The Smart Museum’s Asian collection encompasses a rich variety
of forms, materials, and functions, ranging from millennia-old
ritual objects to contemporary photography. It covers a wide
geographic region but focuses on the traditional arts of East
Asia: China, Korea, and Japan. The works on view introduce the
rich histories of the arts of China, Korea, and Japan, with a
special emphasis on the media, traditions, and forms of art in
all three cultures. Stretching across thousands of years, the
works on view highlight key historical epochs and national
styles. These objects reveal how foreign influences were adapted
to local tastes and sketch out the lines of cultural
transmission that are especially central to scholarly painting
and Asian ceramic traditions. Modern and contemporary works on
view—in old and new media—offer a creative dialogue with the
past. Current highlights include Tang dynasty tomb figures, a
Ming dynasty Buddha sculpture, and Gandaharan sculpture. Because
scroll paintings and other works o