A Budai By Any Other Name Would be Just as Compassionate

Hotei Relaxing in a Field, mid to late 20th Century Maker Unknown; China Painting on porcelain tile 96.52.34 Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Herb Hansen Lots of Loves Love is a fairly complex force that can (often insufficiently) be defined as an intense feeling of affection towards family; friends; a significant other; a childhood pet gerbil named Scruffy, r...
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Asian Japanese Chinese
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Magamaog’s Lashed Logs: Yami Canoes of Orchid Island

Fishing Canoe ( Taratara ), 20th Century Yami culture; Lanyu (Orchid) Island, Taiwan Wood, paint and feather; 81 × 204 × 36 in. 97.8.1 Gift of Leon Chen When a Gangway’s Raised a Porthole Opens While the hopes of the Bowers most nautically inclined visitors may be sunk following the departure of Arthur Beaumont: Art of the Sea this past weekend, re...
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Asian
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Weighing in on Steelyard Scales

Steelyard Scales, 19th to 20th Century Laos Wood, metal, fiber and tortoiseshell 2019.23.71-.80 Gift of Anne and Long Shung Shih Scales of Justice When most think of scales, they likely summon an image of Lady Justice, perhaps guarding the entrance of a courthouse, with golden scales for balancing the deeds of the good, the evil and the neutrally a...
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Asian Chinese
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Snakes and Stones: Perak Headdresses from Ladakh

Headdress ( Perak ), late 20th Century Ladakhi culture; Ladakh Region, Jammu and Kashmir State, India Cotton, lambskin, yak hair, turquoise, coral, carnelian and silver; 54 × 20 × 1 3/4 in. 2019.7.1 Anonymous Gift Crown of the Roof of the World Ladakh is a region of India located in the barren mountainous foothills between the Himalayas and the Kar...
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Costume and Textile Asian
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Baby Back Cribs: Embroidered Carriers of the Miao

Baby Carrier with Pleated Ties, 20th Century Miao culture; Gulong Town, Guizhou Province, China, Asia Cotton and silk; 23 x 30 in. 2008.9.71 Gift of Anne and Long Shung Shih Miao Mom Weightlifting Club We should be thankful to the wonderful moms in our lives every day, but Mother’s Day is the one day a year we have chosen to distill that love into ...
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Costume and Textile Asian Chinese
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I Came, I Saw Ikat: Sumbanese Hinggi

Shoulder Cloth ( Hinggi ), late 20th Century Sumba culture; Sumba Island, East Nusa Tenggara Province, Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia Cotton; 96 × 112 in. 2016.15.45 Anonymous Gift Syncretic Dyeing Art has always been a chorus of different groups reacting to, influencing, inspiring and drawing upon one another’s creations. On the small East Indone...
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Costume and Textile Asian
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Dharma Wheels and High Heels: Shashi Dhoj Tulachan in Dialogue

Guo Pei's Garden of Soul collection backed by Shashi Dhoj Tulachan's paintings. Fashion 101 Recent visitors to the Bowers Museum will have noticed a few new faces—placid as they may be—in the Freedman Galleria, the long hallway travelling between our main desk and the Bowers Museum’s changing gallery spaces. Of course, these seven new, poised ...
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Costume and Textile Asian Special Exhibition Chinese
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Under the Hilt: Identifying Three Japanese Swords

Short Sword ( Wakizashi ), 15th to 19th Century Tsuguhiro (Japanese, active 1469-1521), Jiryūsai Tomohide (Japanese, 1778-1847) and Seiyōken Akitada (Japanese, active 19th Century); Fukui Prefecture, Chūbu Region, Japan and Nagasaki, Kyushu Region or Tokyo, Kantō Region, Japan Steel, manta ray skin, lacquer, silk and iron; 2 3/4 x 2 3/8 x 27 1/4 in...
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Asian Japanese Weaponry
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Who Answers the Cries: Guanyin at the Bowers

Guanyin Seated on a Lotus Flower, late Ming Dynasty (1600-1643) Han culture; China Wood and pigments; 49 x 16 x 11 in. 2005.37.1 Gift of Anne and Long Shung Shih Mercy Me Whether or not you recognize the name, if you have been to the Bowers you have seen at least one representation of Guanyin, the adopted Chinese bodhisattva and goddess of mercy. W...
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Asian Permanent Collection Chinese
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The First Warbles of Spring

Scene from Tale of Genji Chapter 23, “Hatsune (First Warbler)”, 1890 Yōshū Chikanobu (Japanese, 1838-1912); Tokyo, Japan Woodblock print on paper; 21 1/2 x 33 in. 94.64.8 Gift of Mr. William Drell Tale of the Equinox Spring is in the air! The spring equinox, which occurred Tuesday, March 20 th , provides the possibility for rebirth, renewal, and re...
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Asian Permanent Collection Fine Art Japanese
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Viper Vessels of Taiwan's Paiwan

Vessel with Snake Motifs, 18 th Century Paiwan culture; Pingtung or Taitung County, Taiwan Clay and wood; 15 x 11 1/2 in. 2017.11.28-.29 Gift of Anne and Long Shung Shih One Hundred Paces The hundred-pacer snake is a venomous pit viper indigenous to the same region occupied by the Paiwan of southern Taiwan. Hailed as an ancestor in several of their...
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Asian Permanent Collection
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Spun Silver: Apron Counterweights of the Dong and Miao

S-Shaped Counterweight, 20th Century Miao or Dong culture; Guizhou, Hunan or Guangxi Province, China Silver; 6 1/4 × 10 7/8 in. 2015.26.59 Anonymous Gift Glance at the Moon Alternate image of 2015.26.59. Silver was used as a currency in China as early as the turn of the common era. It is unclear when exactly the Dong and Miao of southern China...
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Costume and Textile Asian Permanent Collection
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Car Fit for an Empress Dowager

Empress Dowager Cixi's 1901 Duryea Surrey Duryea Motor Wagon Co.; Reading, PA January 1902 advertisement for the Duryea Surrey. Climb In Empress Dowager Cixi is arguably the most influential figure in late dynastic China. Coming from humble beginnings as a low-ranking concubine for the Emperor, she managed to leverage a legitimate heir to the thron...
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Asian Special Exhibition Chinese
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Bats, Cats, and Qing Hats

Children’s Festival Hats, 19th to 20th Century China Cotton, silk, foil appliqué, wire and metal 2001.1.13, .50, .16 Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Long Shung and Anne Shih Children of Many Hats Rural China during the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912) saw many of the same problems that developing nations still see today. Unfortunately, poor hygiene standards meant th...
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Costume and Textile Asian Permanent Collection Chinese
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What Became of the Floating World

Two Prints from The Fifteen Views of Kyoto,  1950-1960 Tomikichiro Tokuriki (Japanese, 1902–1999) Woodblock print on paper; 15 x 13 in. 81.8.1J, K Gift of Mr. Kerwin Jacobs Beauty Reading a Letter, late 18 th Century Utamaro (Japanese 1753-1806) Woodblock print on paper; 19 x 13 in. 36124.1 Evylena Nunn Miller Memorial Collection Ukiyo-e , the...
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Asian Permanent Collection Fine Art Japanese Printed Materials
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On Ornamental Wings: Qing Dynasty Wooden Corbels

Corbels with Phoenix and Crane, 19 th Century Qing Dynasty; China Wood and pigments; 27 x 14 x 5 in. 2001.58.13a,b Gift of Kevin Branch Diagram dougong  holding up a multi-inclined roof, from the architectural treatise Yingzao Fashi, 1103. To one degree or another, all objects run the gamut between form and function. In architectural terms thi...
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Asian Permanent Collection Chinese
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Imposition of Exposition Exhibition Export Ware

 Two Meiji-era Japanese exposition objects (2017.6.1a-h and 36756) on view  in the Dr. Wan-Lin & Assumpta Kiang Family Foundation Rotunda. Globalization in the 19 th  and early 20 th  Centuries in many cases led to the butting of heads on a national scale, but the conflict served as a fantastic motivator for both art a...
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Decorative Arts Costume and Textile Asian Permanent Collection Japanese
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Japanese Wedding Kimono

Wedding Furisode Kimono (Furisode), c. 1900 Japanese Silk and thread F78.62.1 Bowers Museum Purchase A woman’s first furisode (a long-sleeved kimono, literally “swinging sleeve”) is given to her at the age of 20 when she is recognized as an adult, allowed to vote, responsible for committing crimes and is officially allowed to smoke and drink. A fur...
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Costume and Textile Asian Permanent Collection Japanese
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