Gallery Projects

Musical Instruments: Asian Pieces

Ken Moore, Curator Emeritus, Department of Musical Instruments

Left: Dōtaku. Japan, Yayoi period (ca. 300 B.C–A.D. 300). Bronze. Rogers Fund, 1918 (18.68). Top right: Koto, early 17th century. Japan. Various woods, ivory and tortoiseshell, gold and silver, cloth, lacquer, paper. Purchase, Amati Gifts, 2007 (2007.194a-f). Bottom right: Prince Lu. Guqin, 1634. China (Hangzhou), Ming Dynasty. Wood, silk, jade, lacquer, mother-of-pearl. Purchase, Clara Mertens Bequest, in memory of André Mertens, Seymour Fund, The Boston Foundation Gift, Gift of Elizabeth M. Riley, by exchange, and funds from various donors, 1999 (1999.93)

After a two-year hiatus, on March 22, 2018, four renovated musical instrument galleries reopened featuring a new narrative, and a wide-range of objects from other departments.

In gallery 684, The Art of Music: Time, a chronological arrangement starting from the first millennium B.C., presents artworks that highlight commonalities in music and instrument making across cultures. Audio stops and video monitors offer performances on many of the instruments.

Although the Department of Musical Instruments houses a global collection of some 5,500 instruments, including 1,288 from Asia, additional pieces or their depictions are scattered among The Met's other departments. A portion of these are incorporated into the exhibition to enrich the narrative.

The Asian Art department has lent a dozen objects to this display: a spectacular first to second-century Japanese Dōtaku (bronze bell); Indonesian bells; Southeast Asian metal drums, and two important guqins (zithers), the seventeenth-century "Prince Lu," purchased jointly by the departments, and one given by Curator Emeritus James C. Y. Watt. Nearby is a Chinese porcelain decorated with a scene of a guqin being played. Two highlights from the Musical Instruments collection are an ivory inlaid Ming Dynasty pipa, and an extraordinary koto that will be featured in the upcoming Tale of Genji exhibition (spring 2019).

The final gallery for musical instruments, a regional arrangement emphasizing cross-cultural influences, opens in February 2019 with even more instruments from Asia.

Arms and Armor: Imperial Patrons of the Military Arts in the Qing Dynasty

Donald LaRocca, Curator, Department of Arms and Armor

Top: Ceremonial Saddle Decorated with Peony Blossoms. China, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), probably Qianlong period (1736–1795). Carved red lacquer, wood, gold, copper alloy, iron, leather. Anonymous Loan. Bottom left: Imperial Seal of the Prince of the Dörbed (Four Children) Banner. China, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Kangxi period (1662–1722), dated 1686. Silver. Anonymous Loan. Bottom right: Ceremonial Helmet, China, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), mid-18th century. Steel, copper, gold, silk, metallic thread. Bequest of George C. Stone, 1935 (36.25.5a)

A special installation in the Department of Arms and Armor, organized around key loans from an anonymous private collector, features a small but choice group of masterpieces in carved lacquer and metalwork relating to the military arts during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). Including lavishly decorated saddles, knives, and a matchlock gun, these pieces unequivocally demonstrate the exceptional quality of hunting weapons, armor, and equestrian equipment owned and used by the Qing emperors and members of the imperial court, particularly during the Kangxi (1662–1722) and Qianlong (1736–95) reigns.

Currently on view in gallery 378.