Themed “Lost Kingdoms: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early SoutheastAsia, 5th to 8th Century”, the international exhibition will be thefirst featuring the region’s religious art at the museum.
Curator of the museum’s South and Southeast Asian art John Guy saidmost of the 160 sculptures to be displayed are made of stone,terracotta and bronze.
A majority of the works havebeen lent by the governments of Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand,Malaysia and Myanmar as well as the UK and France. The restbelongs to US museums.
Many of the Vietnameseexhibits are valued as masterpieces, including a late seventh-centuryAvalokitesivara discovered in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam in the1920s.
Other highlights from the country are aVishnu and a Ganesha from the 7th -8th Century, a Yakasha from theearly 6th Century, a Buddha in Meditation sculpture from the 8thCentury, and a Shiva Linga from the 5th -6th Century.
Museum Director Thomas P.Campell described an exhibition with such anabundance of Southeast Asian antiquities as a rare event, and thankedthe regional governments for lending the artefacts for display.-VNA