Lit against minimalist greys, the unpainted bronzes tarnished by the process of age gather in the upper rooms of the National Museum dedicated to the Dutch arts for the Asian Bronze, 4,000 Years of Beauty exhibition. Religious and holy objects from throughout Asia have come together in a show participated in by many museums from diverse lands to join the items held in the Rijksmuseum collections.
European holdings of Asian objects stimulate the conversation of restitution, and this show has worked with museums from the Republic of Pakistan, China, the Kingdom of Thailand and multiple institutions in India to gather together objects that create a narrative which illuminates the purpose use and possible meanings of bronzes through the vast history of Asian bronze manufacture. Four thousand years go by in a focused parade of material expression, letting visitors encounter a little of how humanity has worked with this powerful metal. The objects shine in the semi-darkness, inviting entry into a spiritual plane, transcending our small allocated pocket of time.
This is an enlightening exhibition which lets the bronzes do the talking. Let us begin with the oldest figurine, which arrived in Europe from the Karachi National Museum of Pakistan: a small standing female figure, one arm akimbo, a young woman who stares out as if to see what we have become since she was originally cast over two thousand years BCE. The early bronzes of the Indus civilisation demonstrate the beauty and versatility of bronze, its inherent power created by the sophisticated contrast between the softness of its moulded original and the hardness of its fixed form. Contemporary bronze makers still exploit these qualities today to enhance their objects, and in this show, selected 19th-century and 20th-century pieces sit alongside the standout items of the ancient world, the longevity of the material facilitating this association.
A compelling piece from the collection, which is gilt and so shiny it probably demonstrates the luxury finish that many of these bronzes may have possessed as useful performative temple characters, was purchased recently for the museum and contains secrets that have been revealed through imaging. This is an intricate holy piece visualising the spiritual ascendancy of tantric sex. Divine copulation achieving a higher state has been given extra generative energy through the secret inclusion of scrolls and other artefacts in its hidden interior. Once, museums would have opened up secret holy compartments to discover and analyse the content, but this is no longer accepted practice. Sacred space is maintained. These items were never made to be revealed, and their existence is only noted through the veil of electronic machinery.
In phenomenal contrast to the ornate is the Jain standing figure of a holy practitioner, clad in air, breathing in meditation. He has risen above worldly matters through his dedicated practice and has left worldly values to embody wisdom that is beyond materialism. An ancient exemplar from Bihar, from possibly as early as the second century, through this manifestation of bronze, I feel a calm pulsating humanity. His fleshy body is protrayed through the rounded skin, and his long toes and flat foot plant him to the ground in a posture repeated in thirthankaras in many temples. These are sculptures for worship and inspiration, and the bronze gives them a sense of eternal life beyond the confines of a single existence. Although perhaps he was originally decorated with surface colour or polished brightly alongside other ancient bronzes, to my contemporary sensibility, the brown patina of his natural bronze suits the message of anti-materialism and emphasises that he is clad in air.
Although ordinary visitors cannot play them to hear directly how they sound, there are many sonic pieces here – bells from China and Southeast Asia. As someone who, as a young person, spent some months singing songs in Sumatra Barat, I enquired which items had come from Indonesia, and the curator, William, showed me an astonishing bell from central Java with Garuda, originally part of a temple surrounded by rice fields. Garuda’s guardian form is moulded to leave a hole through which a rope or chain could be inserted to hang the impressive bell for ringing, perhaps by visitors to the temple wishing to ring in their devotions. Garuda is the king of birds, and there are birds depicted from observation around the bell, the ordinary bells that answer to his leadership. Lotus petals circling the bell in restrained ornamentation echo the environment in which the bell rings out across a benign, farmed landscape, water and rice, ponds of splashing and twisting carp, a holy noise speeding across water.
Other pieces have a secret life of fire, now invisible in their static museum lives. Again, from the innovative community of Javanese makers, there is an oil lamp with four recesses for oil lamps to be lit. This also would have been hung from, and its movement would have added to its power in the room as it could have swung gently, casting shadows around a special cinematic space, its fine tendrilled shape making intriguing lines from the quadruple light sources held in its base. It’s frustrating and intriguing to visualise the lamp in use. This is not possible in museum conditions and is understandably forbidden, but the curatorial team are considering ordering a 3D print of the piece, which could enable a simulation of the oil in its original holy purpose, creating a window into the practices of 15th-century Java.
This brings me to what is, for me, the major power of bronze: its ability to perpetuate beauty and ideas of an earlier age. What an incredible material that has not only driven human development forward but also enables us to look back and touch moments of early flowerings of art and culture.
This exhibition shows something of the diversity of Asian bronze. Many different cultures, supported by institutions from seventeen countries, and many different expressions from over four thousand years have made up this poignant and imaginative meeting of ages.
Asian Bronze. 4,000 years of beauty, the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 27 September 2024 to 12 January 2025
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Lead image: Asian Bronze Exhibition View, Rijksmuseum Photo: Rijksmuseum/Erik and Petra Hesmerg