South & Southeast Asian Art Collection
The Museum's collection of South and Southeast Asian art is considered among the important collections in America, in company with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Freer/Sackler Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
The collection holds 945 objects of the highest quality from the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain religions. Objects range from the 3rd century B.C.E. to the 19th century C.E., from areas covered by modern-day India, Pakistan, Nepal, Tibet, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand. The Museum's collection of Indian bronzes contains nearly every major style from the 2nd to the 15th centuries.
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Sculpture is the strength of this collection, whether bronze or stone, and whether inspired by the Buddhist, Hindu or Jain religion. The ensemble is introduced by a few pieces from the ancient kingdom of Gandhara, which occupied a territory corresponding to large areas of modern-day states of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The collection contains excellent examples of Buddhist and Hindu sculpture from India, ranging from the 2nd and 3rd centuries through the classic Gupta period, best characterized by a heroic Torso of a Buddha. Of comparably early date (ca. 400 C.E.) is a remarkable bronze depiction of the Standing Buddha, one of a very small group of Gupta-period images in metal that have survived our own time.
The collection is especially strong in South Indian Hindu bronzes, among them such celebrated and unique pieces as the Karaikkalammaiyar, a Shiva Saint and the Tree of Life.
The Museum also owns a number of lavishly colored Indian miniature paintings of a multitude of subjects. Two examples from the 18th century, the Dhanasri Ragini and Ramakali Ragini, depict scenes from romantic Hindu literature.
Indian religious art spread throughout neighboring countries, and the way in which it was modified to different national concepts is well-illustrated by sculpture from Java, Thailand and Cambodia. A Standing Buddha, for instance, made in Thailand sometime during the 7th or 8th century C.E., displays evidence of influence by Indian art of the Gupta and post-Gupta periods; the physiognomy nonetheless conveys something of the individuality of Mon culture.
The development of sculpture in the Khmer Empire is demonstrated by several freestanding figures as well as reliefs dating from the 10th through the 13th centuries. Sculpture from Nepal and Tibet is represented by a fine group of gilt bronzes, thankas (hanging scrolls and banners) and other Lamaistic ritual material.