a memoir known as the Baburnama, weaving incisive observations on art and nature into recollections of love, war, and political alliances. Babur’s grandson, the Mughal emperor Akbar (reigned 1556–1605), later commissioned the translation Writing My Truth: The Mughal Emperor Babur brings together Persian paintings from Babur’s lifetime with Mughal paintings from 1580 to 1650, when his autobiography was illustrated and circulated.

To explore this exhibition, click here.

Camel with Musicians, Tang dynasty (618–907), glazed earthenware, H. 58.4 cm,
National Museum of China, Beijing

The Sogdians: Influencers on the Silk Roads
The Sogdians: Influencers on the Silk Roads is a new digital exhibition that explores Sogdian art through existing material culture. It focuses on the golden age of the Sogdians, from the fourth to the eighth centuries CE, when Sogdiana flourished through trade and agriculture. Sogdian emigrant communities spread across China, South and Southeast Asia, and into the Central Asian steppe and Mongolia. During these centuries, a highly sophisticated and distinct Sogdian urban culture developed, epitomized by richly colored wall paintings and exceptional textiles, metalwork, and sculptures. Various dimensions of Sogdian culture, from art, music, and feasting to religious and funerary practices, are presented in this digital exhibition. New 3-D models of metalwork objects, photographs of archaeological sites, and international scholarship reveal new details about these forgotten people.

To investigate this exhibition, click here.

Miracle, Mountain, Museum: Curator Sonya Mace on Revealing Krishna,
National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution
Live program, Friday, July 8, 2022, 5:30–6:30pm

The exhibition Revealing Krishna: Journey to Cambodia’s Sacred Mountain, currently on view at the National Museum of Asian Art, transports visitors to a sacred mountain in the floodplains of southern Cambodia. The exhibition showcases a monumental sculpture of the Hindu god Krishna lifting Mount Govardhan to protect his people from a torrential storm sent by an angry god. Sonya Rhie Mace, the George P. Bickford Curator of Indian and Southeast Asian Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art, reveals in this illustrated lecture how provenance research and conservation over the last decade have led to new, awe-inspiring insights into the meaning and context of this monumental Cambodian masterpiece.

This talk is part of the event Afterhours@NMAA: Summer Festival and offers a variety of activities, including evening hours in the galleries, art and music from across Asia with performances, artist demos, and a special movie screening. Food and cocktails will be available.

Read more and register, click here

Sueharu Fukami (born 1947), Firmament, 2013, wheel-thrown porcelain with seihakuji glaze,
D. 23 in. (58 cm)

NOMAD Capri, Thomsen Gallery
July 6-10, 2022

Thomsen Gallery is now participating at NOMAD Capri, a new destination of the international art fair for collectible design and contemporary art. Taking place in the historic 14th-century monastery Certosa Di Capri on Capri, Italy, Thomsen's exhibition offers a select group of works by the renowned Japanese porcelain sculptor Sueharu Fukami, maki-e lacquer boxes by the Kyoto lacquer artist Yoshio Okada, and Japanese bamboo ikebana baskets by the great master Iizuka Rōkansai.

If you are fortunate enough to be on Capri, do visit Thomsen's display in Room 7 of Certosa Di Capri. For complimentary admission tickets, please register here.

Trefoil-shaped covered box with decoration of chrysanthemums, ca. 12th century, lacquer inlaid with mother-of-pearl and tortoise shell over pigment, brass wire, 1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm), L. 4 in (10.2 cm), D. 1 3/4 in. (4.4 cm). Fletcher Fund, 1925 (25.215.41a,b)

Shell and Resin: Korean Mother-of-Pearl and Lacquer,
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Last day July 5th

Lacquerware with mother-of-pearl inlay has a long and rich tradition in the history of Korean art. This show showcases nearly thirty outstanding works of Korean lacquerware from The Met collection to highlight the distinctive materiality of lacquer and mother-of-pearl. The exhibition begins with a twelfth-century trefoil box, noteworthy for its rarity, and follows the traditional to the present with contemporary works by master artists.

Pillow in the shape of an infant boy, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), 18th–19th century, jadeite.
Gift of Heber R. Bishop, 1902

A Passion for Jade: The Bishop Collection
July 2, 2022–February 16, 2025
More than a hundred remarkable objects from the Heber Bishop collection, including carvings of jade, the most esteemed stone in China, and many other hardstones, are on view in this focused presentation. The refined works represent the sophisticated art of Chinese gemstone carvers during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911) as well as the highly accomplished skills of Mogul Indian (1526–1857) craftsmen, which provided an exotic inspiration to their Chinese counterparts. Also on view are a set of Chinese stone-working tools and illustrations of jade workshops, which will introduce the traditional method of working jade.

Covered box with hibiscuses and grape vines, Ming dynasty (1368–1644), mid-15th century,
cloisonné enamel, Promised Gift of Clara and Theodore Wang

Embracing Color: Enamel in Chinese Decorative Arts, 1300-1900
July 2, 2022 – February 17, 2025
Enamel decoration is a significant element of Chinese decorative arts that has long been overlooked. This exhibition reveals the aesthetic, technical, and cultural achievement of Chinese enamel wares by demonstrating the transformative role of enamel during the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties. The first transformational moment occurred in the late 14th to 15th century, when the introduction of cloisonné enamel from the West, along with the development of porcelain with overglaze enamels, led to a shift away from a monochromatic palette to colorful works. The second transformation occurred in the late 17th to 18th century, when European enameling materials and techniques were brought to the Qing court and more subtle and varied color tones were developed on enamels applied over porcelain, metal, glass, and other mediums. In both moments, Chinese artists did not simply adopt or copy foreign techniques; they actively created new colors and styles that reflected their own taste. The more than 100 objects on view are drawn mainly from The Met collection.

Rotation 1: July 2, 2022–April 30, 2023
Rotation 2: May 20, 2023–March 24, 2024
Rotation 3: April 13, 2024–Feb 17, 2025

Oka Kazuma (1882-1956), Bar Bacchus in Ginza, from the series Pictures of Ginza, First Series,
January 1929, Gift of the artist

Recollections of Tokyo: 1923-1945
July 2-September 25, 2022

This weekend, the Art Institute of Chicago opens two new engaging Asian art exhibitions

Tokyo was devastated by the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923 but developed at an astounding rate over the next few decades. During this period, a number of printmakers documented their impressions of both the ruin of the city and its rebirth. In this Japanese print exhibition, the representation of lost buildings and outmoded entertainments can remind us of time’s passage and the ever-changing nature of a dynamic urban metropolis.

Covered Vase, Qing dynasty (1664–1912), reign of the Kangxi Emperor (1662–1722).
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Bud Berman

Among Friends and Family
July 2-September 25, 2022
The many cultures and traditions across Asia offer countless examples of visually beautiful and emotionally profound art reflecting the importance of time spent with loved ones. The Among Friends and Family exhibition presents a selection of objects from China, Japan, and Korea that portray some of the gatherings that invigorate both everyday life and special occasions.

Cap, Qing dynasty (1644–1912), 18th–19th century. Promised gift of Barbara and David Kipper

While at the museum, be sure to also see the familiar yet rare objects in Kingfisher Headdresses from China, currently on view through May 2023. By the Song dynasty (960–1278), portraits of empresses showed them wearing headdresses adorned with kingfisher ornaments. Few examples of this fragile artistry have survived, and the earliest ones come from the tomb of the Wanli Emperor (reigned 1572–1620), in which archaeologists found four elaborate kingfisher crowns worn by his empresses.

Koike Shōko (born 1943), Narrow-footed pleated shell-shaped covered container, 2013, glazed stoneware, 14 1/4 x 14 in. Photography by Richard Goodbody. Courtesy of Joan B Mirviss LTD

Listening to Clay: The Artists, Curators, and Collectors who Listen
Online Zoom program, July 26, 2022 at 5pm EDT

To celebrate the publication of Listening to Clay: The Artists, Curators, and Collectors who Listen, authors Alice and Halsey North and Louise Allison Cort discuss in depth their personal relationships with these sixteen artists that formed the basis for this book. From the perspective of collecting, they offer a behind-the-scenes look at these artists gleaned over many years and share valuable insights into their artworks. They are joined by Metropolitan Museum of Art curator Monika Bincsik, who recounts the importance of the importance of the Norths’ gift to the Met. In her recent installation of the main balcony, she re-contextualizes these artists in conversation with Western artists.

PANELISTS:
MONIKA BINCSIK, Diane and Arthur Abbey Associate Curator for Japanese Decorative Arts, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
LOUISE CORT, Curator Emerita, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
ALICE and HALSEY NORTH, Japanese clay art collectors and museum patrons
Moderated by JOAN B. MIRVISS

The book can be ordered now through the publisher Monacelli Press/Phaidon or purchased through Joan B Mirviss LTD in July.

To register for this free event, click here. A confirmation email will be automatically sent to you once you register.

Yes, Wonderful Things, Oliver Forge Brendan Lynch
July 1-8, 2022

A hundred years ago, in November 1922, these words were uttered by Howard Carter, when he and Lord Carnarvon, after years of searching, finally peered into the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings which had remained miraculously untouched and well-preserved for millennia. A century earlier in September 1822, Jean-François Champollion, the French scholar often called the Father of Egyptology, revealed his ground-breaking decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs laying the foundation for the study and understanding of the ancient Egyptians with the words “I’ve done it”.

To commemorate these two momentous events, Oliver Forge and Brendan Lynch in collaboration with Claire Brown Art, announce an exhibition devoted exclusively to Ancient Egyptian Art which will be held at our new premises, 16-17 Pall Mall.

Read more, including an online catalogue, click here.

Ren Yi, Demon Queller, Zhong Kui, 1882, ink and color on paper, 65 ½ x 30 ¾ in.
The Clyde and Helen Wu Collection of Chinese Painting, Gift of Dr. Clyde Wu

The Gallery’s collection of Asian art comprises nearly 8,000 works from East Asia, South Asia, continental Southeast Asia, Iran, Iraq, and Turkey and spans the Neolithic period to the 21st century. Highlights of the collection include Chinese ceramics and paintings, Japanese paintings and prints, and Indian and Persian textiles and miniature paintings. Examples from the collection are now on view in three exhibitions through November 2022.

Understanding an Eighteenth-Century Indian Album
This exhibition brings together several manuscript pages featuring exquisite paintings of musical modes, given to Yale in 1939 and 1940. The display locates their production in late 18th-century northern India and presents a selection of textiles and ceramics similar to those illustrated in these pages.

Chinese Painting between War and Revolution, 1830–1950
This show highlights the vibrancy and experimentation with Western and Japanese visual traditions that characterized Chinese painting during the tumultuous period between the Opium War (1839–42) and the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949.

Sakura: Cherry Blossoms
Celebrating the varied rendering of cherries in paintings, woodblock prints, lacquer, and metalwork, Sakura: Cherry Blossoms explores the longstanding Japanese fascination with the beauty of this delicate blossom as a symbol for the ephemeral nature of life and its pleasures.

In addition, the recent gift Rain Washes the Body, Enlightenment Cleanses the Soul (2017), a painting by contemporary Korean artist Kim GuGu, is temporarily shown with stone and bronze sculpture from Asia’s multifaceted religious traditions. These less fragile sculptures, together with ceramics and metalwork objects from across Asia, remain permanently on view.

Read more, click here

Crystal Ball, 19th–early 20th century, Chinese, 1944-20-2a,b

Authentic: Truth and Perception in Chinese Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art
Concludes July 3, 2022

Explore the act of copying and how attitudes toward authenticity are nuanced and culturally specific. Discover the intention behind the work and compare contemporary views on authenticity with those of the past. Highlights include enamel-decorated imperial porcelains, rock crystal carvings and woodblock prints.