Staatliche Museen zu Berlin: About the Collection

Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara in Water-Moon Pose (China, Song Dynasty, 960 - 1279) in the module "Art and Religion: Sacral Art in China and Japan" of the Museums für Asiatische Kunst in the Humboldt Forum © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss / Alexander Schippel

Vishnu, detail, South India, 8th–9th century AD © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Asiatische Kunst / Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss, digital reproduction: Jester Blank GbR

Vishnu, South India, 8th–9th century AD © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Asiatische Kunst / Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss, digital reproduction: Jester Blank GbR

The teahouse in Museum für Asiatische Kunst’s module “Art and Religion: Sacral Art in China and Japan” at the Humboldt Forum, developed by URA Architects in Kanazawa, Japan, in close consultation with the Chadō Urasenke Tankōkai Berlin Associatio © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss / Alexander Schippel

Dancing eight-headed Hevajra, Cambodia, 12th / 13th century. © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Asiatische Kunst / Jürgen Liepe

Standing Buddha, Gandhara, Takht-i-Bahi, 3rd century © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Asiatische Kunst / Iris Papadopoulos; CC NC-BY-SA

Small goblet with openwork walls, China, Ming Dynasty, 1st quarter of the 17th century © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Asiatische Kunst / Jürgen Liepe

Wuzhiqi, protective spirit of the Huai and Guo Rivers, China, Song Dynasty, 12th century © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Asiatische Kunst / Jürgen Liepe

Imperial throne seat with three-part screen (China, 1651 - 1675) in the module "Court Art of China" of the Museum für Asiatische in the Humboldt Forum © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Asiatische Kunst / Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss / Alexander Schippel

About the collection

The collection at the Museum für Asiatische Kunst (Asian Art Museum) is characterized by its tremendous variety, encompassing early archeological artefacts, expressive ritual sculptures from different Asian religions, precious examples of applied arts which bear witness to the most highly developed craftwork, as well as the rich pictorial art of Asia. The latter offers equal measures of elaborate narrative and expressive abstract representations. Individual works of contemporary art link together the traditional and the contemporary.

Among the museum’s highlights are the Central Asian murals and sculptures, which predominantly originate from the Buddhist cave temples from the so-called Silk Road. They constitute the link between the sculptures of South and East Asia. Highlights also include the religious sculptures of Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism, as well as the collections of East Asian painting, Japanese woodcuts and East Asian lacquer objects.

The Berlin-Dahlem site of the Museum für Asiatische Kunst and the Ethnologische Museum has been closed since 9 January 2017. You can visit the new presentation of the collections from the Museum für Asiatische Kunst and the Ethnologische Museum at the Humboldt Forum.