Detail: How do the aesthetic qualities and functions of aesthetic objects relate to authority of those they were commissioned for? This exhibition comprises select pieces from Asia Society’s Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection. The show explores the role of patrons of wealth and rank as dominating figures in the production of artistic creations. Approximately forty examples of sculpture, ceramic, and painting from South, Southeast, and East Asia are included in the exhibition.
This exhibition will include works of religious art, both Buddhist and Hindu. Certain patrons supported religious institutions as a way of legitimizing and bolstering their power, and some also commissioned many of these with the expectation that they would be rewarded in the afterlife or next life for their meritorious deeds. In addition, ceremonial objects that served as a visual structure for the governing patterns of patrons both for this life and beyond will be on view. Decorative functional objects such as plates and vases, and prized collectables like paintings and porcelains, which testify to the legitimacy and supremacy of rulers and aristocrats, round out the exhibition.