Abstract Japanese water painting of a lotus
Image Credit

Zhang Daqian (Chinese, 1899-1983), Lotus, 1963.Ink and color on paper. Denver Art Museum: Gift of the Children of Mr. & Mrs. Wong Pao Hsie, 1992.237

Asian Art

Zhang Daqian (Chinese, 1899-1983), Lotus, 1963.Ink and color on paper. Denver Art Museum: Gift of the Children of Mr. & Mrs. Wong Pao Hsie, 1992.237

Overview

The Denver Art Museum’s Asian art collection was founded in 1915 when Walter C. Mead pledged his collection of Chinese and Japanese art "to the people of Denver." The collection has since grown to be one of the finest of its kind in North America. With more than 7,000 artworks representing 6,000 years of history across the entire Asian continent, the collection is particular strong in artwork from Japan, Korea, China, India, and the Islamic world. Its holdings include objects of almost all media, with a strength in ceramics and sculptures.

Highlights

The Asian art collection is the home to more than one thousand bamboo works from China, Korea and Japan, one of the largest Asian bamboo art collections in the United States. A majority of these are from the collection of Walter E. and Mona Lutz, their children and grandchildren. This amazing collection is particularly notable for historical bamboo sculptures, scholar objects, tea ceremony and flower arrangement articles. A recent gift of Japanese paintings and ceramics from Dr. John Fong and Dr. Colin Johnstone has made the Asian Art Department particularly strong in representing Japanese women artists from the 1600s to the early 1900s, and is probably the largest collection of its kind outside Japan.

In addition to the Asian art department, a number of other departments at the Denver Art Museum also collect art from Asia. The department of textile art and fashion’s holdings of Chinese court textiles are among the largest and finest in North America, thanks largely to a generous gift from James P. Grant and Betty Grant Austin in 1977. Collected by their mother, Charlotte Hill Grant, in China in the 1920s, the gift included more than 600 Qing Dynasty (1636-1911) court robes and accessories. The museum’s department of modern and contemporary art holds an important collection of contemporary Chinese painting and sculpture, significantly enhanced by generous gifts from Kent and Vicki Logan. Included are works from internationally recognized artists such as Xu Bing, Yue Minjun, Fang Lijun, Zeng Fanzhi, Zhang Dali, Zhang Huan, Sui Jianguo, Chen Wenling, Hung Liu, Yu Hong, Lin Tianmiao, and Xiaoze Xie. Within the Asian art department, modern and contemporary Japanese lacquerware, ceramics, and woodblock prints are also highly recognized, along with a growing number of works from Himalayan, South, and Southeast Asian regional artists.

The Asian art department is nationally and internationally recognized for its vigorous programs and excellent exhibitions, and continues to collaborate with many museums in Asia and other global institutions for exhibitions and academic exchanges. The department’s Curator’s Circle lecture program is particularly notable for its promotion of scholarship of Asian art and dialogue with Asian artists, working closely with the Denver Art Museum Friends program to produce exciting Asian art lectures and cultural events.

The excellence of its Asian art collections and programs have made the Denver Art Museum an internationally recognized institution for collecting and promoting Asian art, bringing this "mile-high city" in the American heartland much closer to Asia.

Department Staff

Douglas Wagner, Senior Curatorial Assistant

Douglas Wagner is the senior curatorial assistant in the Asian art department at the Denver Art Museum. Working in the Asian art department since 2006, he has contributed to the acquisition, exhibition, and interpretation of artwork from across Asia. Notable exhibitions featured Japanese ceramics, woodblock prints, samurai armor, and the Denver Art Museum’s vast collection of bamboo art. He has written articles and catalog entries, offered lectures on Japanese art-related topics at numerous Universities and cultural institutions, and participated in the Japan Foundation's curatorial exchange program in 2011. Prior to joining the Asian art department, Douglas worked in the DAM's exhibitions and collections department, seeing to the care and installation of the museum’s collections. He holds a bachelor's in history and anthropology from the University of Colorado at Denver, and a master’s degree in liberal arts from Johns Hopkins University.

Karuna Srikureja, Associate Interpretive Specialist

Karuna Srikureja is the associate interpretive specialist for Asia, Africa, and Oceania at the Denver Art Museum. She previously served as Kress interpretive fellow at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Karuna received her bachelor's in art history from Emory University and her masters in Asian religious art from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies. Since joining the DAM in 2019, Karuna has been working on the reinstallation of the museum’s Asian art collection.

Collection Highlights

figure

figure

Bridled and Saddled Horse
600s–700s, Tang dynasty (618–907)
China
Earthenware
Bequest of Bernadette Berger
2017.43

With its orange-glazed body, the accenting detail of a bright green bridle, and its cream-colored patches, mane, and tail, this robust horse displays the three-color (sancai) glaze combination associated with classic Tang dynasty sculpture. With increasing connections between China and Persia and West Asia in the early Tang dynasty, a sizable number of tall, powerful horses were brought to China. They were greatly admired by the Tang court and the aristocracy, and ceramic horses from this period were modeled on these imported horses.

Horse, 600s–700s. Tang dynasty (618–907), China.
Glazed earthenware; 20 x 7 1/2 x 21 in. 
Denver Art Museum: Bequest of Bernadette Berger, 2017.43

bottle, pilgrim

bottle, pilgrim

Moon Flask
1736–1795, Qianlong period, Qing dynasty (1644– 1911)
China
Porcelain
Gift of May Wilfley in memory of her parents, A. R. Wilfley and Addie M. Wilfley
1974.28

With a circular body, tube-shaped neck, and a flared oval base, this blue-and-white moon flask is one of the finest examples made during Emperor Qianlong’s reign. It is decorated with Buddhist auspicious signs and motifs, a popular practice since the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368). It is believed that these signs were introduced to inland China through the spread of esoteric Buddhism from Tibet. The shape of this flask is likely an imitation of glass and metal vessels from West Asia.

Moon Flask, 1736–1795. Qianlong period, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), China.
Porcelain with underglaze blue; 19 1/2 x 15 x 8 in.
Denver Art Museum: Gift of May Wilfley in memory of her parents, A. R. Wilfley and Addie M. Wilfley, 1974.28

figure

figure

Buddha 
800s-900s, Pala dynasty
India
Stone
Gift of Irene Littledale Downs
1972.227

This carving here of the Buddha shares characteristics of Pala period sculpture: the double lotus base on which the figure sits, the crossbar throne-back, and the upside-down horsheshoe-shaped halo. The Buddha's hair is in snail-shell curls and the protuberance (ushnisha) on his head shows his enlightened state. The two deer on the base refer to the deer park where the Buddha taught his first sermon, and the wheel symbolizes this first teaching, when the Buddha set the wheel of law in motion. 

. figure. 9th century-10th century. Gift of Irene Littledale Downs. 1972.227.
Daruma

Fugai Ekun

Daruma

Fūgai Ekun
Japanese, 1568–1654
Bodhidharma
1600s, Edo period (1615–1868)
Ink and color on silk
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John B. Bunker
1982.135

Bodhidharma (known in Japan as Daruma) is the South Indian monk who introduced the Zen school of Buddhism (Chinese: Chan) to China in the sixth century. From the late sixteenth century, exaggerated caricatures of Daruma became a frequent subject among Japanese painters. Daruma’s piercing gaze in this painting is a reference to an account that Daruma sat meditating for nine years, staring at a cave wall with wide-open eyes. The artist of this work, Fūgai Ekun, was nicknamed Ana (Cave) Fūgai because he spent many years living in mountainside caves, perhaps in emulation of Daruma.

Fugai Ekun (Japanese). Daruma. 1600s. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John B. Bunker. 1982.135.
Lord of the Faith-Guarding Deities (Mahakala)

Lord of the Faith-Guarding Deities (Mahakala)

Lord of the Faith-Guarding Deities (Mahakala)
Tibet
1700s
Brass
Walter C. Mead Collection
1933.14

Mahakala, the Great Black One, is the most popular of the protectors of Tibetan Buddhism, and is often found at the inner entrance of a temple or at his own special shrine.  Here he appears in his six-armed manifestation, clothed in an elephant hide and a tiger pelt, trampling the prone elephant-headed figure of Ganesha.  His fierce countenance is reinforced by his flame-like hair, a crown and a garland of skulls, and the vajra chopper and skull cup that he holds in his middle hands.  Traces remain of a red pigment that once highlighted these features.

. Lord of the Faith-Guarding Deities (Mahakala). 18th century. brass. Walter C. Mead Collection. 1933.14.
figure

figure

Garuda (Vehicle of Vishnu)
Indonesia, Bali
1800s
Polychromed wood
Museum purchase for the Frederic H. Douglas Collection
1956.8

For centuries, trade and the spread of Indian religious practices allowed Hinduism to make a lasting impression upon the people of Bali. Although later Arab traders brought Islam to Indonesia, to this day the island of Bali remains primarily Hindu. Garuda, the half-man/half-eagle vehicle associated with the Hindu god Vishnu, is an especially popular figure who is believed to ward off snakes. Ornately carved and decorated images of this type were often placed in the rafters of open-air pavilions and palaces. This well-preserved sculpture provides an idea of what these figures may have looked like before their color disappeared due to neglect and the passing of time

Image of Garuda, about 1875. Bali, Indonesia. Polychromed wood; 29 x 18 x 17 1/4 in.
Denver Art Museum: Purchase for the Frederic H. Douglas Collection, 1956.8

Portrait of Nadir Shah

Portrait of Nadir Shah

Nadir Shah Seated on Throne
About 1760, Mughal dynasty (1526–1857)
Delhi or perhaps Jaipur, India
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper
Gift of the Edna Hadley Collection
1968.9

The Persian ruler Nadir Shah (reigned 1736–1747) led a successful invasion of India in 1739, defeating the Mughal ruler Muhammad Shah at the battle of Karnal. In this painting, Nadir Shah wears a Persian coat and conical headdress, both of which attest to his foreign origin. This portrait, along with many others from the same period, may have been commissioned by Nadir Shah to memorialize his victory.

. Portrait of Nadir Shah. c. 1760. Gift of the Edna Hadley Collection. 1968.9.

See more Asian Art

Browse objects from the Asian art collection in our online collection.

Browse the collection

Featured Articles

Dive deeper into the stories behind some of the artworks in the collection by reading through articles written by our curators, conservators, and museum staff.

Publications

Linking Asia: Art, Trade and Devotion. Denver Art Museum, 2017. ISBN 978-0914738-53-4.

From the Fire: Contemporary Japanese Ceramics from the Robert and Lisa Kessler Collection. Denver Art Museum, 2016. ISBN 978-0914738-42-3.

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Lit up hallway of the newly renovated Martin Building

The Martin Building Project

The gallery for this collection is closed during the Martin Building renovation project. Standing seven stories tall, the Martin Building will house collection galleries, a conservation laboratory, interactive classroom space, a family activity center, two restaurants, and the brand new Anna and John J. Sie Welcome Center. It will reopen October 24, 2021.

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