Resources

Jeffrey Durham, Associate Curator of Himalayan Art, discusses a painting of the Buddha Vairochana in the exhibition, Enter the Mandala.

Learn more about the oldest known dated Buddha produced in China and how it may have looked when it was created.

Bottle Gourds, 1930–1957, by Qi Baishi (1863-1957). Hanging scroll; ink and colors on paper. The Avery Brundage Collection, B69D15.

In all lacquer objects, regardless of when they were produced, a resinous sap coating preserves the core material and allows for decoration. The material for lacquering is extracted from lacquer trees (Toxicodendron vernicifluum; formerly Rhus verniciflua), which is the same genus as poison oak. Learn more in this award winning documentary on Japanese lacquer.

The Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, approx. 900–1000. India; perhaps Nalanda, Bihar state. Stone. The Avery Brundage Collection, B63S44+.

The Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Chinese: Guanyin). China; Tang dynasty (618–906). Gilt bronze. The Avery Brundage Collection, B60B795.

Bhima (Bima), second of the Pandava (Pandawa) brothers, approx. 1960. Indonesia; West Java. Wood, cloth, and mixed media. From the Mimi and John Herbert Collection, F2000.86.157.

Learn about the basic beliefs of Hinduism.

China’s emperors believed that Heaven bestowed upon them a divine mandate to rule — thus their title “Son of Heaven.” This mandate was hereditary but could be withdrawn at any time and bestowed upon another family if Heaven deemed it appropriate.

This scene illustrates an episode from the chapter, “The End of the Life of Kiso Yoshinaka,” in The Tale of the Heike, a thirteenth-century recounting of the wars between two powerful clans, the Heike and the Genji (also called the Taira and the Minamoto). By the time this painting was made, important episodes from The Tale of the Heike such as this one were widely familiar and had become popular subjects for paintings.