The College's new permanent gallery of Asian art sheds light on some of the greatest advances in civilization.
Consider Asia. The largest and most populous landmass on the planet, the continent has introduced the following to the world: paper, printing, silk production, porcelain, and cast iron; graduated calculation, rudiments of geometry, the concept of zero; chess, backgammon, playing cards, polo; and Buddhism, for centuries the most widespread religion on Earth.
Yet, permanent collections of Asian art and artifacts have largely been the domain of urban museums (think the Metropolitan Museum of Art) or large research universities (Harvard's Sackler Museum comes to mind). With the opening of the Robert F. Reiff Gallery in the College's Museum of Art, however, Middlebury becomes one of the few liberal arts institutions in North America to host a permanent collection of Asian art.
Occupying a wing of the museum's second floor, the Reiff Gallery showcases the major cultural traditions of Asia, including Buddhist and Hindu works from Pakistan, India, Tibet, and Mongolia; Indian and Chinese painting; Chinese ceramics and jades; early Chinese textiles; and Chinese and Japanese lacquers.
The inaugural exhibit contains nearly 100 works of art, dating back to the third millennium BCE (Before the Common Era). "As Asia becomes more and more visible to Americans due to its demographics and expanding role in the global economy, it is important to recognize that for thousands of years it has been home to innovative civilizations and the originator of many technological innovations," College president Ronald D. Liebowitz said on the occasion of the gallery's opening in September.
The gallery is dedicated to the memory of Robert F. Reiff, a professor of the history of art at Middlebury from 1958–82, who oversaw the development of the College's Asian collection.
— The Editors
Figure of Avalokiteshvara (Guanyin)
Chinese, Northern Qi Dynasty, dated by inscription 568 CE
Gilt Bronze
Purchase, with funds provided by the Barbara P. and Robert P. '64 Youngman Acquisition Fund for Asian Art
Guanyin is the Chinese name for Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion in Buddhist tradition. The most popular and appealing of the Bodhisattvas, Guanyin was much sought after by those in dire straits, for his understanding and beneficence. A small devotional figure, this would have been privately owned and worshiped by a single family. Unique to this particular piece is the inscription engraved along the base, which dates it back to the year 568.
The inscription also evidences a distinctly Chinese emphasis on the importance of family, as it reads, "With this image, may the country, the monks and teachers of numerous ages, my deceased parents, and all sentient beings gain enlightenment and achieve Buddhahood."
By the sixth century, Buddhism had migrated to China from India and established itself as a major religion. With its emphasis on honoring deceased ancestors, this inscription is emblematic of the changes Buddhism underwent in its earliest adaptation into Chinese culture.
Suit of Ceremonial Armor
Japanese, Edo period (1603–1868), 18th to early 19th century
Iron, leather, gilded wood, gilded bronze, silver, hair
Purchase, with funds provided by the Christian A. Johnson Memorial Fund and the Barbara P. and Robert P. Youngman '64 Acquisition Fund for Asian Art
Though ceremonial and intended for imperial processions and not for combat, this suit of armor presents an interesting paradox. Produced sometime between the late 18th and early 19th centuries, this armor and other wartime accouterments continued to play an important role in Japanese ceremonial life. Japan's martial culture remained prevalent despite the fact that the nation had been in a period of peace since 1603, when Tokugawa shoguns came to power after centuries of war and unrest.
A suit of armor like this one would have been too ornate for an ordinary foot soldier and would have been worn instead by a middle-ranking officer. Much of the body is constructed of leather lacing, interspersed with silk brocade and tooled metal. While this armor does retain many of the functional aspects of something that would have actually been worn into battle, its decoration and adornments made it too impractical for anything besides ceremonial exhibition.
Miniature Pagoda with Buddhist incantation
Japanese, Nara period (710–794), c. 767–770
Wood with white lead covering; incantation: ink on paper
Purchase, with funds provided by the Christian A. Johnson Memorial Fund and the Barbara and Robert P. '64 Youngman Acquisition Fund for Asian Art
This miniature pagoda, or hyakumanto, is part of a set of 1 million commissioned by Empress Shotoku during the eighth century. In a gesture of appeasement and reverence to the Buddhist community, the Empress offered this gift—an incantation enclosed in a small, wooden pagoda—to apologize for her inappropriate liaisons with a young monk. The incantation was excerpted from a sutra (a collection of precepts) that promises expiation of sin and accumulation of religious merit through the copying of sutras and construction of pagodas.
Scandal aside, the incantations represent the second oldest examples of printing that have survived to the present. Printed via woodblock with ink on paper, these precede the earliest printing in the West by several centuries. "This set is of enormous significance, given the economic and cultural impact of printing," says Colin Mackenzie, the Robert P. Youngman '64 Curator of Asian Art. "Without printing, there would have been severe limits on the spread of literacy. Within a short period, large numbers of books were being printed in East Asia, hundreds of years before Gutenberg invented his press." Although a considerable number—about 40,000—remain in the temple at Horyuji, the hyakumanto are extremely rare outside of Japan.
Bell (Yong zhong)
Chinese Eastern Zhou period (770–256 BCE), 6th to early 5th century BCE; bronze
Loan, from Barbara P. and Robert P. '64 Youngman
Along with ritual sacrifice, music was central to ancient Chinese custom. Cast in bronze from a clay mold, this bell would have originally been part of a carillon. Together the bells in some carillons covered five octaves. Played by being struck on the outside by a mallet, each bell was carefully designed to produce two distinct tones, created by striking specific sections of its lens-shaped profile—a feature unique to ancient Chinese bells. Knobs on the exterior served to dampen vibration and produce a clearer tone, while adorning the bell with intricate etchings of dragons. Perhaps the most distinctive aspect of this particular bell is the blue and green patina that has formed on its surface. After casting, the bell would have been bright and brassy. Centuries of aging in an enclosed tomb have changed it radically, and today it can be seen in three colors: the original tone; pale green on its body; and a darker blue on the handle, a rare byproduct of oxidized bronze.
Admission to the Museum of Art is free. Hours of operation are 10 a.m.–5 p.m. (Tuesday through Friday) and 12 noon–5 p.m (Saturday and Sunday). The museum is closed on Monday.
For more information, visit: www.middlebury.edu/arts/museum