Museum for Asian Art

On 4 December, the board of the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Foundation of Prussian Cultural Heritage) decided to unify the Museum of East Asian Art and the Museum of Indian Art.


Collection of South, Southeast and Central Asian Art
Founded in 1963, the collection offers a representative overview of the art of the whole Indian cultural sphere, which encom-passes the Indian subcontinent (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Nepal and Bhutan) as well as the Himalayan region and South-East Asia. The collection includes Buddhist, Jainand Hindu works from all the major epochs.

It is one of Germany's leading institutions of its kind in terms of size and significance. Its prominence derives from two main areas: the terracottas, stone sculptures and bronzes of Indian and South East Asian origin, and the Central Asian wall paintings and sculpture, mainly from the Buddhist cave temples along the Silk Route.

The collection’s possessions cover more than 3,000 years of Indian culture. Highlights include the 'Turfan' collection from Central Asia (of international standing) and the cave temple with dome, which has been reconstructed on the original scale. The South East Asian section also contains bronzes of excellent quality from the mainland and the islands of Thailand and Cambodia, Burma and Java.


Collection of East Asian Art
The collection was founded by Wilhelm von Bode in 1906, making it the oldest of its kind in Germany. The arts of China, Japan and Korea are exhibited in individual galleries surrounding a central room dedicated to items of Buddhist art common to all three cultures.

Chinese archaeology is represented with important ancient bronzes, early ceramics and objects made of jade. Characteristic examples of porcelain and lacquer-work are also on show. A small porcelain goblet, which dates from the early 17th century and once belonged to the art collection of the Electors of Brandenburg, is of particular cultural and historical significance. The examples of lacquer-work include a 17th-century imperial throne with an accompanying screen. This masterpiece, made of palisander wood with an inlay of mother-of-pearl in a lacquer and gold base, is on display in a special room of its own.

The museum’s highlights include the collection of Japanese paintings and East Asian lacquerwork by Klaus Friedrich Naumann, a Berlin-born art dealer and collector who lives in Tokyo.

Painting and calligraphy, a field in which the Museum's collection is outstanding and which is traditionally regarded with highest esteem, is highlighted by a number of particularly fine examples in the Chinese and Japanese galleries. The Museum's impressive collection of mainly Japanese woodcuts is presented in a series of special exhibitions. The tea-room, Bôki, built by Japanese carpenters, is a new attraction in the Japanese gallery, serving as an exhibition piece in itself as well as demonstrating the tea ceremony.

In the entrance section visitors will have access to a variety of modern information sources such as a video room and a number of computer terminals. The study collection on the intermediary floor offers deeper insights into aspects of the collection.