Asian Bronze: 4000 Years of Beauty

Yashoda with the Infant Krishna India, 12th century, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Image: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

For centuries, bronze has played a central role in the traditions of Asia. This exhibition is a unique celebration of 4000 years of Asian bronze, with masterpieces from India , China, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, Nepal and Korea . Ranging from prehistoric objects to contemporary artworks, and from everyday items to depictions of gods, each one is a display of astonishing skill and dazzling imagination.

Many of the objects have been loaned by other museums, both Western and Asian. One of the six works loaned by the National Museum in Bangkok is Buddha Protected by the Naga , which is leaving Thailand for the first time. Other loaned works have come from Indonesia (Sonobudoyo Museum, Yogyakarta), India (Bihar Museum, Patna) and Pakistan (National Museum, Karachi).