Resources

Students will explore the museum or online exhibition to research and complete their K-W-L charts.

Asian Art Museum Docent, Linda Lei, gives a talk to teachers on the symbols associated with Chinese Lunar New Year at the Asian Art Museum on May 15, 2014.

The religious fervor and opulence of the Goryeo dynasty (918-1392) can be seen in the intricately hand-copied sutras (the teachings of the Buddha) that date to this period. Korean monk-scribes were commissioned by royals, aristocrats, and individual high-ranking monks to write the sacred words of the Buddha by applying pigments of ground gold and silver to deep indigo–dyed mulberry paper. They began by pictorially narrating the sermons of the Buddha with key episodes within the sutra chapter on the frontispiece (first four sutra panels). The rest of the sutra comprised flowing calligraphy translating the Buddha’s teachings.

Bottle Gourds, 1930–1957, by Qi Baishi (1863-1957). Hanging scroll; ink and colors on paper. The Avery Brundage Collection, B69D15.

The Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, approx. 900–1000. India; perhaps Nalanda, Bihar state. Stone. The Avery Brundage Collection, B63S44+.

Learn about the basic beliefs of Hinduism.

China’s emperors believed that Heaven bestowed upon them a divine mandate to rule — thus their title “Son of Heaven.” This mandate was hereditary but could be withdrawn at any time and bestowed upon another family if Heaven deemed it appropriate.

This scene illustrates an episode from the chapter, “The End of the Life of Kiso Yoshinaka,” in The Tale of the Heike, a thirteenth-century recounting of the wars between two powerful clans, the Heike and the Genji (also called the Taira and the Minamoto). By the time this painting was made, important episodes from The Tale of the Heike such as this one were widely familiar and had become popular subjects for paintings.

Associate Curator of Southeast Asian Art, Natasha Reichle, trains the Asian Art Museum docents on the upcoming Bali: Art, Ritual, Performance exhibition on view at the Asian Art Museum from February 25-September 11, 2011.

To expose students to terminology used by archaeologists and to heighten awareness of the rich discoveries in Afghanistan. Students make visual observations, write clear, succinct descriptions, form hypothesis on the function of the artwork, and investigate the influences of different cultures on art found along the Silk Road in Afghanistan.