CLOSING SOON

Liu Dan 劉丹, Scholar’s Rock, 1993, ink on paper; Purchase through the generosity of Alan J. and Suzanne W. Dworsky and through the Ernest B. and Helen Pratt Dane Fund for Asian Art, 2003.83. © 1993 Liu Dan

East Asian Art Gallery Reinstallation

Through December 1, 2024
Gallery 2600

One of the highlights in our recently reinstalled East Asian Art Gallery is this ink on paper Scholar’s Rock by Liu Dan. For at least 2,000 years, Chinese artists and scholars have collected unusually shaped stones, commonly known as “scholars’ rocks,” to display in their studios and gardens, regarding them as microcosmic landscapes to be explored in the mind’s eye. Their bizarre, sprawling, and pierced forms surpass the limitations of the physical world. Rendered on an almost planetary scale, this work is part of a larger installation examining the many ways in which artists in East Asia have manipulated scale to change the viewer’s perception of a subject.

 

NEWLY INSTALLED

Garden carpet, Iran, 18th century, cotton warp, wool weft, and pile, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Joseph V. McMullan, 1957.137

Garden Paradise

Through October 2025
Gallery 2550 and 2559, Islamic and South Asian Art and Galleries

In the Islamic world, gardens have traditionally been an integral part of palatial, religious, and funerary architectural complexes and are often compared to paradise in literature. In the Qur’an, paradise is promised to believers as a beautiful garden to rest and enjoy, with four flowing rivers of clear water, non-intoxicating wine, pure honey, and milk, as well as aromatic plants and fruit-bearing trees. During the Islamic era, gardens in Iran and Central and South Asia merged this idea of a four-river paradise with the ancient Persian cross-axial garden to form a four-part garden design known as the chahar bagh.

The garden carpet is part of a larger garden-themed installation in the Islamic and South Asian art galleries

 

Installation view of Late Imperial Monochromes. Photo: © President and Fellows of Harvard College; courtesy of the Harvard Art Museums.

Late Imperial Monochromes

Ongoing
Gallery 2710, North Arcade

In China’s Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties, a taste emerged for vivid monochrome wares. Imperial kilns left ceramic bodies undecorated or subtly incised, allowing a single bold color to dominate. The rainbow of hues seen in this presentation of thirteen works was achieved through a combination of low-fired enamels and high-fired glazes made with iron, copper, cobalt, and manganese oxide colorants.

To learn more about all these exhibitions, click here.

 

The Collections

To view our collections from The Harvard Art Museums — the Fogg, Busch-Reisinger, and Arthur M. Sackler Museums, click here.