Luxury and Luminosity: Visual Culture and the Ming Court

This exhibition features 48 objects of which 35 are imperially commissioned, cobalt-decorated porcelains from the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and places them in the broader context of other major court arts of the period. Art works include enamel-decorated porcelains, cinnabar-red carved lacquers, cloisonne and gold vessels, silk tapestries, and color paintings. The use of art to further the emperor's domestic and foreign agendas also is revealed through these objects.