A Confucian Scholar's House
An introduction to Korean Confucianism and related architecture.
An introduction to Korean Confucianism and related architecture.
Writing was so valued by the Chinese that they called the most essential implements for the art The Four Treasures–the brush, ink stick, ink stone, and paper.
The Japanese phrase Chanoyu, translated literally as “hot water for tea,” refers to the tradition of preparing and serving powdered green tea in a highly stylized manner. Learn more about this tradition.
Students brainstorm the qualities of good and evil and draw conclusions about the Balinese concept of “dynamic” or balanced opposites. Then, students will relate the idea of “dynamic opposites” in the Ramayana (Story of Rama) to present-day situations by identifying a current problem, creating a visual identify for their own pair of opposing characters, and scripting a dialogue.
Learn about Buddhist caves. This is one of a series of caves excavated out of the volcanic rock that extends along a cliff overlooking the Wagora River at Ajanta, about two hours north of the present-day city of Aurangabad, in Maharastra state in western India.
During the Muromachi period (1338–1573) the vogue for Chinese art, especially among the Ashikaga shoguns, who ruled as the military leaders of Japan during this period, led to the development of new architectural environments in which to display collections of tea-related objects. Learn more.
Iran's rich history stretches back to about 8000 BCE, when the first settlements appeared in western Iran and the Caspian sea.
A series of lectures wherein renowned scholars discuss the arts of China from the Neolithic through the Tang dynasty (618–906).
Members of the Bay Area Indian community describe the context of Buddhist arts in South Asia. Included are clips of temples, festivals, and worship at various sites in India. Part two of a two part series.
Buddhism was founded in northern India in the sixth century BCE. Most historians believe it was introduced to China in approximately the second century by means of monks and traders along the Silk Road.
In 1420, in an effort to consolidate his control over the throne, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty moved China's capital to a site in the North, now known as Bejing. There, he built a vast complex of palaces and administrative buildings now covering 178 acres. Because access was restricted to the imperial family and to those who had business with them, it came to be known as the Forbidden City. Learn more in this short documentary.
Turkish calligraphers were masters of transforming words and phrases into the shapes of animals. Artists achieved these effects by elongating, wrapping, and rotating letters to create the contour (outline) as well as details of the animal. Students will create a zoomorphic drawing composed of an adjective that describes the animal.
Turkish calligraphers were skillful at transforming words and phrases into the shapes of animals. This was done by elongating, wrapping, and rotating letters to create the contour (outline) as well as details of the animal. Favorite animal shapes include the lion, peacock, and stork. Students will write a descriptive sentence about an animal that they believe has virtuous qualities. They will create a zoomorphic pen and ink drawing composed of this sentence.
In this lecture series, renowned scholars from across the nation will discuss the manipulation of art by Asian rulers across cultures and time.
Learn about samurai castles.
An introduction to the art and architecture of the Hindu temples of India.
Explore the ancient kingdom of Angkor, which was one of the most powerful states in Southeast Asia from the 800s to the 1300s. A succession of kings built huge temples that remain in Cambodia today as some of the world's greatest religious monuments.
In this lecture series, Mary-Ann Milford of Mills College and Lewis Lancaster of UC Berkeley discuss the arts of Japan.
Spring 2012. Join us as we explore the art of Southeast Asia and the Himalayas. Featuring prominent scholars and curators from across the country, these lectures will showcase many treasures of the Asian Art Museum and illuminate sacred and secular traditions: from the steamy kingdoms in the east and south of India to the mountainous realms to the north.
Learn about Bodh Gaya, one of several sights in India associated with the birth of Buddhism.
The Southeast Asian country of Indonesia consists of more than 17,000 tropical and volcanic islands that straddle the equator between the Indian and Pacific oceans.
Explore Nara's ancient Buddhist art and architecture.
The Islamic world is and always has been more diverse and complex than most outsiders have thought...
This lecture series examines the origins of traditions and how traditions are renewed, appropriated, and transformed over time.
The Chinese Buddhist figures seen in the galleries at the Asian Art Museum were originally placed in temples and monastic buildings. This video explores Wutaishan, an area with one of the heaviest concentration of Buddhist temples in China.
Landscape with Yueyang Pavilion (1802), by Aoki Shukuya (died 1802). Japan; Edo period (1615-1868). Two panel folding screen; Ink and colors on gold. Gift and Purchase from the Harry G.C. Packard Collection Charitable Trust in honor of Dr. Shujiro Shimada; The Avery Brundage Collection, 1991.69.
Storehouse. Eastern Han Dynasty (25‒220 CE). China, Hubei Province. Earthenware with molded decoration and uneven lead glaze. The Avery Brundage Collection, B60P130+.
A short documentary on the Japanese tearoom at the Asian Art Museum.
Stupas are dome-like structures, originally mounds honoring the relics of great leaders or princes, which later became associated with the relics of the Buddha. Learn more. (Audio by Associate Curator of Himalayan Art, Jeffrey Durham.)
Join the Society for Asian Art as we explore the art of India and the Islamic world. As in past seasons, the Fall 2011 lecture series will feature prominent scholars and curators from across the country and showcase many treasures of the Asian Art Museum. An array of topics will be discussed, including the life and visual representation of the Buddha; Hindu gods and goddesses and the depiction of heavenly bodies; sacred architecture; Hindu epics; the diversity of South Asian religious practice and the rise of Islam across Asia; Mughals, maharajas, and manuscript paintings; and contemporary Indian art. This lecture series coincides with the beginning of a three-year training program for new Asian Art Museum docents.
The stone pagoda structure is called the Great Wild Goose Pagoda enclosed within the Ci’en (Temple of Mercy) monastery in present-day Xi’an. It was erected in 652 to commemorate the return of the temple’s abbott, the celebrated monk Xuanzang. This heroic figure to Chinese Buddhist history traveled west across the Silk Road and throughout India for sixteen years, exploring the homeland of Buddhism before returning with hundreds of sutras (Buddhist texts).
Himeji Castle is among the finest surviving examples of the defensive structures built in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries as samurai strongholds and symbols of power. Learn more.
Hindu temples are numerous in form, and probably evolved from a variety of sources, including the worship of natural sites, mounds, trees, due to the need for a place to conduct ritual practices and house images of deities. Learn more.
The photograph shows the Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya, in the state of Bihar in eastern India. This temple stands next to a descendent of the bodhi tree under which the Buddha achieved enlightenment. This site is the most important pilgrimage site in the Buddhist world, similar to Varanasi for Hindus or Mecca for Muslims. Learn more.
Mt. Fuji and the beach at Miho. 1666. By Kano Tan'yu (1602-1674). Six panel folding screen. Ink, colors and gold on paper. The Avery Brundage Collection, B63D7.B.
Pair of architectural carvings of wind and thunder deities, Fujin and Raijin, Edo period (1615-1868), 1600-1700. Japan. Architectural element; wood. The Avery Brundage Collection, B60S2+ and B60S3+.
A lecture series by renowned scholars on the arts of Asia—explore temples, palaces, and sometimes forgotten places of power, religion, and art. Visit world wonders not simply as tourists today, but as monks, monarchs, artisans and artistocrats, traders and explorers experienced them over the centuries.
In the heart of Seoul there are several historic palaces that were the residences of Korea's royal family from the 1400's to the mid-1900's. This short documentary explores the art and architecture of these royal palaces of Seoul.
In this lecture series, renowned scholars from across the nation will discuss the art and culture on pilgrimage paths across Asia.
The Asian Art Museum’s teahouse as designed by architect Osamu Sato as a functioning teahouse, as well as a display case. Learn more.
This photograph is taken inside the Forest of Steles Museum in Xi’an, China. The history of the collection begins in the Tang dynasty when various emperors began to order copies of famous works of literature to be engraved on stone, partly for preservation and security, because works on paper could easily be lost or destroyed.
The Art/Lit Living Innovation Zone is a new work of public sculpture developed as part of the Living Innovation Zone (LIZ) program. The installation was designed by a team of youth in the Architecture Program at Youth Art Exchange, who were inspired by dragons—a mythological creature found in the art and literature of many different cultures and time periods. Their dragon is decorated with a myriad of patterns found on artwork in the collections of the Asian Art Museum. Over the next two years, the intended life of the project, the sculpture and area around it will be programmed with activities, decorated with new murals, and celebrated with art openings.
A series of lectures on the arts of India.
This lecture series, organized by the Society for Asian Art, explores narrative using Asian art—how myths, legends, histories and moral precepts have been transmitted through visual means. Topics range from sculptural reliefs and murals used to educate pilgrims at famous religious sites to works created primarily for entertainment. Contemporary storytelling is also addressed via lectures on Bollywood and manga produced by San Francisco's Henry Yoshitaka Kiama.
Base for a water pipe, 1650–1700. India; Bidar, Karnataka state. Zinc alloy with silver and brass inlay. Courtesy of Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Gift of Marjorie Bissinger, B86M11. Photograph © Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.
A behind-the-scenes tour of the Maharaja exhibition.
Explore the classical gardens of Suzhou, which are considered to be some of the most beautiful gardens in China.
A series of lectures wherein renowned scholars from across the Bay Area discuss the arts of South and West Asia.
Emerald Cities: Arts of Siam and Burma, 1775–1950 was the first major exhibition in the West to explore the rich but little known arts of Siam and Burma from 1775–1950. View lectures by renowned scholars related to this exhibtion (on view at the Asian Art Museum from October 23, 2009–January 10, 2010).
In the early years of Western sea exploration, traders and missionaries began returning to Europe with stories and goods from their visits to China. Information about China was spread through books, prints, and export items, such as porcelain and textiles. Reports compiled by Jesuit missionaries fueled the curiosity of the public and inspired chinoiserie, the evocation of Chinese motifs in art, furniture, architecture, and gardens. Just as Jesuits translated important authors such as Euclid into Chinese, they also translated Confucian works into Latin.
Background information on the Hindu deity, Ganesha, and Hindu architecture.
This Goddess image appears in a niche on one side of the main structure of the great Shiva Nataraja (Dancing Shiva) a temple in Chidambaram, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Learn more.
The Society for Asian Art's renowned Arts of Asia lecture series will focus on trade roads and sea routes. You will be transported from courts to caravans, from stupas to shipwrecks, from mountain passes and river valleys to open seas. Travel with merchants and monks, monarchs and missionaries and see their riches and relics. Discover ancient ceramics, sculptures, coins, calligraphy, tea wares, textiles and much more.
Amandeep Jawa discusses the "Indian-ness" in his life.
Lewis Lancaster of UC Berkeley gives an overview of Japanese Buddhism.
Lewis Lancaster of UC Berkeley gives an overview of Japanese Buddhism.
Artist Joanna Swan discusses India and her work during the during the PechaKucha Night at the Asian Art Museum.
Background information on a Hindu temple called the Kandariya Mahadeva, the largest and tallest of the surviving temples at the temple site of Khajuraho.
In this symposium, speakers will address various aspects of the maharajas' cultural patronage and its impact on Indian art and politics from the eighteenth through the early twentieth century.
Founder of Seoul-based firm Mass Studies, architect Minsuk Cho discusses the firm’s recent work.
Michael Yankaus on a "Vedic City" during PechaKucha Night at the Asian Art Museum.
Mihrab-shaped panel, approx. 1350. Iran. Limestone. Asian Art Museum, Gift of the Connoisseurs’ Council, 2015.71. Photograph © Asian Art Museum.
Artist Nidhi Chanani gives a brief talk about her work at the Asian Art Museum during the PechaKucha Night at the Asian Art Museum.
Mary-Ann Milford of Mills College gives a talk on prehistoric Japan and early ceramics of the period.
Mary-Ann Milford of Mills College discusses prehistoric Japan and the early ceramics of the period.
Railing pillar with female figure beneath a tree, 100–200. India; Mathura area, Uttar Pradesh state. Sandstone. Gift of the Asian Art Museum Foundation, B69S13.
The Shanghai exhibition (on view at the Asian Art Museum from February 12–September 5, 2010) explored, through the mirror of its art, the tumultuous history that has resulted in one of Asia’s most dynamic and cosmopolitan cities of today. Learn more about Shanghai through short video documentaries, talks, and through the voices of the Asian Art Museum's Art Speak interns.
Mary-Ann Milford of Mills College discusses Shinto art and architecture.
Mary-Ann Milford of Mills College discusses Shinto art and architecture.
This is the Potala Palace located in Lhasa. It is perched upon a hill called Marpo Ri, which commands a view of the entire city. This hill was where the kings of Tibet lived beginning with Songtsen Gampo in the seventh century. The Fifth Dalai Lama moved his headquarters here from Drepung Monastery in the mid-seventeenth century, and since that time the Dalai Lamas of Tibet resided there (until the exile in 1959 of the present Dalai Lama). This became both the spiritual and political seat of authority.
A visual tour of important sites in Tibet.
Daniel Byers discusses the Himalayan Kingdom of Mustang during the PechaKucha Night at the Asian Art Museum.