by Margarete Prüch, specialist in Han dynasty lacquerware. Her most recent research relates to the lacquer objects of today’s Jiangsu province.

This rare and well-preserved example of lacquer art of the Han period was acquired in 2006 by the Hammonds Foundation, an institution which supports East Asian art research. In addition to the unusually high quality of its craftsmanship, the inscription on the box makes it exceptional - it has been applied in red lacquer, rather than scratched into the artefact, and it explicitly mentions two officials whose names both appear on two excavated lacquerwares made in the Guanghan imperial workshop at Zitong. The loan of the box to the Museum fur Lackkunst in Munster, Germany gave the author with an opportunity to study in detail its decoration and its important inscription for this article.

Box Western Han period (206 BCE-CE 8) Lacquer Height 17.5 cm, diameter 24.5 cm Hammonds Foundation, Dallas; on temporary loan to the Museum für Lackkunst, Münster

In her assessment of this publication that was designed to accompany the eponymous show at the Rubin Museum of Art, New York (5 October 2007-14 April 2008), Amy Heller notes that, rather than an exhibition catalogue with historical and descriptive entries of the works of art, this book `presents a series of carefully written essays conceived to familiarize the reader with the basic tenets and most important doctrines of Bon, the historical and mythical teachers revered by its adherents, the artistic representation of Bon deities and holy men, as well as ritual practices and the conception of sacred geography and sites, all illustrated by works in the exhibition.’ She concludes that it is a concise and accurate presentation of the complex concepts, history and iconography which are the underpinning and the expression of the Bon religion.

Peaceful and Wrathful Deity Body Tibet, 20th century Pigments on cloth Height 104.1 cm, width 66.7 cm Rubin Museum of Art C2006.66.56 (HAR 200037)

The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco announced the appointment of Jay Xu as its new director, with effect from 15 June. Xu, who until recently held the position of Pritzker Chairman of the Department of Asian and Ancient Art at The Art Institute of Chicago, will succeed Emily J. Sano, who retired in January. Xu’s long and rich museum career began in 1988 as assistant curator at the Shanghai Museum; he went on to serve as a fellow in the Department of Asian Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and as Head of the Department of Asian Art and Foster Foundation Curator of Chinese Art at the Seattle Art Museum, before moving to Chicago. He will lead museum staff in rendering the art and culture of Asia accessible to a broad audience, oversee special exhibitions and public programmes, direct activities regarding the expansion of audiences and supporters, and guide the management of the museum’s 17,000 artworks.

Jay Xu (Photography by Susan Huang/Art Institute of Chicago)

As part of a renewed commitment by the Harvard University Art Museums to further arts scholarship, Ray Williams has been appointed to the newly created position of director of the education department, which has also been expanded. Williams, who has over 20 years’ experience in museum education, will plan, develop and implement educational and public programmes at the Art Museums, and work with the Harvard Graduate School of Education to develop object-based teaching, research, education and learning. A major gift to the education department by Dorothy and Milan A. Heath, Jr, who have also pledged to endow a position there, will be used for the continuation of programmes for schoolchildren and to further the Art Museums’ educational objectives.
On 23 February, The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens at San Marino in Los Angeles held the opening of the first phase of its new Chinese garden, ‘Liu Fang Yuan’ (the ‘Garden of Flowing Fragrance’). Comprising pavilions, a tea house and tea shop, and five stone bridges, all set around a 1.5-acre lake, the Suzhou-style garden will eventually be the largest of the various specialized gardens on the 120-acre grounds, occupying a site of 12 acres. The garden was conceived ten years ago, and was funded by a bequest from Los Angeles businessman and philanthropist Peter Paanakker and grants from the Starr Foundation of New York, as well as by some 300 other sponsors, around 70 per cent of whom are Chinese or Chinese American.

A view of the Jade Ribbon Bridge and the Pavilion of the Three Friends at the Garden of Flowing Fragrance, The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino

The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art has announced a gift of US$1 million from the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Foundation to create an endowment to support Asian art. The gift has been matched by the State matching programme for endowments, making a total of US$1.56 million. In recognition, galleries that were formerly in the west wing will be renovated in conjunction with plans for the new Dr Helga Wall-Apelt Asian Art Galleries, for which the museum has already received US$6 million of an US$8 million pledge from Wall-Apelt (see Orientations, January/February 2008, pp. 81-83).
The latest project of the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust in New York is to restore the Patan Royal Palace Complex. As well as conserving over ten major monuments constituting the Royal Square and gardens, it is also planned to turn part of the complex into a Museum of Architecture, which will complement the nearby Patan Museum. The project was launched by HRH The Prince of Wales in 2006. To raise funds, the trust will hold a gala, ‘New York for Nepal’, on 19 May, featuring an exhibition and silent auction of limited-edition photographs by Robert Polidori. The gala will celebrate the leadership of Mr and Mrs Prithivi Bahadur Pande. For further information about the gala, email kvptbenefit@yahoo.com or call 1-212-727-0074 (New York).

Sundari Chowk, one of several 17th century quadrangles in the Patan Royal Palace Complex, and the focus of current restoration work (Photography by Stanislav Klimek, 2006)

A selection of Robert Powell’s recent drawings is currently on view in the exhibition of Shaman’s drums, ‘Trommeln der Schamanen’, at the Ethnographic Museum in Zurich (until August 2008). Powell’s detailed paintings and drawings of the architecture in the countries he has lived in and visited, such as Nepal, India, Pakistan, Japan and China, were inspired by the ‘material manifestation’ of those cultures. In addition to existing buildings as well as objects, his oeuvre includes reconstructions of historical structures and representations of imagined places and artefacts. One of his current projects is a series of paintings of Angkor.

N.W. Temple Ta Keo, Angkor By Robert Powell (b. 1948), 2007 Watercolour Height 110 cm, width 80 cm

A museum conference, ‘Shifting Sites: Cultural Desire and the Museum’, takes place in Hong Kong on 17 May. Eight internationally renowned speakers will discuss the concept of ‘museum’ in relation to the construction of so-called ‘cultural facilities’ in places like Abu Dhabi and Hong Kong’s West Kowloon, centring on issues such as whether the one-stop cultural district can really emulate the vibrancy of art scenes in cities like London and New York, and what today’s museum should look like. For further information visit www.aaa.org.hk or email Chantal Wong on chantal@aaa.org.hk.
‘China: at the Court of the Emperors, Unknown masterpieces from Han tradition to Tang elegance (25-907)’, on view at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence until 8 June, highlights China’s transformation and cultural renaissance from the Eastern Han to the Golden Age of Chinese history. Because of the Florentine Renaissance, the city was considered an ideal location for such a show, which includes some works never previously seen outside China.

London

The highlight of Gregg Baker’s summer exhibition ‘Some of My Favourite Things’ in his Kensington Church Street gallery from 5 to 28 June is a Japanese 15th/16th century lacquered and gilt-wood sculpture of Dainichi Nyorai.

Dainichi Nyorai Japan, Muromachi period, 15th/16th century Wood with lacquer and gilding Gregg Baker Asian Art

A wide variety of objects will be on view at Roger Keverne’s summer exhibition ‘Fine and Rare Chinese Works of Art’, which opens on 13 June. Ranging in date from the Neolithic period to the 19th century, the group includes archaic and figural bronzes and other metalwork; ceramic sculptures and porcelain vessels; painted, champlevé and cloisonné enamels; lacquerware, and jade. A pair of cloisonné table screens from the mid-17th century decorated with flowering plants and fruits were once owned by Sir Harry Garner. They were exhibited in the OCS’s ‘The Arts of the Ming Exhibition’ in 1957 and illustrated in Garner’s book Chinese and Japanese Cloisonné Enamels (London, 1970).

Box Qianlong period (1736-95) Lacquer Diameter 25.3 cm Roger Keverne Ltd

Brussels Oriental Art Fair (BOAF)

2008 marks the fourth year for this fair, which takes place from 4 to 8 June in the heart of Brussels. The selected participants come mainly from various European countries, as well as Hong Kong, Indonesia and the USA.
The fair’s organizer, Georgia Chrischilles, will be showing various sculptures of animals, such as an Indian Gupta period terracotta goose and a pair of wood aso figures of the Dayak culture in Indonesia; included also in this group is a Pala period figure of the elephant-headed Ganesha.

Dorje Tibet, 16th century Gilt bronze Georgia Chrischilles

Christophe Hioco Gallery selection of Vietnamese art comes from a well-known Swiss private collection. Among the Dong Son bronzes is a perfume burner surmounted by a pelican holding a weight in its beak, a standard of measure in exchanges and barter. A ceremonial vessel on a high foot exemplifies the Giao Chi artworks; Vietnamese motifs decorate the handles and a Chinese-style lattice imitating clouds forms the foot.

Vessel Vietnam, Giao Chi period (1st-3rd century) Bronze Height 54 cm Christophe Hioco Gallery

Among the varied and eclectic display of Buddhist sculpture and other works from Southeast Asia, India and China being shown by Jonathan Tucker and Antonia Tozer is a circa 16th century Nepalese stone Vishnu attended by four kneeling acolytes.
Mingei Arts Gallery will show a mid-16th century Japanese mask representing a sumo wrestler, which was offered as a gift to the general and feudal lord Kazutoyo Yamaouchi, perhaps by Oda Nobunaga, one of the founders of Edo. Galerie Punchinello will display a selection of classical art from Asia and some tribal art from Nepal, South Asia and Indonesia.
Italica will feature several examples of 18th century Chinese furniture decorated with black lacquer mixed with crushed mother-of-pearl inlay.
Susan Ollemans has Indian jades and jewellery, including an 18th century jade morchal (fly whisk) inset with diamonds and rubies, the jade handle carved as a makara head.
Jeremy Knowles will be taking a wide selection of Indian material, including sculptures, miniatures and Company school pictures.
Renzo Freschi will be offering is a 10th or 11th century stone Umamaheshvara from Rajasthan.
Bruno Piazza of PHI Gallery will be exhibiting an extensive collection of gold rings, bracelets, earrings, necklaces, pectorals and other ornament from the cultures of Java, Sumatra, Bali, Eastern Indonesia and Burma, dating from the 2nd to the 14th century.
Studio Arga will be bringing a selection of recently acquired Tibetan thangkas and book covers, as well as a group of Gandharan sculptures and friezes. Especially worthy of note is a 1st or 2nd century Kushan carved stone panel that formed part of an outdoor stage of a city theatre. It represents a scene of the lovers Charudatta and Vasantasena from the ‘Mricchakatika’ (‘The Little Clay Cart’), written by King Shudraka.

Scene from the ‘Mricchakatika’ Kushan period, 1st/2nd century Sikri sandstone Height 70 cm, width 54 cm Studio Arga

Espace4 will be bringing a variety of objects from China, Tibet and Japan, and will also have a special display of items based on the theme ‘vice and death’. This will include works such as Chinese and Japanese erotic prints and paintings, arms and netsuke.
Carlo Cristi will be offering more than fifty works from India, Nepal, Tibet and Southeast Asia, as well as a group of textiles from Central Asia. Of particular interest are an important painting of Vajrapani, a group of 12th century illuminations from Kashmir and a Pala period stone Manjushri. Among the textiles, some 7th century samit examples featuring winged horses, antelopes and birds reveal cross-cultural influence.

Detail of a figure of Manjushri India, Pala period, 11th century Stone Height 61 cm Carlo Cristi

Wei Asian Arts’s show will include Chinese Buddhist sculpture in different stones. A highlight is a Sui period standing Buddha in limestone from Hebei province.
The Alexis Renard will be showing a selection of works from the Indian and Islamic worlds, such as a 16th century Damascus tile with chintamani design and a group of mediaeval Indian sculptures from a private collection.
Among Marcel Nies’s exhibits will be a group of bronzes and figural works. Especially noteworthy are a Cambodian 7th century sandstone Khmer Devi from Sambor Prei Kuk, two large granite 12th century and Chola-style sculptures of Vishnu and Lakshmi from Tamil Nadu. The most important work in the show, however, is a large bronze image of the Khmer king Jayavarman VII, circa 1200.

Olympia International Art & Antiques Fair, London

This year’s fair, which runs from 5 to 15 June, features some 250 dealers, including a number of Asian art specialists. Although the works will still be mainly antique, some modern and contemporary art will also be on offer.
Jacqueline Simcox will mainly be exhibiting Ming and early Qing period Chinese textiles but she will also display some works of art, including a late 18th century Mongolian vase set with turquoise, amber and coral, a 16th/17th century piece of Tibetan lamellar armour in leather decorated with red and gold flowers, and a large 17th century painted and gilded wood sculpture of a Tibetan abbot seated in a horseshoe-shaped chair.
Vanderven & Vanderven Oriental Art will be present a selection of Chinese porcelain for the European market, as well as Han and Tang pottery and some Chinese and Japanese works of art. Two large blue-and-white covered cisterns decorated with ‘the archer’ design after Cornelis Pronk, one of them fitted with the original pewter tap, are a highlight.
As well as objects and textiles from the Middle East, Millner Manolatos will be bringing a group of Indian stone sculptures of Hindu and Buddhist deities from a Swiss private collection, ranging from the 1st to the 12th century. Their pièce de résistance is a blue-and-white Persian charger from the Safavid period, which reveals a fusion of Chinese Kraak border designs and more Turkish and Persian motifs at the centre.

Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair, London

This year’s fair takes place from 12 to 18 June. There will also be a gala evening on 12 June, the proceeds of which will go to the International Fundraising Committee of the British Red Cross, which celebrates the centenary of its Royal Charter this year.
Five Asian art dealers will be participating. Of particular interest on Susan Ollemans’s stand will be an 18th century sapphire torque with gulabi mina (pink enamel) from Benares.
Gregg Baker, one of the few specialists in Japanese screens based in Europe, feels that clients interested in this material must inevitably pay him a visit.
S. Marchant & Son will be showing pieces from their Recent Acquisitions catalogue, a highlight being a Qianlong large pentagonal cloisonné basin decorated with five white cranes from the collection of Juan Jose Amezaga, purchased by him in 1984 in Monaco. Included also will be examples of the Qing imperial porcelains for which the gallery is renowned, such as a large Kangxi yellow-glazed bowl formerly in the collection of Edward T. Hall, as well as a range of famille-verte and blue-and-white. A few fine jades will also be on view.

Basin China, Qianlong period (1736-95) Cloisonné Diameter 65.3 cm S. Marchant & Son