Detail: Location: Florence and Herbert Irving Asian Wing,
Exhibition Gallery for South Asian Art, Gallery 251

Some 23 masterpieces of Buddhist art produced in Tibet and North India during the 11th and 12th centuries will go on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art beginning February 8, 2014. Tibet and India: Buddhist Traditions and Transformations will examine how esoteric imagery, texts, and Vajrayana ritual practices coming out of the great monasteries of north India contributed to reshaping the complex religious landscape of Tibet. Works on view will include stone and bronze sculptures, illuminated manuscripts and book covers, and some of the earliest tangkas to survive from the Tibetan tradition. The exhibition will also present two contemporary works by Tibetan artists, contributing to the understanding of how this longstanding tradition is today being presented to a new international audience. The exhibition will be drawn primarily from the Museum’s own holdings and will include several important works from private collections.