National Museum of Asian Art

Kuniyoshi zatsuga shū 国芳雑画集, pp. 4–5, Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797–1861), 1856, FSC-GR-780.723.

The Guiding Hand of Past Masters

If you’re a book lover, you might enjoy exploring the Pulverer Collection of Japanese Illustrated Books, acquired in 2007 by the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Formed over a span of thirty years by Dr. Gerhard Pulverer and his wife Rosemarie, the collection includes over 900 titles (totaling approximately 2,200 volumes) mostly from the Edo period (1603–1868), although there are a number of twentieth-century works as well.

Conservator Jiro Ueda positions the handscroll prior to reflectance imaging spectroscopy. A large camera mounted above his head captures images through a hole in the table

Behind the Scenes: Imaging A Japanese Handscroll

Learn how conservators at the National Museum of Asian Art preserved this fragile Japanese hand scroll "Miraculous Interventions of Jizo Bosatsu."

Cicada on tree branch; Wang Zhen (1867–1938); China, modern period, autumn 1919; fan mounted as album leaf; ink on gold-flecked paper (Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.: Gift of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Freer Gallery of Art, F1998.222.2)

Cicadas as Symbols of Rebirth in Chinese Art

Learn about the cicada’s longstanding role in Chinese culture from the collections of the National Museum of Asian Art.

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