As a sign of favor to his deceased mother the Buddha ascends to preach to her in Indra’s Heaven (the Heaven of the Thirty-three Gods). Later he descends to the human world by way of a miraculous triple ladder. At this moment he makes it possible for the inhabitants of the three worlds—the heavens, the earth, and the hells—to see each other.

In the upper part of the painting the Buddha is depicted sitting in Indra’s palace attended by the Buddha’s mother, to his left, and Indra, the green figure at his far right, as well as other deities. In the middle of the painting, the Buddha—flanked by the gods Indra and Brahma (who holds a parasol over the Buddha)—descends by the triple ladder as monks and celestial musicians hover in the air.

At the lower end of the painting both nobles and common people wait to greet the Buddha, while below, evildoers suffer in hell.

This early Mughal period painting comes from an illustrated imperial manuscript of the Razmnama, a Persian translation of the great Hindu epic the Mahabharata. The Muslim Mughal emperor Akbar (reigned 1556–1605), in whose reign this painting was completed, commissioned Persian translations of the Mahabharata and the other great Hindu epic, the Ramayana, to demonstrate his interest in Hindu religion and culture. Three major illustrated copies of the Razmnama are known; these are dated to 1598–1600, 1605, and 1616–1617. This painting comes from the earliest of these manuscripts. One of the most remarkable features of this illustrated Razmnama is that it depicts many stories ancillary to the central narrative. The story told here is as follows: Daksha, father-in-law to the powerful Hindu deity Shiva, held a sacrificial ceremony to which he invited everyone but Shiva. At the ceremony, Daksha continued to insult Shiva. Enraged, Shiva’s wrath became personified as Virabhadra, and he and his companions attacked the ceremony, breaking vessels, killing guests, and decapitating Daksha.

The second half of the Chinese word for “landscape” is water (shui). Confucius likened water to righteousness, courage, and other such virtues that were his goals for self-cultivation. In Great Water No. 4, Zhu Wei puts front and center the water element of Chinese landscapes.

The artist has said this work is part of a series inspired by a Song dynasty landscape painting by Wang Ximeng. Though Zhu chose to depict only the water element, he followed the distinctive tight-knit wave patterning seen in the original painting. He made his colors more nuanced, however, by repeatedly rinsing and further working the painting surface, which resulted in the mottling and cracking that gives the surface texture and depth.

Zhu Wei received his education in the People’s Liberation Army Academy of Art, the Beijing Film Academy, and the China Institute of Art. He made his first appearance in an international exhibition in 1993 and has exhibited in more than twenty solo shows.

This gold bowl was given in 1921 as a wedding present from King Rama VI to the daughter of Hamilton King, a U.S. diplomat in Siam. It was delivered by the Siamese ambassador to King’s family in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Bowls such as this one were made to contain religious objects or offerings. In old Siam they were included as part of the insignia of royal family members and high officials. A gold bowl was a popular wedding gift from the royal family. This bowl is decorated with several alternating motifs: a mythical bird with human attributes (a garuda), stylized foliage, and a celestial being with hands in the gesture of adoration.

The Siamese traditionally preferred objects of high-karat gold of a reddish color. According to analysis in the museum’s conservation laboratory, this bowl is 71 percent gold and 24.5 percent silver, with small quantities of other metals and minerals. In Western terms this would be considered 17-karat gold. Why the surface is so reddish is not clear. No tinted varnish or other coating was found during analysis.

The Zoroastrian religion originated in ancient Iran (Persia). On this bowl are scenes of victories of Zoroastrian rulers from ancient Persian history, scenes that appear on rock reliefs in Iran. On one side is shown the triumph of the Emperor Darius (550-486 BCE) over a rival. Nearby is the winged disc, a symbol associated with the Zoroastrian supreme deity. On the other side is a later Persian emperor humbling a defeated Roman ruler. Both scenes are based on ancient Persian sculptured reliefs of these events, which the maker of the bowl may have seen in drawings, photographs, or other artworks.

Many centuries ago some Zoroastrians migrated from Iran to western India, where they were often known as Parsis, that is, “Persians.” Many Parsis in Mumbai (then Bombay) became leaders in banking and commerce, and sometimes sent family members and colleagues to far-off cities as business representatives. Commissioned by a member of a well-to-do Parsi family, this bowl was probably used in religious ceremonies honoring deceased relatives.

This carved object was once the handle of a Balinese kris (dagger). Krisses have long played important roles in Balinese society, and, in pre-colonial Bali, most men possessed at least one. Krisses were weapons that could be used in hand-to-hand warfare, but were also sacred heirlooms, spiritually powerful objects, and markers of status. The most significant part of a kris was its blade. Undoubtedly some of the power ascribed to krisses derived from the mysteries of their production. Metalworkers, especially producers of weapons, have long held special status in Indonesia.
 
Royal krisses often had handles made of precious materials, such as ivory or gold encrusted with gems. The handles frequently depict demonic figures, sometimes referred to as ogres (raksasa), and sometimes the wind god Vayu, father of the Pandava brother Bhima, a hero of the epic the Mahabharata. Vayu (known as Bayu in Indonesia) plays a central role in the popular Balinese story of Bhima’s quest for holy water. It is perhaps because of his association with this story that Vayu is said to hold a jar of the elixir of immortality in his right hand in some images of the deity.

It is difficult to tell what the demonic figure on this handle is holding. His left hand seems to grasp a swath of cloth, perhaps a corner of one of his sashes. His right arm swings across his chest and clasps a segmented round object, framed by the elongated thumbnail of the figure’s hand. Long, sharp fingernails, especially thumbnails, are associated with superhuman strength.

This intricate and masterful Balinese sculpture depicts Ravana, demon king and principal opponent of Rama, astride a fierce bird. Here, Ravana’s twenty arms and ten heads have been reduced to one.

These illustrated pages are from a manuscript that functioned as a guide for Muslims who desired to perform the hajj pilgrimage to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. All Muslims who have the physical and material means to do so are encouraged to visit Mecca at least once in their lifetimes. The focus of the pilgrimage is the monument known as the Kaaba, the most sacred site in Islam. It is located at the center of the courtyard of the Great Mosque in Mecca, depicted here. In addition to representing a map, a guide such as this one would include prayers for different stages of the journey and advice for travelers. Guides for pilgrims to Mecca and Medina were often produced for and by communities that lived a considerable distance away, many of whom would never have been able to visit. Of interest here, the artist incorporated architectural features—the bulbous domes, the intricately carved marble screens, and the tiered minarets—that were more characteristic of the Deccan in south central India than of Mecca.

Sri Lanka, an island near the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent, has always had strong cultural links with India. For many centuries Sri Lanka was a stronghold of Buddhism (which was founded in India) and saw itself as preserving some of the earliest and most authentic traditions of the Buddha’s teachings. From the 1000s through the 1400s Buddhist monks traveled from Sri Lanka to kingdoms in what are now Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos, and sometimes from these kingdoms back to Sri Lanka, spreading their understanding of Buddhism. The monks sometimes carried with them not just copies of holy texts but also small artworks, which may have had an influence on art styles of the places to which they traveled.

In 1505 the Portuguese arrived in Sri Lanka. Their destruction of Buddhist monasteries, which they carried out to eliminate “idolatry” and promote Christianity, began a long period of decline in Sri Lankan Buddhism. In the 1700s, however, the rulers of Kandy, a small Sri Lankan kingdom that had held out against European domination, sought to reinvigorate Buddhism in their realm. They built or refurbished temples, endowed monastic institutions, and reopened contacts with the Buddhist kingdoms in mainland Southeast Asia. This Buddha dates from that period of revival, mixing old features such as general proportions and body positions with newer ones such as the large flame on the top of the head and the rhythmic wavy treatment of the folds of the monastic robe.

This panel, before it was broken, would have included seven Hindu goddesses known as “mothers.” These goddesses embody the energies of male gods to whom they are linked by their names. The goddesses also hold symbolic implements and sit on the animals associated with these male gods. From left to right: Indrani, representing the energy of the god Indra, holds a thunderbolt and sits on an elephant; Kumari, the female counterpart of Skanda (also known as Kumara), holds a spear and sits on a peacock; Varahi, associated with Vishnu in the form of the boar-headed Varaha, holds a skullcap and sits on a buffalo; and Chamunda (who does not have a male counterpart) holds a skullcap and a trident and sits on a corpse. Missing are the other three Mother Goddesses: Brahmani, counterpart to Brahma; Maheshvari, associated with Shiva; and Vaishnavi, Vishnu’s female counterpart.