The spring rotation of artworks in the Art of Asia exhibition focuses on the connection between painting and script in fine arts, which is a major phenomenon in Asia. The room displaying Chinese painting will present the *Couplet in the Cursive Script* by calligrapher Qian Bojiong, an example of the use of the Chinese script in art *par excellence*. The couplet has a poetic meaning and could have decorated a study room or an elegant spot in the house of a literatus. The painting *Bamboo in the Wind* by Qi Baishi, one of the preeminent Chinese modern artists, shows a combination of calligraphy, poetic contents and painting in a harmonious whole that continued to play a major role in the work of traditionally-oriented artists in the 20th century.
Painter and collector Vojtěch Chytil brought home an interesting example of the Tibetan version of the Scripture on the Ten Kings from Beijingin the 1920s. Selected sheets present the Tibetan script *uchen* and contemporary illustrations done under the influence of the Manchurian Qing dynasty.
The Japanese painting and prints room acquaints a visitor with the calligraphically conceived story of the “son of the wind” Matasaburō, a literati-style view ofMount Fujiwith a Chinese poem, or Kunisada’s post-mortem portrait of actor Iwai Hanshirō V, who is stylized as the bodhisattva of wisdom Fugen astride an elephant and holding a scroll in his hand.
An Indian miniature dating from the 17th century shows – according to an inscription – a woman preparing to see her husband, but the protagonist is the Mughal ruler Babur. Restoration work and technological research has corroborated that it is a later overpainting from the late 10th century.
Curators: Zdenka Klimtová, Michaela Pejčochová, Jana Ryndová
