ORIENTATIONS MARCH 2005 ISSUE

Contents :

ART OF THE HAN PERIOD by Cary Liu and Susan Beningson. An article relating
to highlights in two exhibitions in New York - `Brilliant Artefacts from
Shandong: Palace of the Afterlife in the Western Han Dynasty' at China
Institute from 3 February to 4 June 2005 and `Recarving China's Past: Art,
Archaeology and Architecture of the Wu Family Shrines' at Princeton from 5
March to 25 June 2005.

THE GOURD OF LONG-LASTING HAPPINESS AND PROSPERITY - A NEW DEPARTURE FOR
PORCELAIN DECORATION IN THE YUAN DYNASTY by Regina Krahl. The author
discusses how this blue-and-white vase represents one of the first
attempts by a Jingdezhen artist of the Yuan period to decorate a
three-dimensional porcelain surface with a greater degree of naturalism.
It had been acquired by the British philanthropist, William Cleverley
Alexander in 1900, when Yuan blue-and-white had not yet been identified in
England.

THE ART OF THAILAND IN THE ASIAN ART MUSEUM by Forrest McGill, Chief
Curator and Wattis Curator of South and Southeast Asian Art, Asian Art
Museum of San Francisco. In preparing the exhibition `The Kingdom of Siam:
The Art Central Thailand' on view at the Asian Art Museum from 18 February
to 8 May, the author has been able to reassess and reexamine examples in
the museum's collection and compares them to those on loan for the show.

PURSUITS OF POWER: FALCONRY IN EDO PERIOD JAPAN by Rachel Saunders
Research Assistant, Japanese Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and curator
of the exhibition `Pursuits of Power: Falconry and the Samurai, 1600-1900'
which opens at the museum on 17 December and runs until 10 June 2005. The
author discusses how the rulers of Japan used the art of training and
hunting with birds of prey to demonstrate and enforce their authority, and
how falconry was an ideal subject for warriors seeking cultural
legitimation through artistic vocabulary.

THE RICHARD LANE COLLECTION by Steven Little, Director of the Honolulu
Academy of Arts. A discussion on some of the numerous examples of Japanese
woodblock-printed books recently acquired by the Academy from one of the
world's most foremost scholars of Japanese art, particularly the ukiyo-e
arts of the Edo period. Illustrated with works by Isoda Koryusai, Shiba
Kokan, Kishi Renzan, Yanagawa Shigenobu, Tsukioka Yoshitoshi and Mifune
Tsunade.

BEYOND THE OCEAN'S HORIZON by Shinya Maezaki. A discussion on the
achievements of Fukami Sueharu, one of the most celebrated and decorated
living artists in Japan who creates porcelain sculptures with qingbai
glaze. Illustrated with examples in the Brooklyn Museum of Art and the
Ruth and Sherman Lee Institute for Japanese Art.

INTERVIEW WITH HAB TOUCH, DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL MUSEUM OF CAMBODIA.

OBITUARY FOR MA CHENGYUAN, former director of the Shanghai Museum by Jay Xu.

BOOK REVIEW

THE EUROPEAN FINE ART FAIR IN MAASTRICHT
THE ARTS OF PACIFIC ASIA SHOW IN NEW YORK
THE INTERNATIONAL ASIAN ART FAIR IN NEW YORK

COMMENTARY: PROTECTION OR RESTRICTION : America's role in safeguarding
China's Cultural Property.
Kate Fitz Gibbon, James Cuno, Daniel Shapiro.

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