The so-called Manila Galleon (“Nao de China” or “Nao de Acapulco”) brought porcelain, silk, ivory, spices, and myriad other exotic goods from China to Mexico in exchange for New World silver.

This central dome was often interpreted by contemporary commentators as the dome of heaven itself.

One of the first women curators in an American museum, Reinhard was a pioneer in her field.

Guest Blogger Anika shares her love of the artworks in the galleries of the Department of European Paintings.

As part of the series #ArbusMetSquad, Teen Studio participants Halina S., Kimberly S., and Nicole G. share the portraits they made inspired by the exhibition diane arbus: in the beginning.

If you have walked through a wood of wild ginger, forget-me-nots, and unfurling ferns, or wandered in a meadow of strawberries, yarrow, and oxeye daisies, you have had the opportunity to admire medieval plants. Sweet Herbs and Sundry Flowers is an introduction to medieval plants and gardening practices by way of the gardens of The Cloisters. In her work as assistant horticulturist at The Cloisters, Tania Bayard has become aware of the many questions visitors ask about medieval gardening. Tania addresses those questions here, providing a list of the plants in The Cloisters' gardens. The delight in reading Sweet Herbs and Sundry Flowers is the realization that the modern gardener's experience is not unlike that of gardeners one thousand years ago. Then, as now, garden plots were selected for adequate light and water drainage, the soil was prepared in the spring, noxious weeds and stones were removed, the ground was tilled and raked, and cow manure was added for fertilizer. Seeds and young plants were lovingly tended. When the plants were mature, roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits were harvested for food, medicines, and various household uses. Following the fall harvest, the ground was readied for winter, and thoughts of spring were always present. How wonderful it is that we share with the medieval gardener the same labors and joys, getting our hands dirty with soil as did the ninth-century monk, Walahfrid Strabo.

Intern Harita Koya explores three examples of North Indian jewelry in the collection of the Department of Islamic Art.

Anita Thacher's enigmatic short film "Homage to Magritte" (1974) comprises five vignettes inspired by the painter's disarming sensibility.

Textiles have for centuries served a crucial role in Indonesia. Far beyond their customary utilitarian function, they have been used in symbolic and sacred contexts and also as emblems of wealth and status. The hub of trading systems, ancient Indonesia was a pathway for religious and artistic influences, dispersing exotic patterns and forms from many cultures throughout its myriad island populations. Images deeply embedded in ancient traditions combined with designs from other Asian civilizations to create a rich iconographic tradition that celebrates a cosmology founded on revered ancestors and supernatural presences. Using nineteenth- and early twentieth-century textiles as the vehicle to explore the central issue of iconographic origins, art historians Robert J. Holmgren and Anita E. Spertus have examined the many-layered complexities of Indonesian pattern and form. Through forty-five textiles and related objects selected from their collection, they trace the history and culture of three very distinctive island cultures, each with a radically different approach to design. The imagery of Sumba, an isolated tribal society, is forceful, and often violent and sexually explicit. Toraja, a transitional culture in which an animist vision has been fertilized by external influences, produced rhythmic, exuberant patterns that bring to mind the dynamism of modern abstract painting. And from Lampung, a sophisticated pre-colonial court culture, emerged masterpieces of naturalistic description and complex figural iconography. Each work has been specially photographed in color for this volume and is discussed in terms of its function, iconography, and significance within the culture. Also included are maps, a glossary, and a bibliography.

The practice of building sepulchral mounds and burying treasures with the dead was transmitted to Japan from the Asian continent about the third century A.D.