One of the major themes in the new Arts of China and Arts of Japan galleries is international exchange. Raw materials, precious works of art, and big ideas all traveled the land and sea routes that connected the many cultures of Asia to one another and to the world beyond. From a very early period, far-flung nations adopted one another’s aesthetics, technologies, and beliefs thanks to commercial trade and the work of traveling missionaries.
This leather trunk, designed to strap onto a mule or camel, probably traveled on the Silk Road, as it was made in eastern China for client with a taste for Central Asian decoration. It is the 13th-century equivalent of designer luggage: most goods on the Silk Routes likely travelled in burlap sacks and wood boxes. We can only speculate about what its contents were: precious goods sent as tribute to a foreign king or important mosque or temple? the dowry of a royal bride? or just the clothes and toiletries of a wealthy merchant? Visit Brooklyn’s new Arts of Asia galleries and discover the cosmopolitanism of Asia’s ports and courts for yourself.
Posted by Joan Cummins Traveling Coffer, ca. 1250-1290. Lacquer over leather, bamboo, wood, with metal mounts. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Asian Art Council, 1996.68. Creative Commons-BY
