Emerald Cities in Gold: Arts of Siam and Burma at Asian Art Museum

Mystical, mythical, mysterious creatures of Buddhist paradise with gilded wings and tails, and in pointed crowns landed in the main galleries of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco – a testament to Museum’s curators’ and conservators’ enormous labor of love. The show, Emerald Cities: Arts of Siam and Burma presents the neighboring rival countries’ rich array of spiritual and decorative artworks dated 1775-1950. All artifacts on display belong to the Museum, with the majority of them coming from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and other sponsors whose collections found their permanent home here. “Our museum carries the largest collection of Siamese art, especially with the 2002 donation from the estates of Doris Duke,” said Director Jay Jie Xu at the exhibition opening. To honor a tobacco fortune heiress whose interest for Asian art transformed into a vast collection of unparalleled significance, the entire first floor was decorated with 29 floral arrangements featuring orchids – Duke’s favorite flowers. Stunning ikebana creations were presented by the San Francisco Orchid Society and San Francisco Garden Club. Chief Curator Forrest McGill who co-curated the show with Pat Chirapravati, shared some war stories about Duke’s Asian treasures, housed in a coach barn, a shooting gallery, and an indoor tennis court in her New Jersey estate, where hurricane Floyd severely damaged some pieces. After the Museum received 190 chosen pieces to round up its already existing collection, they were restored by the Museum’s conservators. In the three sections of the exhibition, there are plentiful bronze and gilded wooden statues of Buddha and his disciples, lacquer images of celestial beings, raw hide shadow puppets, elaborate manuscripts, and ritual and household objects from temples and aristocratic homes. The show features 140 artworks, and will be on display in its exclusive venue at 200 Larkin Street in San Francisco through January 10, 2010. For more information, call 415- 581-3500 or visit asianart.com. Photography by Yuri Krasov.