Resources

Students will: 1.) analyze the role of the puppet master (dalang) in Indonesian rod puppet theater (wayang golek). 2.) Read a summary of the Ramayana or a scene from this Hindu epic. 3.) Identify the different puppet character types. 4.) construct a rod puppet of a character from the Ramayana or the Mahabharata.

The Hindu deity Vishnu, 1100–1200. India or Bangladesh; northern Bengal. Phyllite. The Avery Brundage Collection, B62S4+.

Hermit in landscape, approx. 1618–1652, Chen Hongshou (1598-1652). China; Ming dynasty (1368–1644) or Qing dynasty (1644-1912). Hanging Scroll; ink and colors on silk. Museum purchase, B79D8.

Haniwa in the form of a warrior, approx. 300–552. Japan; excavated at Fujioka, Gunma Prefecture. Kofun period (300–552). Earthenware. The Avery Brundage Collection, B60S204.

Students will research objects from the Asian Art Museum’s collection and choose one that they think will earn the most money in the marketplace. Then, they will create a commercial to try to sell their object to the class using evidence as to why the object/idea was considered valuable at the time.

Beginning in the Eastern Zhou dynasty (ca. 1071‒ 221 BCE) was the development of the so-called ‘hundred schools’ of philosophy, a creative flowering of genius that laid the foundations for all major schools of Chinese thought with the exception of Buddhism. At this time, philosophers began to travel around from court to court offering advice on everything from how to run the state, how to achieve victory in battle and how to achieve immortality.

Four seated musicians, approx. 700–750. China Tang dynasty (618–906). Earthenware. The Avery Brundage Collection, B60P316, B60P317, B60P3186, and B60P319.

Learn more about the various formats of Chinese painting.