On the Silk Road at the American Museum of Natural History
The Asian Art Museum often provides loans from our collection to other museums for permanent gallery display (see my May 7 blog and for special exhibitions. Sometimes the borrowing institution travels these exhibitions on to other museums. We recently lent several objects to an exhibition on the Silk Road at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
This exhibition is presented in a different manner than an exhibition at the Asian would. The exhibition at the AMNH takes you along the world’s oldest international highway, on a voyage that spans six centuries (AD 600-1200). It showcases four representative cities: Xi’an, China’s Tang Dynasty capital; Turfan, a bustling oasis; Samarkand, home of prosperous merchants; and Baghdad, a meeting place for scholars, scientists, and philosophers.
The exhibition at the AMNH is now closed, but will be traveling to four additional museums outside the United States. The Art Science Museum, Singapore, December 20, 2010 – April 3, 2011 The National Museum of Natural Science, Taichung, Taiwan, June 11 – September 11, 2011 The National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Taipei, Taiwan, October 29, 2011 – January 29, 2012 and The National Museum of Australia, Canberra, Australia, March 31- September 1, 2012 We are also adding one additional object to the exhibition which is being packed right now.
AMNH loan being packed
This piece is a three-footed plate of glazed earthenware from China and is Tang dynasty (618-906).
