Exhibition

亞歐堂 meet asian art Bowls. Metamorphoses of a Basic Form

11 September 2020 – 7 November 2021

With its new cabinet exhibition from the series meet asian art, the Museum Angewandte Kunst presented the beauty of the archetypal shape of the bowl. On display wre 31 selected examples from China, Korea, Japan and Southeast Asia, manufactured over four millennia and using a wide variety of materials and techniques.

Photo: Ute Kunze © Museum Angewandte Kunst

The term bowl is not entirely easy to grasp – the most common is wan 碗, a term used in China, Korea and Japan, which primarily refers to bowls for eating and drinking. The objects on display, however, show that there were also various other uses for bowls, be it sacrificial bowls or brush washers for calligraphy.

The fifth project in the exhibition and event module meet asian art thus traced a fascinating and, for all its simplicity, surprisingly complex and manifold shape of East Asian product design. The oldest, Neolithic examples were ceramics throughout, as this material, despite its fragility, is one of the most durable of all. Also on display were bowls made of jade, bronze, cloisonné or glass in an astonishing variety of materials, shapes, colors, surfaces and production techniques. All the pieces on display come from the Asian collection in the Museum Angewandte Kunst.

Curator: Dr. Stephan von der Schulenburg

Learn more about 亞歐堂 meet asian art