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An exhibit of rare Buddhist sculptures, architectural
reliefs and works of gold and bronze is opening at the Asia Society
Museum on Tuesday after a long and tumultuous journey from Pakistan.
The works, many of which have never been shown before in the United
States, are from the historically rich Gandharan region of Pakistan.
They had originally been scheduled to be shown in March but roadblocks,
U.S. visa problems for Pakistani officials accompanying the works and a
new Pakistani law delayed the opening until this month.
“Bringing the show was a major feat,” said Melissa Chiu, the director of
the Asia Society’s Museum. “Within the political arena, U.S. and
Pakistan have had challenges over the past six months to a year. Even if
we are not a government organization, this obviously has a broader
impact.”
Most of the works in the three-month exhibit, “The Buddhist Heritage of
Pakistan: Art of Gandhara,” are on loan from the National Museum in
Karachi and Lahore Museum in Lahore.
Buddhist art flourished in the region, near present-day Peshawar in
northwest Pakistan, between the second and fourth centuries.
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“It was an early culture. It was a Buddhist culture and it was one of
the first occasions where we see Buddha represented in his figurative
form,” Chiu explained. Among the highlights of the exhibit are Vision of
a Buddha Paradise from the 4th Century and a winged Aphrodite leaning
against a pillar from the 1st Century.
Although Pakistan is a strategic ally of the United States, relations
between the two nations has been strained since US forces killed al
Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Pakistan on May 2. The raid led to many
questions about US-Pakistan relations to tackle the militancy.
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