World-renowned Asia Week New York celebrates a milestone when the curtain goes up on March 13th for its 10 days of whirlwind activities. It also marks the occasion’s 10th anniversary. For a decade now, Asia Week New York has commanded a role as the most influential Asian art market event in North America.

“Asia Week New York has lots of reasons to kick up its heels—and so much to be proud of,” notes Asia Week Chair Christina Prescott-Walker, Senior Vice President, Division Director Asian Art and Decorative Arts at Sotheby’s. “Asia Week New York is without a doubt firmly established as a must-attend destination for curators and discerning private collectors alike. And the global response just keeps building and building year after year, which is thrilling!” 

This year, 48 international galleries, 6 auction houses and 16 cultural institutions will be part of Asia Week New York’s 10 full days of nonstop open galleries, auction sales, lectures and exhibitions. Underlining the importance of Asia Week is the committed attendance by so many curators from the nation’s most prestigious museums. Among those revered institutions that have already purchased works of art from Asia Week New York galleries are: Chazen Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Asian Art Museum, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Minneapolis Museum of Fine Arts, Ringling Museum, Indianapolis Museum, Dallas Museum, Nelson-Atkins Museum, New Orleans Museum of Art, Newark Museum, Portland Art Museum, Spencer Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, Freer Gallery of Art, Baltimore Museum of Art, Portland Art Museum, St. Louis Museum of Art, University of Utah, Norton Museum, Oberlin Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Harvard University Art Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, Princeton University Art Museum, H.J. Johnson Museum of Art in Ithaca, Birmingham Museum of Art, and the Herbert F. Johnson Museum at Cornell University. 

Prescott-Walker also revealed that a private ceremony will take place prior to the annual reception Asia Week New York co-hosts with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where they will honor ten distinguished professionals from museums and galleries, as well as collectors, each of whom, have advanced Asian art in North America. The honorees include Diane and Arthur Abbey, Dr. Julia and John Curtis, Maxwell “Mike” D. Hearn, Lillie and Ned Johnson 3d, James Lally, Soyoung Lee, Stephen Little, Joan B. Mirviss, Amy Poster, and Shelley and Donald Rubin.

Of course, the big draw to Asia Week New York are the numerous eye-alluring exhibitions—always free and open to the public—featuring the rarest and finest examples of Asian porcelain, jewelry, textiles, paintings, ceramics, sculpture, bronzes, prints, photographs and jades from every quarter of and period in Asia. Organized by category, here are some of the spectacular highlights to be found at the participating galleries.

Chinese Works of Art & Contemporary

Representing the finest quality in form and decoration from the Kangxi period (late 17th century), this blue and white porcelain Chinese baluster vase is the highlight of Spring Exhibition of Chinese Art mounted by R.M. Chait Galleries. The 18-inch-tall vase shows military figures conversing on the draped terrace of a palace, with a court lady waiting nearby. 16 East 52ndStreet, 10th floor

In The Golden Gate Collection of Chinese Export Porcelain and New Acquisitions, Cohen & Cohen is unveiling an extremely rare pair of porcelain “nodding head” figures of reclining maidens, each holding a book and each apparently pregnant—a very unusual depiction that illustrates a Chinese metaphor: reading a book nourishes the growth of ideas in the mind like a child developing in the womb. The figures are from the Qianlong period (circa 1750) and are each 9 inches in length. Traum Safe, 1078 Madison Avenue

In his 1983 painting Les Tulipes Jaunes, Le Pho depicts a typical scene from his Findlay Period, which started in 1964 and continued until his death in 2001. During this period, the artist was exclusively represented by the gallery and adopted a much brighter color palette. This oil painting features two figures at a table admiring a lush bouquet of vibrant flowers in a traditional blue and white Chinese porcelain vase, and it is one of the most alluring in Le Pho: A Retrospective, mounted by Findlay Galleries. 724 Fifth Avenue, 7thFloor

Although black duan stone was the preferred material for making inkstones at least since the Song dynasty (960-1279), Chinese decorative objects made from white duan stone stand out and are exceedingly rare. Therefore, don’t miss the brush rest in this material that MD Flacks Ltd. is presenting in its exhibition Inside the Box: Small Chinese Wonders. The objet is from the Ming dynasty (16thcentury) and has a beautiful calligraphic inscription. Howard Greenberg Gallery, 41 East 57thStreet, 14thFloor

An 18th-century square ink cake molded with a scene from the poem “Ode to the Ink” by the Qianlong emperor takes center stage at Nicholas Grindley’s exhibition, March 2019: Chinese Scholar’s Objects. This enchanting, nearly square ink cake shows two figures in what appears to be deep discussion seated on drum stools in a pavilion surrounded by trees and rocks enclosed by a fence. 17 East 76thStreet, 2ndFloor

Among the most important Chinese ink artists working today, 65-year-old Zeng Xiaojun draws his inspirations from the aesthetic traditions of Chinese scholarly literary culture. Poetic Pattern of Song Ware II, an ink-and-color-on-paper depiction of jiaotai, a type of porcelain ware made by mixing clays of various colors into spontaneously swirled patterns is featured in Four Impressions in Ink that the Beijing-based INK Studio is debuting at J.J. Lally & Co. 41 East 57th Street, 14th floor

In Chinese Art: The Szekeres Collection, the exhibition at J. J. Lally & Co., one of the highlights is a white marble sculpture of a demure young courtesan seated on an hourglass shaped stool. It is a rare and beautiful image carved in the Tang dynasty (618-907), as part of the eternal retinue for a royal burial. 41 East 57th Street, 14th Floor

Forgotten Scriptures, one of the works by Justin FitzGerald featured in Reflecting Traditions: Ink and Ceramic Painting at KAI Gallery combines Eastern and Western philosophies, which are aesthetically unified through the traditional Chinese medium of porcelain. FitzGerald fuses traditional porcelain production methods with modern aesthetics and concepts. Kai Gallery, 78 Grand Street

An exquisite ceramic dish decorated with a design of snow-covered bamboo by Nin’ami Dōhachi (1783-1855) is a must-see at Kaikodo LLC’s exhibition, titled Migration. The handled vessel presents a flawless re-enactment of a famous dish by the legendary ceramic maestro Kenzan, but with greater reserve and elegance. 74 East 79thStreet, Suite 14B

At Andrew Kahane Ltd., a 12th-century Junyao opalescent sky-blue-glazed deep bowl from the Northern Song Dynasty deserves special attention in Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 49 East 78th Street, Suite 4B

Alan Kennedy shines a spotlight on a 15th-century Ming dynasty ink and colors on silk painting of a boy in Mongol dress riding a goat, surrounded by more than 60 more goats and rams, in his exhibition Chinese and Japanese Paintings, Costumes and Textiles. Traditionally, a boy riding the goat represents a wish for male children. James Goodman Gallery, 41 East 57thStreet, 8thFloor

A rare glazed stoneware sancai lion pillow from the important Sze Yuan Tang Collection, one of the best examples of animal pillows to have survived from the Tang dynasty (8thcentury), deserves special attention in Treasures from China’s Past, the exhibition on view at Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art. The pillow powerfully captures the vitality and ferociousness of a hunting lion devouring its prey. Daniel Crouch Rare Books, 24 East 64thStreet, 2ndFloor

From Priestley & Ferraro comes the exhibition Chinese and Korean Ceramics & Works of Art, and their star attraction is a Dingyao carved lotus-pattern dish from the Northern Song dynasty (960-1127). It is a superb example of its kind, with a characteristic ivory-colored glaze. 3 East 66thStreet, Apartment 8B

Wang Huaiqing, a 75-year-old artist renowned for his large-scale abstract oil paintings of deconstructed Chinese furniture, has recently created several limited series of etchings, and the latest will make their debut at M. Sutherland Fine Art in Chinese Contemporary Art, Featuring Etchings by Wang Huaiqing.  Particularly striking is Peace, a 2012 etching on rag paper with a rich black silhouette against a deep cinnabar background. 7 East 74thStreet, 3rdFloor

Chinese and Vietnamese Ceramics Featuring Highlights from the John R. Menke Collection at Zetterquist Galleries will present a rare Dingyao stoneware ewer of a lobed melon. Standing on a neatly carved straight-foot rim and surmounted by a curved spout with the original bronze mount, it dates from the Northern Song dynasty (960-1127 A.D.) and is six-and-a-half inches tall. 3 East 66thStreet, No. 1B

Indian, Himalayan & SE Asian Art

Walter Arader Himalayan Art is showcasing a gilt bronze effigy of Yamantaka Vajrabhairava, a wrathful form of Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of Discriminating Wisdom, and a destroyer of ignorance and fear of death. Dating from the Qianlong period, it is an important attraction in New Acquisitions. Arader Galleries, 1016 Madison Avenue

A talismanic shirt of fine cotton from 17th-century Deccan plays a key role in Divine Protection: Talismanic Art of Islam, which Art Passages is highlighting. This type of garment began to appear starting in 15th-century Ottoman Turkey and soon became widely used by nobles during warfare, believing the shirt to be an armored skin of divine protection.  James Reinish Gallery, 25 East 73rd Street, No. 2

At Prahlad Bubbar, is an outstanding Imperial Mughal double-sided page from the reign of Shah Jahan depicts a Mughal courtier, painted by the leading artist Manohar. This opaque watercolor is surrounded by an exquisite border with animals in gold, while the verso illustrates an equally important border by the Master of Borders. Jill Newhouse Gallery, 4 East 81st Street.

Beckoning contemplation among Recent Acquisitions, the exhibition that Buddhist Art presents is a large volcanic stone figure of Kubera, which hails from Indonesia and dates from the 10thcentury. Rare and with an excellent provenance, it was brought to Germany in the mid-1960s. Arader Galleries, 29 East 72ndStreet

With its perfect, serene expression, this stunning gilded Tibetan Buddha Sakyamuni, circa 14th-15th century, from Carlo Cristi stands among the finest of this period. Cast in copper alloy and embellished with semi-precious stones, the work is an attention-grabber at Buddhist Art of Tibet and Gandhara. Gallery Vallois America, 27 East 67thStreet, 3rdFloor

From a dispersed series that has only come to light in the last thirty years, a painting from the royal court of Nurpur in the Himalayan foothills deserves special notice at Indian Court Painting, the exhibition at Oliver Forge and Brendan Lynch Ltd. The opaque watercolor on paper (circa 1680) depicts a bearded prince (identified by his pearls, a royal prerogative) seated with a young companion on a carpet in a pared-down landscape. 67 East 80thStreet, Suite 2

Resplendent, rare, powerful—these are words to describe the early 19th-century Kangra painting of a goddess, which is one of the highlights from Rajput Paintings from the Ludwig Habighorst Collection, curated by Francesca Galloway. The goddess is shown in a posture of royal ease with a knee raised, her features beautiful, delicate and detailed. 1018 Madison Avenue, 5thFloor.

Alexander Gorlizki: Indian Miniatures with a Contemporary Twist is the beguiling title of the exhibition that Cora Ginsburg LLC has given life to. An intriguing example is The Waiting Game, a 2016 work by Gorlizki in pigment and gold on a vintage photograph. Other parts of the photograph have been over-painted with the very finest miniature painting techniques. 19 East 74thStreet

A bronze Tathāgata Ratnasambhava, made around the 10thcentury in the Swat Valley, takes the place of honor at Recent Acquisitions in Indian, Himalayan and South-East Asian Art, the exhibition at Galerie Hioco. This very rare statuette is characteristic of its origin, located north of present-day Pakistan and it depicts one of the five transcendent Buddhas. Gallery Vallois America, 27 East 67thStreet, 3rdFloor

At Michael C. Hughes, LLC, an Imperial bronze temple bell, Bianzhong, will be featured in his exhibition Chinese, Indian & Other Asian Cultures. During the Qing dynasty bianzhong were produced for the court and they became an essential component of Confucian ritual ceremonies at the Imperial altars, formal banquets and processions. The music produced by these instruments was believed to facilitate communication between humans and deities, 27 East 67th Street, 2nd floor

An extremely rare sculpture with precious-stone inlay is one of the main highlights at Kapoor Galleries in their exhibition Arcane Masters: A Curated Exhibition of Indian and Himalayan Art. The circa-18th-century gilt bronze work shows Avalokiteshvara (“The lord who looks down”) in his emanation of Chittavishramana, gazing upon all beings with great compassion. 34 East 67thStreet, 3rdFloor

At Navin Kumar, a circa-1300 mandala from the Sarvadurgati Parisodhana takes center stage. It was commissioned by a disciple of Sanggye Onpo and is derived from one of the great institutional texts of early 8th-century esoteric Buddhism, Sarvadurgati Parisodhana. It’s one of the foremost elements in the exhibition called Himalayan and Indian Art. 24 East 73rdStreet, Suite 4F

Gold butter lamps are rare to find, though they were once used throughout the Himalayas to focus the mind on meditation. Check out an outstanding 19th-century 23-karat gold exemplar of this unique piece at Sue Ollemans’ exhibition Asian Jewels. Gallery Vallois America, 27 East 67thStreet, 2ndFloor

A striking circa-1570 Iznik tile in blue, viridian green and red is featured at SHADES: Lines, Colors and Letters, the exhibition at Alexis Renard Indian & Islamic Art. The forms of wavelets on the tile are a symbolic representation of tiger stripes, and the ocelli are related to the dots of the leopard, and are sometimes interpreted as peacock ocelli. AFP Gallery—The Fuller Building, 41 East 57th Street, Suite 702

Treasures from Asian Armories, the exhibition at Runjeet Singh Limited focuses on courtly arms and armor from the Chinese and Indian courts. The pièce de résistance: a ceremonial Helmet dating from the Qing Dynasty (19thcentury) made with gilt-copper, semi-precious stones and yak hair. Go see it at The Fuller Building, 41 East 57thStreet, Suite 704

Japanese Works of Art and Contemporary

In its seductively titled exhibition, Japanese Eccentrics, focused attention should be paid to one of the artists in particular: Shimizu Kosho (1911-1999), a prolific and idiosyncratic painter, calligrapher and figurative potter.  BachmannEckenstein Japanese Art is highlighting a bronze sculpture titled Flower and Fruit Kannon. Leslie Feely, 1044 Madison Avenue

Kind of Blue: Japanese Artists Working with Celadon and Beyond, the exhibition at Dai Ichi Arts Ltd. demonstrates how celadon has become a vehicle for explorations of form, technique, and color. SAKAEGI Masatoshi connects surreal drips of porcelain with nature’s purification of water, as his bluish forms seep out of angular stone structures. Shinto shrines also inspire this artist, who reinvents them as contemporary experiences rather than relics of a spiritual past. 18 East 64th Street, Suite 1F

Adhering to Buddhist canons for representations of Jizo Bosatsu, a sculpture of joined woodblock construction with gesso, pigments and gilding with inlaid crystal eyes and urna (third eye) is a stand out example from the Momoyama period, 16th century, in Relationships / Japan +Korea+China at Carole Davenport. Tambaran Gallery, 5East 82 Street

A masterpiece. That is the only fitting appellation for the Japanese woodblock print by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi , the last great master of ukiyo-e, that Egenolf Gallery Japanese Prints is presenting in Masters of the Genre: Fine 18th-20thCentury Japanese Print. The title of the 1883 work is “The Flute Player Triptych” and its subject is the celebrated 11th-century poet Fujiwara no Yasumasa. The Carlyle Hotel, 35 East 76thStreet

A wood-block ink-on-paper print by Kitagawa Utamaro (circa 1753-1806) is a testament to the time during the Edo era when talismans were employed in hopes of protection from life-threatening illnesses like smallpox. It’s a remarkable element in Epidemic and Folk Remedy: Collection of Medical Prints and Fine Japanese Prints, the unusual exhibition being presented by Hara Shobo. The Carlyle Hotel, 35 East 76th Street

Thirty-six paper packets decorated with calligraphy and containing various types of shells from the Edo period (18th century)—that is the unusual creation that is part of Art of Jomon/Art and Poetry, an exhibition conceived by Mika Gallery/Shouun Oriental Art. The shells match 36 famous poems that incorporate the word shell or play on its sound or meaning. By appointment: info@mikagallery.com

A gourd-shaped sake flask with its distinctive four-petal fern pattern created around 1960 is the focal point of Tomimoto Kenkichi and His Enduring Legacy, the exhibition presented at Joan B. Mirviss, Ltd.  This diminutive masterpiece exemplifies the epitome of Tomimoto Kenkichi’s (1886-1963) oeuvre. In fact, this celebrated glaze-patterning led to the artist’s designation in 1955 as Japan’s first Living National Treasure for porcelain.  39 East 78th Street, Suite 401

Dating from the start of his career, Horizontal Position, by Keiji Uematsu, is one in a set of two photographic diptychs from 1973 that demonstrates the artist’s preoccupation with the act of “seeing.”  It is one of the many not-to-be-missed works in Invisible Force, the exhibition that Simon Lee Gallery is mounting in tribute to him. 26 East 64thStreet, Floor 2

A metal-inlay vase by Nakagawa Mamoru, the second-youngest artist ever honored with the title Living National Treasure in Japan, plays a starring role in The Cosmos Within: Contemporary Japanese Metalwork and Ceramics, the exhibition that Onishi Gallery is mounting. The vase—Seki (Weir)—was cast in 2016 using copper, silver and gold. 521 West 26thStreet

A complete purple-laced samurai armor from the Edo period is the showstopper at The Japanese Aesthetic, the exhibition at Giuseppe Piva Japanese Art. The gilt dragon decoration on the cuirass is unique, and the overall quality of the armor is superb. Adam Williams Fine Art, 24 East 80thStreet

Untitled (dark sky over mist on mesquite and brush) is one of 25 watercolors produced while artist Tokutaro ‘Kakunen’ Tsuruoka was confined, along with his wife and three children, to the Poston Camp III in Arizona during World War II. The work is an outstanding element of Captive Artist: Watercolors by Kakunen Tsuruoka (1892-1977), which Scholten Japanese Art has organized as a tribute to the Japanese-American artist. 145 West 58thStreet, Suite 6D

For its exhibition Reimagined: Contemporary Artists Take On “A Tale of Genji,” Seizan Gallery New York commissioned 10 emerging practitioners of traditional Japanese art to create a painting in the standard Japanese painting size (33.3 by 53cm) on the subject of Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki. Take special note of the contribution by 37-year-old Yoji Kumagai. 521 West 26thStreet, Basement B

Day of Osutaka Mountain (1986) is bamboo artist Yako Hodo’s personal response and memorial to the victims of Japan Airlines Flight 123, which crashed on Osutaka Ridge on August 12, 1985, the worst single-aircraft accident in history. It is a not-to-be-missed part of Japanese Bamboo Art, which is being presented by TAI Modern. Colnaghi, 38 East 70thStreet

In 1934—the year Eikō Ikeda’s enchanting two-panel screen Young Girl with a German Shepherd Dog was executed, the famous statue of Hachikō, the faithful Akita hound, was also erected outside Tokyo’s Shibuya Station. This perhaps offered Ikeda (1901–92) an additional incentive to undertake an ambitious, highly finished depiction of his favorite subject, which can be seen in Taisho Era Screens and Scrolls, presented by Erik Thomsen. 23 East 67thStreet, 4thFloor

Works by the extraordinary ceramic artist Ogata Kenzan transcend conventions and strike any discerning viewer with their idiosyncratic literary charm. That is why his rectangular plate titled Chrysanthemum deserves particular attention among Selections of Japanese Art, the exhibition that Hiroshi Yanagi Oriental Art is presenting. Arader Galleries, 1016 Madison Avenue 

Korean Works of Art and Contemporary 

Kim Gyu-Jin (1868-1933), one of the most renowned literati painters of the late-Joseon dynasty (pen name: Haegang), excelled at ink paintings, calligraphy and decorative paintings of the Royal Court. His Waterfall and Bamboo of 1926 is a particularly noteworthy work in Splendors of Korean Paintings & Ceramics, the exhibition on view at Kang Collection Korean Art. Arader Galleries, 1016 Madison Avenue  

Eight paintings mounted as an eight-panel bamboo screen—dated 1526—by Shin Jam (1491-1554), a well-known Korean painter and poet from the early Joseon dynasty specializing in bamboo, call for special regard in Korean Scholar’s Objects and Ch’aekkori, the exhibition at HK Art & Antiques LLC. Works by Shin Jam are exceedingly rare. 49 East 78thStreet, Suite 4B

About Asia Week New York

The 2019 edition of Asia Week New York continues to offer a non-stop round of gallery open houses, auctions sales, exhibitions, lectures, symposia and special events. To celebrate the week's festivities, a private, invitation-only reception, jointly hosted with the Department of Asian Art of The Metropolitan Museum of Art will once again take place in the Museum's Asian art galleries.

The comprehensive guide with maps will be available at participating galleries, auction houses and cultural institutions, starting February 2019 and online at asiaweekny.com. Emphasizing the strength of interest from Chinese-speaking buyers, a Chinese version of the website is available at cn.asiaweekny.com.

Asia Week New York Association, Inc. is a 501(c) 6 non-profit trade membership organization registered with the state of New York. For more information, visit www.asiaweekny.com. Instagram: @asiaweekny; Twitter #asiaweekny.