June Visit to the Sackler and Freer Galleries

When we're in Washington, I always find time to drop into the Sackler and Freer Galleries with their splendid collections of Asian art.  Because they're both part of the Smithsonian Institution, connected by an underground passage, and focused on Asian art, I'm never sure where one stops and the other starts.

The Sackler Gallery resulted from Arthur M. Sackler's donation of over 1,000 objects of Asian art worth more than $50 million to the nation through the Smithsonian Institution in 1982, along with $4 million toward the building of a suitable place to display the collection.  The Gallery is part of the Smithsonian's 'south quadrangle' project which includes The National Museum of African Art and the S. Dillon Ripley Center (a conference and study center).  There is 115,000 square feet of gallery space in the completed project -- 96% of it underground. 

The entrance to the Sackler Gallery is a granite pavilion at one corner of the Enid Haupt Garden which houses the lobby and a grand staircase and elevators leading down to the galleries.

'Shiva' from South India, bronze, circa 13th-14th century.
Photo by McClure

The four armed Shiva, known as the 'great destroyer', is shown here in one of his more benign incarnations, 'lord of the wild animals'.  His upper right hand probably held a small deer, symbolic of this role.  His face seems wise, elegant and inscrutable.

'Shiva Nataraja (Lord of the Dance)' from India, bronze, circa 990.  Photo by McClure

This sculpture of Shiva as 'lord of the dance' is one of my favorite objects in the Freer Gallery.  Created over 1,000 years ago in the Tamil region of southern India, it has a tremendous sense of rhythm and motion that is simply joyous.  It always stops me in my tracks.

'Buddha' from India, bronze with touches of gold and silver, 11th century.
Photo by McClure 

This relatively small statue of the Buddha shows the characteristic meditative calm of so many works in the collection.

'Vishnu with Consorts' from the Bengal region of India, black schist, circa  705-1200 AD.
Photo by McClure

The Hindu god, Vishnu, is depicted in this crowded stone carving with his two consorts -- Lakshmi, goddess of fortune (lower left), and Sarasvati, goddess of wisdom (lower right).  Despite the images and symbols pressing around him, the god remains the serene center of this composition.

'Tomb Guardian' from China, wood, pigments & deer antler, 4th century BC
(Eastern Zhou period).  Photo by McClure

This fierce looking object shows how nature (the antlers) trumped man-made symmetry (the carved wood) in very ancient China.  The bronze vessels in the case beyond are probably even older.

'Plate' from Iran, silver & gilt, Sasanian period, 4th century AD.  Photo by McClure 

This plate depicts in relief the mounted king hunting wild boars.  It captures that hectic moment when the hunter closes in on the quarry with great vitality, if a somewhat distorted sense of scale.

'Wine Horn with Gazelle Protome' from Iran, silver & gilt, Sasanian period, 4th century AD.
Photo by McClure

The animals pursued in the royal hunts (including boars, lions, and gazelles) were often depicted on the silver and gilt dinnerware of the royal households.

'Ewers' from Iran, silver & gilt, Sasanian period, 6th to 7th century AD.

The women depicted on these ewers are really dancing up a storm.  The Sasanian metalsmiths were fantastic at capturing the movement of the dance and the hunt.

'Lobed Ladle and Bowl' from China, hammered silver with repousse, chased, and
ring-punched decoration, late 7th or early 8th century (early to mid-Tang dynasty).
Photo by McClure

This bowl and ladle with their sensuous, repetitive patterns are typical of objects used at the court of Tang emperors.

'The Shrine and Beach at Sumiyoshi' from Japan, ink, color and gold on paper, circa 1640.
Right half of 12-panel screen showing the beach.  Photo by McClure

'The Shrine and Beach at Sumiyoshi' from Japan, ink, color and gold on paper, circa 1640.
Left half of 12-panel screen showing the shrine.  Photo by McClure

This 12-panel screen depicts the Shinto shrine at Sumiyoshi which is set on a beach and surrounded by pine trees.  Since the shrine is dedicated to the empress Jinju and the three deities that protected her on her invasion of Korea, I'm sure that it is one of those Japanese nationalist sites that rile the Koreans and Chinese today.  It looks like a beautiful place, but it's probably best to view the shrine in an art gallery.

'Carp'  by Totoya Hokkei, woodblock print, ink and color on paper, 19th century.
Photo by McClure 

This graceful woodblock was part of a larger wall display of Hokkei's fish pictures.  The sensuous motion of the carp leaping out of the water contrasts with the repetitive arcs of the pool.

'Avalokiteshvara, Bodhisattva of Compassion'  from Tibet, brass alloy
with copper and tin inlay, circa 1050.  Photo by McClure

Alternately depicted as male or female in different buddhist cultures, this is one of seven forms that Avalokiteshvara takes.  This Tibetan version with its broad shoulders and slim hips (masculine) and small round breasts and delicate hands (feminine) could be of either sex (or maybe neither). 

' Bodhisattva White Avalokiteshvara'  from Nepal, polychromed wood, 14th century.
Photo by McClure

This graceful 'White Avalokitechsvara' is carved from a single piece of wood by a skilled Nepalese carver.  In its original state it would have been covered with an inlay of precious jewels, but here the viewer sees the unadorned beauty of its sinuous shapes.

'First Sermon from the Deer Park at Sarnath' from Afghanistan, schist, 3rd century

This relief sculpture depicts the Buddha explaining the dharma to his five companions shortly after his enlightenment.  In his sermon at the deer park, he taught that extreme deprivation was not necessary to reach an enlightened state.  There is now a Buddhist monastery at Sarnath (India) on the site of the deer park where he gave the sermon.

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Whether you understand the historical or religious aspects of these works (I don't) the art of Asia has wonderful appeal.  The variety of materials and techniques that are used, the migration of forms over time and place, and the transformation of ideas from one culture to the next are all interesting to trace through the objects in these galleries.