COLLECTION DISPLAYS
Installation view, The Four Accomplishments
The Four Accomplishments
January 26, 2026 – May 2026
Second Floor
East Asian art often references the Four Accomplishments—mastery of chess, calligraphy, painting, and the zither—which were initially associated with the well-educated class of scholar-bureaucrats in China. This installation includes depictions of these skills throughout East Asia and highlights the visual vibrancy of calligraphy in particular, with scrolls by the 17th-century Japanese artist Hon’ami Kōetsu and his Chinese contemporary Wang Duo, alongside an early 20th-century Korean screen by Yun Yonggun. Scenes of women that allude to the Four Accomplishments, including a print of a courtesan playing the koto (a Japanese variant of the Chinese zither), exemplify the versatility of this theme and its transmission between cultures.
To learn more, click here.
Installation view, Of Kings and Gods in Indian and Islamic Paintings
Of Kings and Gods in Indian and Islamic Paintings
January 26, 2026 – May 2026
Second Floor
The lives and exploits of kings and gods are the focus of the paintings on display from West and South Asia. A highlight is the recently acquired 17th-century battle scene from the History of Babur, the memoir of the founder of India’s Mughal dynasty. Mughal paintings were influenced by works from Safavid Persia, including depictions of historical rulers from the Book of Kings, one of the great classics of Iranian literature. Alongside portraits of Mughal courtiers and rulers in grand palaces are scenes of the Hindu god Krishna from the History of the Lord. In several paintings, Krishna wears a crown underscoring the interchangeability of royalty and divinity.
To learn more and view a video about the four Indian paintings in the display, click here.
Special Publication Promotion
To celebrate this season’s Asia Week, we are offering a special promotion on our recently released title Celadon on the Seas: Chinese Ceramics from the 9th to the 14th Century. Beautifully illustrated and engagingly written, this publication explores the development of the southern Chinese ceramic industry from the ninth to the fourteenth century. Drawing on our Collection, it examines the artistic, historical, and technical aspects of dozens of ceramic objects, offering an overview of the industry and its unique relationship to maritime trade.
To learn more and purchase your copy, click here.
Asian Art from the Permanent Collection
The Gallery’s Chinese and Japanese collections were built initially through the gifts and bequest of Mrs. William H. Moore between 1937 and 1960. The greatest strengths of the Chinese holdings are ceramics and paintings, including a group of vessels from the Changsha region of Hunan Province, from around 500 B.C.E. to 1000 C.E., assembled for the most part by John Hadley Cox, B.A. 1935. Chinese paintings range from the Tang dynasty (618–907 C.E.) through the 20th century, with particular strengths in the 17th century and in the modern and contemporary period.
The Japanese collection has important concentrations in the arts of the Edo period (1615–1868). Approximately 1,200 prints, the majority of which are ukiyo-e prints of the 18th and 19th centuries, demonstrate the breadth of this medium, and recent additions have included a group of 20th-century prints. Several important screens and hanging scrolls of the 14th through 18th century highlight the department’s holdings of Japanese painting and calligraphy, while Japanese textiles are represented by fragments from the Shōsōin repository in Nara, Noh robes, kimonos, and a collection of Buddhist priests’ robes. Japanese ceramics, a growing area of the collection, span from the Neolithic period to the presend day, with important recent additions of contemporary ceramic sculpture.
The South Asian and Islamic collections, again founded by the gifts of Mrs. Moore, are represented by an excellent group of textiles, ceramics, miniature paintings, and manuscript pages. Gifts of over 80 Persian and Indian miniature paintings, and others of Indian sculpture, have greatly augmented the holdings of Iranian and Indian art.
To view highlights in the collection, click here.
